Letter

Held by

Montreal Holocaust Museum via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

December 19, 1941 (indexed as 1941)

Level

item

Extent

Letter : Paper : Printed, Typed : Ink : Beige, Black ; Ht: 27,5 cm x W: 21,5 cm

Scope & content

1 page, single-sided. Folded once horizontally and twice vertically. Printed on letterhead of J. Sternthal Textiles. Document is a letter from Joel Sternthal to Gustave Bauer, in which Joel expresses thanks for a gift of bookends and provides news of the ongoing sponsorship process; Ottawa has approved the sponsorship and is waiting for final approval from London. Narrative: This document was donated by Eudice Bauer, the wife of Gustave Bauer. This letter is from Joel Sternthal, a Jewish Montrealer who sponsored Gustave and fostered him upon his release from the internment camp in Île aux Noix, Quebec, in 1942. Gustave was born in 1924 in Hamburg, Germany, and was on vacation in Denmark with his mother Anna and brother Werner when the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were passed. They decided not to return to Germany, and went to stay with Anne's sister in Brussels, Belgium. Gustave's father Manfred was arrested for smuggling money out of Germany and spent the next two years in prison. Manfred joined his family in Brussels when he was released from prison in 1937. In 1940, immediately before Germany occupied Belgium, all German males born before 1924 were ordered to register. Manfred and Werner were sent to France, where they were interned. On their way to France to join them, Gustave and his mother were arrested and sent to England on the last boat to leave Belgium before it was occupied. In England, Gustave spent time in Folkestone, Pentonville Prison, Kempton Park, and Douglas, Isle of Man. He was in England from May 19 to July 4, 1940. IOn July 4, 1940 he was sent to Canada on the S.S. Sobiesky with other German nationals as prisoners of war.He was in Camp T, in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, from July 15 to August 12, 1940. He was thenmoved to Camp B, in New Brunswick, and then in 1941 was sent with other Jewish internees to Camp I, Île aux Noix, Quebec. He was sponsored for release in 1942, and his mother joined him in Canada in 1947. His father was deported from Drancy to Majdanek in 1943. It is unknown what happened to Gustave's brother Werner once he was sent to France. Neither man survived the war.

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Genre / form

textual record

In the picture

Business CardDocumentGovernmentImmigrationLetterLetterheadSignatureTypewrittenTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

Text in the image

TELEPHONE LANCASTER 7008ROOM 17 - PHILLIPS PLACE BLDG. 1193 PHILLIPS SQUAREJ. Sternthal TextilesSILKS - RAYONS - LININGSMONTREALDec 19th, 1941.Mr. Gustave Bauer, Refugee Camp I Ile aux Noix, St. Paul, Que.Dear Mr. Bauer:Very truly yoursJ. STERNTHALJS:JM.This will acknowledge with thanks receipt of your letter of the 11th December, and I wish at this time to thank you most heartily for your very lovely gift of the book-ends, which I received yesterday. I must say that I sincerely appreciate not only the gift proper, but the very nice thought which motivated your spending the time in doing this.I have received a letter from Ottawa, saying that they have accepted my sponsorship, and are waiting only for the final release from the Home Office in London, and I hope this will not take long. I have spoken to your friend, Mr. Rothschild, who said he would write to you, which I presume he did by now.Really am sorry that I did not write to you beforehand, but was kept quite busy what with one thing or another, and lately have been out of town.Again thaning you and looking forward to seeing you soon, I remainRead automatically; may contain mistakes.

Language

English

Harvested

2026-10-19T03:21:16Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗2011X_49_10.jpg