Ellin speaks to Sarnia Central Forum March 31, 2020 about WWII and Canada’s fighting Jewish soldiers who were there

CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19. As the world prepares to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, Ellin Bessner will introduce you to some of the Canadians of Jewish faith who were among the liberators. When the Canadian troops began cleaning out the remnants of Nazi Germany’s occupation forces across Holland in the spring and summer of 1945, they were met with joyous welcomes by the Dutch people who had endured starvation and brutality under Hitler’s forces. But the Canadians also came face to face with the truth about the fate of Europe’s Jewish community, as they liberated concentration camps and Nazi death camps from the defeated German guards. Journalist and author Ellin Bessner’s book “Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military and WWII”, published by the University of Toronto Press, tells the story of the 17,000 Canadians of Jewish faith who served in WWII, helped defeat Hitler, and rescued the survivors of the Holocaust. Hear about the most famous volunteers, including Monty Hall, Wayne and Shuster, Barney Danson, Arthur Hiller, and Senator David Croll, and many more, plus the story of Sarnia’s own Max Berger, who was killed in Hong Kong, in 1941. Books will be available for sale and signing.