Monday, March 8, 2021
-12 °c
Cornwall
0 ° Tue
3 ° Wed
8 ° Thu
4 ° Fri
-2 ° Sat
-5 ° Sun

No products in the cart.

download our APP
  • About
    • Contributors
    • Disclaimers
    • Giving back
    • Mission Statement
    • Past Issues
    • Where to Find
    • Call us at 613-935-3763
  • Get The Seeker at Home!
  • Advertise with us!
COVID-19 Response Framework: the EOHU region is at the ORANGE-RESTRICT level.

Get the Seeker Delivered straight to your door, click here
  • Home
  • News
  • Leisure & Lifestyle
  • Community & Columnists
  • Events
    • 5 questions with…
  • Disclaimers
  • Merch
No Result
View All Result
The Seeker Newspaper Cornwall
  • Home
  • News
  • Leisure & Lifestyle
  • Community & Columnists
  • Events
    • 5 questions with…
  • Disclaimers
  • Merch
COVID-19 Response Framework: the EOHU region is at the ORANGE-RESTRICT level.

Get the Seeker Delivered straight to your door, click here
No Result
View All Result
The Seeker Newspaper Cornwall


COVID:
ORANGE
PROTECT

Home News and Announcements

Escape from the Holocaust to Williamstown Ontario in 1939 and 1940

SeekersAdmin by SeekersAdmin
March 28, 2013
in News and Announcements
Reading Time: 2min read
28 0
17
SHARES
188
VIEWS

espace-holocaust

For this year’s Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in Cornwall, Ontario, the focus will be on how an extended Jewish family – the Kaplans – escaped from the Holocaust in Lithuania to come to Williamstown, Ontario some 74 years ago. It is also the story of two heroic men who were instrumental in their escape, and of the warm welcome they received from the local people in Williamstown and Cornwall at a time when Canada was generally not accepting Jewish immigrants or refugees.

You might also like

OUT and ABOUT with Seeker Chick Mai-Liis – attending Power Shine at Cailuan Gallery.

COVID-19 Vaccines Will Soon Be Available to Adults 80 Years of Age and Older

Miller Hughes Ford Sales and Ford of Canada Donate Truck to St. Lawrence College Automotive Service Technician Program

The children’s book, One More Border, describes the story of one of these families. It shows the role of the Japanese Vice-Consul in Lithuania, Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara, who helped literally thousands of Jews to escape by issuing them transit visas to Japan, against his government’s wishes. Sugihara was subsequently honoured by the Government of Israel as “Righteous Among the Nations” – one of so far more than 24,000 non-Jews recognized as having helped Jews escape from the Holocaust at great personal risk to themselves.

However, not so well known is the role played by Marinus (Mark) Sorensen, the Canadian Pacific Railway’s immigration agent in Denmark. He facilitated the emigration of several thousand farm settlers, including Jews, from Europe to Canada upto 1940 and narrowly escaped capture himself in Denmark after the Germans invaded. Among the Jews Sorensen helped were Sussman and Hinde Kaplan and their four unmarried children. These members of the Kaplan family were able to leave Lithuania just before the
outbreak of World War II, and eventually ended up buying an abandoned farm in Williamstown, near Cornwall, Ontario.

As a result, the other two Kaplan children with their families, had a place to come to in Canada. Even today, there are a few Williamstown residents who have fond memories of the extended Kaplan family, particularly the children – Nomi, Igor and Atid. Two Kaplan family members, Ellayne Kaplan and Ilona Weinstein, from Montreal, will be sharing their family’s story. In addition, Mark Sorenson’s son, Ben (who was with his father in Denmark right up to just before the outbreak of the war), and two of the Kaplan’s children’s former schoolmates from Williamstown are coming as well.

The event will be the first time that some of the Kaplans will be meeting a son of one of the two people who were so instrumental in saving their family from the Holocaust. The Cornwall Interfaith Partnership, which is organizing this year’s event in Cornwall, feels that the Holocaust was a monumental human tragedy that should be revisited periodically in order to make people more aware of the reality of such genocide and its causes. This year’s Yom HaShoah commemoration in Cornwall is being hosted by Knox – St. Paul’s United Church, 800 Twelfth Street East, at 6:45 p.m. on April 7, when everyone is welcome.

Author

  • SeekersAdmin

    View all posts

Next Post
Photo by Erica McIntosh.

SD&G County Library Board meeting draws 80 from Williamsburg

Place YOUR ad here now
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Don't miss anything!

Get notified of all our new news by ringing the bell at the bottom right corner!

The Seeker Newspaper is located at 327 Second Street E., Cornwall, ON K6H 1Y8 -- All rights reserved
The Seeker does not accept responsibility for errors, misprints or inaccuracies published within. The opinions and statements of our columnists are not to be presumed as the statements and opinions of The Seeker
ISSN 2562-1750 (Print)

ISSN 2562-1769 (Online)
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Leisure & Lifestyle
  • Community & Columnists
  • Events
    • 5 questions with…
  • Disclaimers
  • Merch

© 2021 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
X
X