Emigration and Loss
Jews were forbidden to leave Germany or Austria with any assets beyond a suitcase of clothes. Nothing convertible to cash, like bonds or jewelry, could be taken with them.
Few countries, including Canada, were willing to take them in. Canada admitted only 5,000 8,000 Jews from 1933 1945, the worst record of any large nonEuropean country. The Canadian government was preoccupied with the depression, the war and feared an antiSemitic backlash in Quebec. F.C. Blair, Director of Immigration, believed that Canada was in danger of being "flooded with Jewish people" and that it was his duty to guard against this.
When a people are destroyed, the unique music composers would have written, the books, the inventions, designs, painting, poetry, medical cures and advances that would have been, are also lost. During the Holocaust, complete villages or shtetls were wiped out, and with them, a way of life. The once vibrant Yiddish language, literature and theatre was reduced to a remnant. This cultural loss was a loss for all time.
"We must nevertheless seek to keep this part of the Continent free from unrest and from too great an intermixture of foreign strains of blood, as much the same thing as lies at
the basis of the Oriental problem. I fear we would have riots if we agreed to a policy that admitted numbers of Jews." - Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Diary Entry.
Ottawa, 29 March, 1938.
The Jewish fashion industry in prewar Europe is only one example of cultural loss during the Holocaust. In many ways, the destruction of the Jewish fashion industry is a microcosm, reflecting the devastation of the Holocaust.
During, and in the years following the Second World War, fashion, along with the Jews, disappeared nearly completely from Germany. A 'fashion Diaspora' (a dispersion) was created as those designers and manufacturers who could, fled Germany and Austria. Some were never able to reestablish their fashion careers. Those who could, used their fashion talents in such cities as Montreal, Toronto, New York, Chicago, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv and Hollywood.
Definitions
- Assets - What one owns that has monetary value.
- Emigrant - Someone who leaves their own country for another.
- Evian Conference - The conference convened by US President Roosevelt on July 6, 1938, to discuss the problem of Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. Thirtytwo countries, including Canada, refused to accept any further refugees.
- Yiddish - A language spoken Andy many Jews in Europe, usually written in the Hebrew alphabet. It is a dialect of High German with a mixture of words of Hebrew, Romance and Slavic origins.
Examples
- Meeting between Science and Politics
Albert Einstein was only one of the many German Intellectuals forced to emigrate to escape Nazi persecution. Einstein is seen here at a reception given by Reich Chancellor Brüning in honour of the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. In the photo (from left to right) are Max Planck, Ramsay MacDonald, Albert Einstein, Finance Minister Hermann Dietrich, Privy Counsellor Schmitz (of IG Farben) and Foreign Minister Julius Curtius. August 1931. Courtesy Bildarchiv.
Cultural Loss
The Jewish fashion industry during the Holocaust is one example of cultural loss. List examples of other ethnic groups that have experienced a cultural loss. Consider the cultural loss experienced by the Kwakwa'kawakw people after their potlatches were banned by the Canadian government.
Imagine a jacket belonging to someone who fled Nazi Germany for Canada in 1938. Write an account of its history from its manufacture to the back of a closet, found in Canada today. Trace its travels in a suitcase and the path of its experiences. Use the timeline as a reference.
Exploring History through Clothing
Describe an old article of clothing saved by you or your family. Interview family members to discover who kept it and why? Tell its story by describing the path of its experiences. Explain what it represents to you or your family now.
The Contributions of Emigrants
Albert Einstein, like many refugees, Jewish and non Jewish alike, past and present, have made contributions to their adopted countries. Einstein was fortunate enough to have fled Nazi Germany. Explain how our world might have been different had he not managed to escape.
Research the life of one of these German scholars who was able to flee Nazi persecution. How did they contribute to the world as we know it today?
Theodor Adorno - Philosopher & Sociologist
Albert Einstein - Physicist
Otto Klemperer - Conductor
Lise Meitner - Physicist
Arnold Schoenberg - Composer Paul Tillich - Theologian
Write a newspaper editorial or design a poster listing some positive contributions made by refugees to Canada.