- Ottawa Jewish Archives
- Ottawa Jewish Historical Society fonds
- Interview with Anne Taller
Interview with Anne Taller
Description only — contact the archive8
- Held by
- Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- May 4, 2005 (indexed as 2005)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- Date: May 4, 2005 Duration: 1:10:31 *language warning: outdated terminology used* Anne was born in Ottawa on August 20th, 1916. Her parents were Rachel & Zalman Silver. They came from Russia in 1912 when her oldest brother was 10 months old. Zalman came first, and then Rachel followed. Zalman and Rachel had 2 boys and 2 girls. Anne’s oldest brother died overseas, another died and is buried in Ottawa, and her sister lives in Ottawa. Zalman had a furniture store on William St. He also worked as a supervisor at the city dump. Rachel was a dressmaker, who made a lot of dresses for the owner of Nuvolks[?] a dress store in Ottawa. Rachel was also president of the women’s group at Maziki. Samuel was president of the shul for a short time. Anne has fond memories of Maziki, and Reverend Baker and Rabbi [?]. Anne served as president of the Beth Shalom sisterhood. She and her 3 daughters went to shul every saturday Anne and Samuel Taller were married by Rabbi Baker at Murray St. Shul. The Taller family lived in the west end, where Anne’s father in law had a mattress factory. The Taller’s home was once used for services, as there weren’t many jews. Anne’s mother-in-law had 10 children, and worked sewing covers at the mattress factory. Anne discusses how one of her brother-in-laws was institutionalized. Anne and Samuel briefly separated before they were married, and Anne used to regularly visit Moses at the Pearly home. Growing up, Anne and her family lived above her father’s store. Their neighbours were; the Steinbergs, the Broombergs, the Kronicks, the Shapiros, and the Wieners. Anne went to York St. School and the high school of commerce. She worked at the Rocks department store before starting work at the government, where she was an office clerk. Anne speaks about the importance of work in her parenting method. Anne was married at 26, and was working long before that. She used to go to work after school. Her eldest brother Samuel Silver was in the air force and died overseas. Anne had his medal, which she gave to her eldest grandson. Anne recalls how her family was very involved with the Maziki growing up, and the ladies auxiliary used to do a lot of baking at her mother’s house for sunday afternoon tea. Anne and Samuel have 3 daughters: Marilyn Waserman, Enid Gould, Rhoda Simbrow. Anne discusses when Enid adopted her son. Anne discusses how she did not face any antisemitism, but remembers her brothers sometimes coming home from fights. Anne went to Cheder. She would read and sing in Hebrew. She sent her daughters to Cheder too. Anne recalls going shopping for kosher foods in the market. Anne was involved in Young Judea, the Hadasa[?], and the sisterhood. In Hadasa she was president of the Naomi Chapter, which no longer exists. She was also president of the Sisterhood. She has good memories of Young Judea. There were meetings and socials, and sunday afternoon dances on George St at the Talmud Torah. She recalls there were chaperones, but she and her brothers would go on Sunday afternoons. (Anne later says they were on York St.) *audio skips* Anne enjoys knitting and making things for herself and others. She often donates her knitting to organizations. Anne recalls being heavily involved in the Jewish community prior to WWII. Anne got married in 1943, when she was 26. Her husband was an accountant, working with AJ Freeman’s, before going on his own to make Sam Taller & Co. His nephew ended up taking over. Anne and Sam used to go bowling frequently, and have fond memories. Anne used to do a lot of knitting during the war. Anne and Lillian Freidman were close friends. Anne remembers her being a friendly and wonderful person. Audio ends mid sentence 1:10:31
- Location
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Where
More details
- Genre / form
- sound recording
- Format
- Audio
- Language
- English
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T20:12:50Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn