Having just watched another TV special on the Concentration camps of Germany, I began to remember some incidents that took place after the war that had to do with German immigrants. I felt that I should record these incidents as they tend to show the peculiarities of the human mind.
At this point in my life I had given up tailoring for fur work as no one would hire a female to do men's tailoring at this time. I was Head Furfinisher at the Sweetsixteen store on Main St. in Vancouver. The Jewish community were the main people in Vancouver in the Fur industry and owned Sweetsixteen, which was a fairly large company. The head Furrier, who was the only one over me, was also Jewish.
For over four years the papers had been full of the atrocities of the Concentration Camps and the number of Jews killed in them, so you can imagine my surprise when I came to work one morning to find a German woman DP, had been hired by the firm and was ensconced in the workroom. I soon realized that she had lied about knowing the Fur Trade, and was very clever about getting information from those around her on how to do the work. It wasn't long before I noticed that she was playing up to the old man who was the head furrier.
I became interested in trying to find out more about her as I was really ticked off that she had not only gotten into Canada but that the people who should have hated her presence were actually toadying up to her. What was it about her that they liked? And why no anger towards one of the race who had killed so many of their own?
As I chatted her up and made friends with her, she invited me to her place for lunch on our Sat. off. When I got there I noticed a picture on her buffet of an SS man in full uniform. I thought it was of some one who had died in the war, so I was surprised when she told me it was her boyfriend who had come over with her. And then she proceeded to tell me all about herself. She had worked for the biggest newspaper in one of the cities that had been invaded by the Russians and had been taken prisoner by them. They had put out their cigarettes on her arms. She showed me the scars. I asked how her boy friend had gotten into the country as he was SS and as I understood it they weren't supposed to be allowed into Canada. She gave me a shock as she explained how he ditched all his papers and uniform and lied like mad to get into Canada. Both of them found out what skills were wanted and claimed that they were proficient in them. And did not have any problems getting in.
I had learned all I wanted to by then and left. As I watched her playing the old man for a fool and using him, I became so disgusted by his stupidity. Not long after I had one of my Visions and was told the old man was dying of cancer. Since I knew I could not help him,I decided to leave that shop. I don't know if it was ignorance on his part or conceit that a German girl was toadying up to him but I felt the old man should have been ashamed off himself for even talking to her.
What I will never understand is how Canada let them in. So many of us had lost husbands and fathers and sons and brothers to that war. I spent 5 years of my life from the age of 12 to 16, being brainwashed to hate the Germans, and when it was over I was expected to drop all of that and like them because big companies wanted to do business with them again! Well, it doesn't work like that does it? For all we know he may have been one of the SS who worked in one of the camps. It doesn't appear from what she told me that he had gone through any battles or fighting. They were not a military unit as far as I know.
I have often wondered how they fared in Canada and where they ended up. Where are they now?
After I was married I met a Dutch woman who lived in one of the adjoining apartments in my block and became friendly with her before I found out her story. She was married to a German and had been friendly with him during the war in Holland. She had had her head shaved when the war was over as a collaborator. She had the gall to tell me how she got her job as an operating nurse in the General Hospital. She had claimed that as her job when she came into Canada and then bluffed her way by pretending to not know the names of the instruments and procedures in Canada. Our naïve Canadians helped her out. Did I report any of these people? No! I figured if our government was that stupid they were not going to listen to me! They would want to cover their tails by ignoring it.
Years later I met another Dutch woman who worked in the Surrey Memorial. She bragged to me about taking the price tags off of one item and putting it onto another at Army and Navy stores. She got her job as a nurse the same way a lot of Dutch immigrants did. Someone had gone into a shelled hospital and picked up all the files and work records of the DR's and Nurses and was selling them as references. Since so many records had been lost in the bombings there was no way to really check them out. By now I was becoming disgusted with her cheating and was looking for some way to dump her as a friend, when I found out one day when I opened a cupboard in her kitchen looking for a glass for water. It was full of medicine bottles! She admitted stealing them from the hospital! I never saw her again and I tried to tell other nurses at the hospital what I found out but no one wanted to do anything about it. I finally gave up but that was the last time I made friends with any newcomers to Canada. I did not appreciate the way they were thanking us for giving them citizenship.
Created © and Maintained by: Nina
Last modified on August 13th,2002
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