In this video, Minna Loewith explains how her parents began the process for immigration to Canada in September 1938. Minna's family made several trips to Prague to be interviewed and medically examined by Canadian officials. Source: Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, 1984
[00:00-00:07]
Video begins with inter-title in white text on black screen while instrumental music plays and fades into the next frame: Minna Loewith's parents began the process for immigration to Canada in September 1938.
[00:08-00:38]
Cut to black-and-white photograph of a woman, standing beside a young boy with blonde curly hair. The camera zooms out to show a man holding the young boy beside her. The photo caption appears in white text in the bottom-left corner, “Minna Loewith, Hamilton”.
>> By the end of September, everyone feared that war might break out. Prague was in a blackout. We were all issued gas masks. And one day, I received a call from my parents to say that I should leave Prague and come to join them in Hojovice.
[00:38-02:01]
Cut to black-and-white photograph of a group of about 35 people outdoors with hats and coats. The camera spans horizontally across the group. They stand or sit in rows together in front of a barn in the background, and fields in the distance. The photo caption appears in white text in the top-left corner, “Czech refugees, Wren Farm, ON, 1938”.
>> I was there only a short time, I would say roughly about two weeks or so. And then we had to make several trips to Prague, where we were interviewed and medically examined to see if we were healthy enough to be admitted to Canada. I was reminded just recently, by my father and my aunt Marthe Popper, of the names that some of the men that came to the home of my uncle Karl Abeles in Bischofteinitz, or Horsovsky Tyn in Czech, and his name was Mr. Dimay. He apparently was an official from the Canadian Pacific who came to see if some of the original group were actually farmers. Because at that time, only farmers were admitted to Canada.
[2:02-02:16]
Music plays for the remainder of the video. Three credit pages appear in white text on black screen: Interview conducted by Morris Silbert, Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, Toronto, 1984
Images: Ontario Jewish Archives, Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, Minna Loewith Family Collection
Directing: Helgi Piccinin; Editing and Colorization: Michaël Gravel, Helgi Piccinin; Audio Mix and Original Music: Pierre-Luc Lecours. [Logo for Chaire de recherche du Canada en patrimoine ethnologique]
Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre, copyright 2017.
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End of transcript.