Bernard Yale Donation

Bernard Yale with two children
from Bergen Belsen, 1945
OJA, Accession 2010-5/15.

Several months ago the OJA acquired records created by Bernard Yale after initiating a drive to document the experiences of Jewish veterans who served during the Second World War. Bernard served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a photographer. He arrived in England in 1944 and was shortly thereafter posted to 443 Squadron, 144 Wing (a Spitfire Wing) in the town of Ford. While stationed there, he was responsible for servicing cinegun cameras that captured the damage caused each time the Spitfires fired ammunition at a target.

From Ford, Bernard moved with his squadron to various other towns; including, St. Croix Sur Mer (during the invasion of Normandy), Chartres, Louvain and other towns in Belgium and Holland. In 1945, his squadron began moving into Germany and encountered slave labourers who had just been liberated. Soon after, Bernard was posted to serve in the occupation forces with 84 Group Disarmament Staff. His unit was responsible for disarming and dismantling the German air force. As part of this unit, Bernard processed photographs of Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp guards, the burning of the wooden quarters used for Bergen Belsen’s inmates, and other structures and remains found there. A squadron leader in Bernard’s unit, Ted Aplin, organized Sunday picnics for the children of Bergen Belsen during the summer of 1945. Bernard captured many photographs of these outings.

The Yale accession consists of photographs and textual records that document Bernard's activities in the Royal Canadian Airforce during the Second World War. Included are images of Bernard and his photography school classmates, shots taken just after the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp was liberated, such as, photographs of captured S.S. guards and of the Sunday picnics organized for the children, and images taken by Bernard while he was on leave.

Canadian servicemen with the
survivor children, 1945
OJA, Accession 2010-5/15

These records are of great value, since there are very few photographs in existence that include interactions between Canadian servicemen and Holocaust survivors. The images of the survivor children frolicing in the fields with the soldiers are truly amazing. They will likely be incorporated into exhibits mounted by the Toronto Holocaust Centre and perhaps other Holocaust Centres in North America.

Sammy Luftspring Albums - The Conservation Project

Sammy Luftspring, 1930
OJA, Photo #2516

In 2009, the OJA acquired the personal scrapbooks of famed Canadian boxer, Sammy Luftspring. Luftspring was born in 1916 in St. John’s Ward. He began boxing in 1932 and by 1936 was selected to join the Canadian Olympic team. He chose, however, to boycott the Berlin Olympics, which were being organized under Nazi-rule, and decided instead to attend an alternative event known as the People’s Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. After making the trip to Europe by ship, Sammy, along with fellow Toronto boxer Norman “Baby Yack”, faced the disappointment of having the event cancelled after the Civil War broke out on the eve of the opening ceremonies. Sammy returned to Toronto and began to box professionally, winning the Canadian welterweight championship in 1938, a title which he held for two years.

Luftspring's career as a boxer ended in 1940, when an opponent’s thumb punctured his eye, detaching the retina and leaving him blind in one eye. He re-invented himself as a boxing referee, overseeing fights involving some of the greatest boxers of all time, including Mohammad Ali and George Chuvalo. He also opened up a number of nightclubs in Toronto such as the Mercury and Tropicana, which attracted famous entertainers such as Henry Youngman, Vic Damone and Tony Bennett. He passed away in 2000 at age 84.

The two scrapbooks donated to the OJA were created by Sammy Luftspring himself and reflect his personal life and career. The scrapbooks contain over 700 photographs, as well as invitations, postcards, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. They were in very poor condition and required some basic conservation work. In order to protect the items in the scrapbooks from the acidic paper, acid-free tissue paper was inserted in between each page. In turn, a scanning project was initiated in order to protect the original scrapbooks. By creating a digital reproduction, information included in the original arrangement will remain accessible, while the objects themselves are granted a longer life span.

So, over the course of two weeks in the summer of 2010, the Luftspring scrapbooks were digitized in their entirety by our summer intern, Emma Leverty. Scans were made of the original document size at 300 dpi and saved as TIFF files. The larger of the two scrapbooks (65 x 48 cm) needed to be scanned in three sections and then stitched together using a special software program. In total, over 400 scans were completed to create the 200 pages that make up the scrapbooks. Finally, individual photographs were selected and scanned and item level descriptions were completed for those images that were deemed to be of greatest archival value and likely to be of interest to the public.

Sense of Spadina & Pape Avenue Cemetery Tours

Sense of Spadina Tour

For over 30 years the OJA has been offering the Sense of Spadina Tour, which provides participants with a glimpse at old Jewish Toronto in Kensington Market. It is a 90 minute walking tour offered from April to October. We provide 4 public tours during the season as well as tours for private groups. The last public tour will be held on Sunday September 22nd.  For those interested in signing up for this tour you can either pay on-line or contact us at oja1@ujafed.org.

Pape Avenue Cemetery Tour

The Pape Avenue Cemetery tour takes participants through Toronto’s oldest Jewish cemetery, established in 1849. It is led by Dr. Ellen Scheinberg, Director of the OJA and Susan Brown, artist and local community leader. Participants will be exposed to the rich history of this cemetery as well as stories surrounding the individuals who were buried there. The last public tour this season will be held on Sunday October 2nd. For those interested in registering you can pay on-line or contact us at the e-mail address above.

Public launch of the Facets of Fame Exhibition

Al Gilbert

The OJA held a public launch for its recent exhibition "Facets of Fame: Portraits by Toronto Photographer Al Gilbert" on July 29th at the Market Gallery. The display opened on April 22nd and  includes approximately 75 portraits taken by internationally acclaimed portrait photographer Al Gilbert. During his 60 plus year career, Gilbert has photographed some of the most notable personalities of our time such as Frank Sinatra, Charles Best, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, Oscar Peterson, Pope John Paul II, the Queen Mum and many others.

The event attracted over 120 visitors who viewed the display and had the opportunity to mingle with Al and partake in the refreshments. Several of the subjects who are featured in the exhibit attended this event such as Mel Lastman, Raymond Moriyama, Judy Feld Carr and Rabbi Frydman Kohl. The family of the late William Wen, who owened the popular Chinese restaurant Sai Woo, were also in attendance.

Al GIlbert on left with Mel Lastman
and Raymond Moriyama

The exhibition will remain at the Market Gallery until September 11th. After that time, the OJA will organize a travelling exhibition so that institutions from across North America can borrow it. We would encourage everyone who hasn't yet had the opportunity to see it to pay a visit to the Market Gallery before it closes. We would like to thank Pam Wachna, the head of the Gallery, as well as the curator, Michael Dowbenka, for their work and support. It's been a real pleasure working with them and having our display mounted at such a spaceous and professionally run venue.

 

Ellen Scheinberg (Director of the OJA)
and Ralph Coram from the AO
Photo Credit: Michael Rajzman

Melissa Caza and Emma Leverty from the
OJA pose by the Gallery window showcasing
the view of the city
Photo Credit: Michael Rajzman