Episode 26 - Nazis, Canadian Jews and the Second World War
Release Date: 06/27/2019
On War & Society
The Nigerian Civil War which began in 1967 was precipitated by a series of military coups that destabilised the nation. The southeastern Igbo region declared itself the Republic of Biafra, prompting a retaliatory declaration of war and a crippling embargo by Nigeria's military government. The ensuing conflict lasted until 1970, resulting in over 100,000 military casualties and more than a million civilian deaths from ethnic cleansing, malnutrition and disease. Humanitarian efforts provided critical relief for up to two million people. Amidst the conflict international humanitarian...
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info_outlineJewish people are traditionally depicted as victims in the Second World War literature. This should come as no surprise, as six million Jews were killed at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. Ellin Bessner, in her new book Double Threat, insists that at least in the case of Jewish Canadians, they were not just victims of the war but also active players in the eventual victory of the Allies against Germany and the Axis powers during the Second World War. Canadian Jews enlisted at the same proportional rates as the rest of Canada and served valiantly and bravely in the face of an enemy that not only wanted to see them defeated in battle but exterminated from the face of the earth.
References
Irving Abella and Harold Troper. None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933–1948. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1983.
Ellin Bessner. Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military and World War II. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018.