[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: In 1940, Jack Hahn was sent to Canada as an “enemy alien” and interned at Camp B in Ripples, New Brunswick.
[00:08-00:24]
Cut to Holocaust survivor Jack Hahn, sitting in front of a dark background, and looking to the right of the camera. The camera shows his face and shoulders as he speaks during an interview conducted in Toronto in 1989.
>> Jack Hahn: At the beginning…
[00:10-00:15]
The name “Jack Hahn” and the location of the filmed interview, “Toronto”, appear in white text above Jack's right shoulder.
>> …I guess the relationship with the authorities wasn't too good. It improved later. But they— I understand even in New Brunswick, they felt that we were real German prisoners and they had to be very tough with us.
[00:25-00:29]
Cut to black-and-white photograph of a winter scene in the woods, with a guard on the left, standing in front of a pile of stacked logs, and three men holding axes in the background. The photo caption appears in white text in the top-left corner, “Internees cutting trees, Camp B, 1941”.
>> They took us out to the forest to cut trees, and so on, with all the guards.
[00:30-00:32]
Cut to another black-and-white photograph of two men, outdoors in the winter, cutting down a tree. The photo caption appears in white text in the top-left corner, “Internees cutting trees, Camp B, 1941”.
>> I guess I was young enough…
[00:32-00:37]
Cut to black-and-white photograph of two men cutting a log with a double saw. Two other men stand in the background near a large pile of chopped wood. The photo caption remains in white text in the top-left corner, “Internees cutting trees, Camp B, 1941”.
>> …to somewhat enjoy it. It was an experience for me.
[00:38-00-45]
Cut to Jack Hahn in front of the camera.
>> And I immediately decided that I would continue, or let's say, get my education in camp.
[00:46-00:53]
Cut to black-and-white photograph of a group of men sitting at a table with pens and paper, while one man stands and writes equations on a chalkboard. The photo caption appears in white text in the top-left corner, “Jack Hahn with internee study group, ca. 1941”.
>> Well, it was somewhat difficult because they wanted you to work all day.
[00:54-02:17]
Cut to Jack Hahn in front of the camera.
>> So there were a few of us, who were ambitious enough, and again, our organisational skills helped, and we persuaded— we found out that the camp commander was interested in an incinerator. So we went to see him, there was about 6 or 8 of us, and we told him, “We'll build an incinerator, and we'll collect all the rubbish every day, and we'll burn it.” And, because everything was organised, you had to either be a clean-up party, whether you cleaned the toilets or did this and so you worked all day long. Or you went and cut wood in the forests, which we did for a while. But when we got that idea about the incinerator, he liked the idea. And we put it in a place where he could see the smoke. So we built this incinerator, kind of out of stone and whatever we could find, and we built a wall around it. We said, “We need that to store all the garbage and then feed it into the incinerator.” And then we used to spend all day long sitting there, stoking that incinerator and studying at the same time.
[02:18-02:27]
Music plays for the remainder of the video. Three credit pages appear in white text on black screen: Interview conducted by Paula Draper, Holocaust Documentation Project, Toronto, 1989, Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre
Images: Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, courtesy of Jack Hahn family; Acadia Research Forest, Natural Resources Canada
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.