Keeping mama's story alive at Pier 21

Seventy years ago, after years of interviews and form-filling in Displaced Persons camps in Germany, my mother stepped off a ship in Halifax and presented her new documents to an immigration officer at Pier 21. I was with her, a tired and tetchy four year-old. My father and his friend had gone ahead, to find accommodation and work in Northern Ontario.

Today I returned to Pier 21, now the Canadian Museum of Immigration. I had the pleasure of donating original documents and objects that chronicled that time in my mother's life as she fled Nazi Germany in search of a new life in a new land.

There was the old purse with a secret compartment in the lining where she hid letters that told of her abduction by Nazi soldiers and her time as a slave worker; there was the mug she'd been given in a camp in Weiden, and a plate still bearing the Swastika insignia; and meal tickets and berth reservations on the MV Nelly that brought us to Canada.

The papers included my stepfather's labour record for the Canadian government. He had to complete two years of labour before Canada allowed him to apply for Canadian Citizenship. He worked as a miner in Northern Ontario to qualify.  

Handing over the objects and documents to Sabrina Orr (right) from the museum's Research and Collections department.

I think my mother would be proud to know that documents recording the hardships and fears she - like so many others - endured in those dark years will now form part of the Museum's collection. They may form part of an exhibit online, and will be available to future generations of scholars and researchers.

I was in tears today as I handed over mama's possessions to Sabrina Orr, from the Research and Collections Department at Pier 21. I was reminded again of the beautiful girl who had her childhood stolen, who endured unspeakable horror and deprivation, who never saw her parents or homeland again, and who carried secrets from those wartime years that haunted her for the rest of her life.

I am deeply honoured that Pier 21 will keep mama's story alive. It's the story of so many slave labourers who were snatched from their homes by the Nazis.

Our stories define us. They must not be lost. My deep gratitude and thanks for the work the Pier 21 Museum does in keeping our stories alive.