Starting Over in Canada

“In April 1948, we packed our meagre belongings, and we were on our way again. We crossed the ocean on a large Polish ship, the Sobieski. Here were more wonders that I had never experienced — decks with staircases to be explored and dining rooms where meals were served to us by waiters. Except for a little seasickness, it was a wonderful week. As we approached Halifax, we all hoped we would find a permanent home in Canada.”

In 1947, the Canadian Jewish Congress persuaded the Canadian government to allow approximately one thousand young Jewish refugees to immigrate to Canada.

Most had lost their parents and had to start over all alone. Arriving in Canada, some of the young refugees had to step directly into adult life, going to work and paying rent. Others were adopted by a family and were able to resume their education.

“Bloor Collegiate was located near our house. I was first taken there by my foster mother, and was interviewed by the principal himself, Mr. Noble. I understood when he asked me my name and how old I was. I answered carefully, supplying the version of my name that had been newly given to me by the immigration authorities: ‘My name is Catherine Mozes-Nagy and I am fifteen years old.’ He responded, ‘You are?’ And I answered, ‘I are.’”

“Twenty-four pairs of eyes scrutinized me as I stood in front like an exotic insect impaled on the blackboard….

The scenes were as alien to me as the words pouring out of the teacher’s mouth. In Hungary, I could locate the rivers of the country, the Danube and the Tisza, and all the counties with their capitals on the classroom wall map. I could recite the poems of the famous Hungarian poets, Petőfi and Arany and Endre Ady. But what was the use? Nobody here would understand or care.”

“My heart pumped like mad with excitement and my knees were shaking. I had not been to school for nine years….

I was both fearful and excited. Before the war, I had finished only Grade 4. During the war, I had neither an opportunity for nor an interest in learning… I steeled myself as I entered the school building….

My high school graduation was a milestone that I had never thought I could reach.”

“At my graduation from law school on the McGill campus, which my mother attended, I told her that it was her doing and that she deserved all the credit, reminding her that my education had started with her…I know, had I refused to walk to those institutions of learning she was prepared to lift me up and carry me, just as she had across the muddy puddles when I was a spoiled child.”

“I had such a passion for performing ever since I was a teenager in the DP camp, but when we first arrived in Montreal…I had wanted to have a career as an opera singer….

The reality was that I simply could not afford to do this….

In 1971, my dearest friend Sidney Zoltak, who was a member of the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre, asked me to join this wonderful group, which put on Yiddish productions of musicals and dramas. I started a non-professional theatrical career that lasted some forty years and, to a lesser extent, is still continuing.”

“I had always wanted to pursue higher education but had left high school early to help support my family. I enrolled at York University as a mature student while Ricky was completing his first degree. I think he was embarrassed to have his mother there; every time he saw me coming, he hid behind a newspaper….

It was a pretty difficult time but very rewarding. Despite the challenges, when I think back on those years, I remember them as being the happiest.”