Pieces of the past returned to D-Day vet's son + Liberation of the Netherlands and the Holocaust

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Catching up on important Canadian Jewish military stories: Spring Newsletter 2022

As travel begins to resume, despite COVID, (or maybe in spite of COVID), stories like the four in this Spring Newsletter continue to inspire: some remind us of the sacrifices of the Canadians who served in the Second World War, while others portray how modern Jewish personnel stand on those shoulders and forge new paths for Jews in the military.
(If you received this newsletter earlier today, note that this new version has an updated photo of me interviewing Samantha Bailey. So read this one!)

FIRST UP:
How Harvey Engelberg went to France to retrieve 43 pieces of his father's wrecked D-Day Dakota airplane from the French farmers who found them all. The podcast runs 12 minutes.
Learn why historians hope Canada will honour the downed pilot who helped save Engelberg's father.

Harvey Engelberg and the Ferey family in Bassenville, France

Montrealer Harvey Engelberg meets the Ferey family in Bassenville, Normandy, France, in April 2022, where his late father Cobby Engelberg crashed on D-Day in June 1944. Pieces of the plane can be seen in the foreground. (Harvey Engelberg photo).

Hear and read about the 78-year-old mystery

2. NEXT UP.

May 4 is the National Day of Liberation in the Netherlands. What better time to bring you this next story about the bravery of Dutch resisters and a Toronto Jewish soldier who changed the destiny of a family of 8 Holocaust survivors, the Veffers.

Veffer family in Bussum, before the war.

The Veffer family from Bussum, Netherlands, before the war. Sara Veffer and her husband Jonas ran a flower shop. (Photo courtesy Dr. Hartley Stern.)

Read more about Martin Stern and Chelly Veffer, who later moved to Canada.

3. Meet the first Jewish chaplain ever to deploy with the Canadian Navy: how Capt. Rabbi Arnold Glogauer got a Lulav sent all the way across the high seas

Military service runs in Arnold Glogauer's family history. How the Canadian Lubavitch rabbi-turned-chaplain spent four months deployed on board HMCS Winnipeg on patrol in the East. No mail. COVID bubbles. Bringing Torah to sailors of all faiths.

Rabbi Capt. Arnold Glogauer marks Sukkot on board HMCS Winnipeg in October 2021. (Submitted photo).

Interview with Capt. Glogauer here

4. The life of two Canadian "lone soldiers" who've just completed service in Israel's Army.

Meet two Canadian veterans of the IDF program for Lone Soldiers: Zach Brown, now working at an Israeli startup in Tel Aviv, and Rebecca Weiss. She is now studying at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

What it was like serving during the May 2021 rocket attacks during the war with Hamas, and, hear some of the surprising reasons young Jews from around the world come to sign up with the IDF.

In Brief:

a) My book "Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military and WWll" was cited by the Minister of National Defence's r ecent report on systemic racism and discrimination in the Canadian Armed Forces. (released April 25, 2022).

b) I had the pleasure of helping bestselling Canadian novelist Samantha M. Bailey launch her new book "Watch Out For Her" as the moderator for our feature interview April 26, 2022 through the Virtual JCC Storyteller program, out of Toronto. You can watch the evening here, but you have to create a free account to log-in.

Book Ellin for your next event

Does your group or company need a speaker for your monthly meetings? For book clubs? For important calendar events such as Holocaust Remembrance Day, D-Day, or Nov. 11?

I'm an accomplished speaker to groups large and small, on several topics: Jewish military service, Holocaust, Liberation, antisemitism, women on the home front, and also topics related to being the host of The CJN Daily podcast of The Canadian Jewish News.

I'm an entertaining moderator, a gifted interviewer, and audiences love my lively, interactive presentations.
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For inquiries about bookings (either by Zoom or in person, COVID depending) please contact me.

Copyright © 2022 Ellin Bessner, All rights reserved.

Ellin Bessner · 951 Carlaw Avenue · Suite 149b · Toronto, Ontario, Ontario M4K3M2 · Canada

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FIRST UP: How Harvey Engelberg went to France to retrieve 43 pieces of his father's wrecked D-Day Dakota airplane from the French farmers who found them all. The podcast runs 12 minutes. Learn why historians hope Canada will honour the downed pilot who helped save Engelberg's father.

FIRST UP:
How Harvey Engelberg went to France to retrieve 43 pieces of his father's wrecked D-Day Dakota airplane from the French farmers who found them all. The podcast runs 12 minutes.
Learn why historians hope Canada will honour the downed pilot who helped save Engelberg's father.