Ellin brings ‘Double Threat’ to the Idea Exchange in Cambridge, Ontario Thursday May 16, 2018

As world leaders prepare to gather in Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in a few weeks, author and journalist Ellin Bessner brings the story of Canada’s 17,000 Canadian Jewish fighters who helped win the Second World War, defeat Hitler, and rescue the survivors of the Holocaust. They faced a “double threat” because of their religion, not only should they be captured by the Nazis, but also because of the wide spread anti Semitism they encountered at home in Canada, in the barracks and on the battlefield. Some 450 Canadian Jewish men and women did not come back from the war, including a young volunteer with the RCAF, John Galt (yes that was his real name) who was killed in Galt while in training. You will hear about his story.