History - Jewish Canadian service in the Second World War

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Setting the scene

The Second World War erupted in September 1939 and by the time it finally came to an end in August 1945, its fighting had raged across bloody battlefields, on unforgiving seas and in dangerous skies around the globe for more than six years.

As Nazi Germany invaded and occupied neighbouring countries in Europe during the opening phases of the conflict, it soon became apparent that only a massive international effort could defeat the powerful enemy war machine.

As part of a great national mobilization in Canada, many members of our country’s Jewish community heeded the call to serve. In addition to their loyalty to king and country, they had an intensely personal motivation to pick up arms to help defeat the Nazi regime. Under the odious leadership of dictator Adolf Hitler, Germany had enacted many anti-Semitic policies that cruelly restricted the rights of Jewish people. With the outbreak of the Second World War, this virulent racism would soon escalate into the nightmare of the Holocaust.

At the time of the Second World War, many Jewish families in our country had emigrated from Europe just a generation or two earlier—and indeed a considerable number of Jewish Canadians had actually been born overseas. This meant there were often close connections to their old homelands—countries that were now squarely in the crosshairs of the Nazi regime that was sweeping across Europe. Ben Dunkelman of Toronto, who would rise to the rank of major in the Queen’s Own Rifles and came ashore at Juno Beach on D-Day, no doubt spoke for many Jews when he said, “It was quite clear to me that, as a loyal Canadian, it was my duty to volunteer to fight. Besides, as a Jew, I had a special score to settle with the Nazis.”

Nearly 5,000 Jews in Canada had stepped up to enlist during the First World War of 1914 – 1918, and some had also served in other earlier conflicts, so there was a proud tradition of military service for the community to build on. This legacy of duty and sacrifice would be echoed and surpassed during the Second World War, with large numbers of Jewish Canadians joining the army, navy, air force and merchant marine.