immigrantscanada.com

Independent topical source of current affairs, opinion and issues, featuring stories making news in Canada from immigrants, newcomers, minorities & ethnic communities' point of view and interests.

Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Israel

Israel: When I returned with my parents seven years later, it wasnt a homecoming. Soon after our return the country witnessed a pogrom in Kielce, a town not far from where we settled. A year after the defeat of the Nazis, 42 Jewish Holocaust survivors were murdered by Poles. Rampant anti-Semitism was the reason why I wasnt sent to a state school. We became migrants, according to The Star. But none of these countries is really home. Israel, where my wife and I spend much time nowadays, is the home of our children and our people. Its the focus of my faith and I feel good there. But when I open my mouth, despite my Hebrew or perhaps because of it, I m identified as an Anglo-Saxon. In Poland I was always a Jew, in Sweden a Pole, in Britain a Swede and in Canada an Englishman. In Israel I m an Anglo-Saxon and Today is the 75th anniversary of my anxiety neurosis. On Sept, 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland where I was born. At four I became a refugee and have been afraid ever since. I m grateful to all the countries that took me in. Though life in various parts of the Soviet Union, where we found refuge during the Second World War, was very rough, I was spared the gas chambers where a million Jewish children ended up, including my cousins. The countries where I had been an immigrant shaped me: Sweden gave me a language and an education; in Britain I found my vocation and gained professional experience; Canada brought stability and the privilege of serving a unique congregation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.