|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
 |
|||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
INTEGRATION / REJECTION In the early twentieth century, British Columbia was rife with racism, directed mainly against its Asian populations from India, Japan and China. In Vancouver, there were riots against the Chinese in 1907. Sentiments like these resulted in a series of federal immigration restrictions that did not substantially lift for decades. In addition, certain First Nations' religious practices were outlawed, such as potlach. Jews in British Columbia did not suffer this level of hostility. They were not, however, immune from prejudices-illustrating the ambivalence about Jews and their presence in British Columbia at that time. They were not permitted to buy homes in the wealthy parts of town; certain businesses did not hire Jews; and the social clubs, where deals would be negotiated, did not allow Jewish members to join. Life for BC Jews, then, was balanced between acceptance and rejection. |
|||||||||||||
|
Some
of the older, established community members, however, did achieve
considerable recognition and were integrated into the life of BC
society. David
Oppenheimer was the first mayor of Vancouver (1888-1891), as
well as a major promoter of the city. Samuel
Davies Schultz, appointed a Vancouver county court judge in
1914, was the first Jewish judge in Canada. Elsewhere, Philip
Adelberg became a Justice of the Peace in the Peace River District.
In Victoria, pioneer resident, Frederick
Landsberg, was chosen best citizen in 1930 and received the
Jubilee Medal in 1933.
|
|||||||||||||
|
BC
JEWS AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Knowledge of Jewish participation in WW I is sketchy as official figures on soldiers' religious affiliations are very limited. Jews often hid their identities and changed their names to be accepted. We do know that a number of BC Jews enlisted, such as Nathan Scheinman and Morris Soskin of Prince Rupert, Victoria's Ben Rose and Ben Grossman, and Vancouverites, Harry Woolfe, Moe Brotman, Horace Potts, Sam Barrett, Harry Ferman and Joe Seidelman, a UBC student who died at Passchendale. An editor of the 1915 University Annual, he had written, "It (is) therefore fitting that the University should take a material part in the Empire's battle for human liberty." |
|
||||||||||||
| During
the war years, members of British Columbia's Jewish community with
German backgrounds or German-sounding names experienced animosities.
Simon Leiser's store in Victoria was destroyed after the sinking of
the Lusitania with fourteen Victoria passengers aboard. Leiser
had been a citizen of BC for 42 years. In Prince Rupert, Isidor Director
and his partner were forced to close their store, while in Vancouver,
Maurice and Etta Koenigsberg's jewellery store was vandalized. By
all accounts, these were anti-German incidents, not anti-Jewish. |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
