Ellin brings “Double Threat” to the Port Hope Public Library on Queen Street on Monday Nov. 12 @ 7 p.m.

Did you know that the late Port Hope literary icon, Farley Mowat had shrapnel plucked out of his behind by a brave Canadian Jewish army doctor in Italy in WWII?  Captain Charles Krakauer of Toronto so impressed Mowat, then a lieutenant with the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment during the Italian campaign in WWII in 1943, (spoiler alert) that Mowat later wrote about him in his famous book “And No Birds Sang”?

This is just one of the stories in Canadian author and journalist Ellin Bessner’s new book “Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military and WWII”, now on sale at Furby House books in Port Hope as well as national retailers like Amazon and Chapters and Indigo. Ellin will speak Monday Nov. 12 at the Port Hope Public Library at 7 p.m.

In her talk, just one day after Remembrance Day, you’ll hear about the 17,000 Canadians of Jewish faith who helped defeat Hitler and win WWII. They fought for King and Country, like their non-Jewish comrades did,  but also for a special reason: they tried to save the Jews of Europe from Hitler’s Final Solution. And they did so at great person risk, should they be captured on the battlefield and their Jewish identities become known. They also enlisted despite or because of widespread anti-Semitism in Canada, and in the ranks. Peter Mansbridge wrote the back cover review of the book, and called it an “important book”.