Arnold Sprecher: Mensch!

Told by two of his daughters

Claire Horowitz and Marlene Wolinsky

Mensch:

“A person of integrity and honour” – Miriam Webster Dictionary

“A decent, upright, mature and responsible person” – dictionary.com

“Someone who is good, kind and generous” – Macmillan Dictionary

Menschlichkeit:

“Refers to the qualities that make someone a mensch”

There is no better way to describe the way our father, Arnold Sprecher, lived his life than by saying that he was a man that exuded the qualities of Menschlichkeit. Coupled with his courage, resilience, optimism and fearlessness, the father we knew as a child and as adults was a man who was a very devoted husband, father and grandfather. He approached life with a” joie de vive”, with a positive outlook and with great strength of character, teaching us to “face our fears” and stand up for what was right and just. He was very funny, loved telling jokes, loved to socialize and entertain, and was a great story teller. He faced things head on and may have been small in stature but he was big in personality! He took great pride in his appearance, always wearing the most stylish suits and sport jackets, no matter what the occasion. His chic fedora completed the look.

Arnold was a hard working family man, always available, supportive, caring and kind. For us, his children, he was a pillar of strength, always there for us, freely offering guidance and good advice when we needed it. He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his family, brothers and sisters Rachel and Elsa when they immigrated to Montreal from Germany. His

brother Simon was his best friend. They spent many Sunday mornings together enjoying each other’s company over a cup of coffee. Arnold traveled to England and Israel as often as he could to see his other siblings, Herman, Willi and Sunni.

If there were feelings of bitterness or contempt resulting from the hatred and persecution he experienced in Germany, they were hidden from us. He only spoke of some of his horrendous ordeals and hardships when Germany was under Nazi rule much later in life. Below is his story, told and supported through a collection of his documents, letters, and recent research that uncovered correspondence during the period in his life from 1938-1946.

Letters written by him to government agencies, potential sponsors and employers, correspondence he received in response and newspaper articles covering the period of 1941-1946, tell the story of his escape from Germany on June 12, 1939 and his travels to Britain where he and his brothers Simon and Herman (Hirsch is the name he used in his correspondence with British officials) were interned as “enemy aliens” at the Kitchener Refugee Transit Camp, Richborough, Kent, England. This region was also known as the Isle of Man. Following their successful efforts to be declared “friendly aliens” through the British Aliens Tribunal system as a result of their father, Nachman Sprecher, being of Russian decent, Arnold, Simon and Herman, sailed for Canada on the s.s. Ettrick on July 3, 1940, arriving at the Halifax harbour on July 13, 1940.

Upon their arrival in Canada, they were transported by train to Internment Camp “N” at Sherbrooke Quebec. There Arnold worked as a tailor, his trade by profession, in the camp’s sewing department. Throughout this period in his life, he demonstrated leadership and a strong will not just to survive but to take charge of his destiny and that of “the Sprecher boys” by initiating communications to the Central Committee for Interned Refugees in April, 1941, regarding their desire to immigrate to the USA and their change in status to “Friendly Aliens”. Simultaneously, Arnold began to look for employment opportunities as a tailor, in order to obtain an early release from the Camp so that he could begin to create a new life for himself in Canada.

Their efforts and pleas were finally rewarded in1942. Arnold was released on July 7, 1942. His brother Simon was released on August 21, 1942. Herman was released on April 28, 1942. He chose to return to England. Following a long delay, they were released when their documents from the British Tribunal, declaring them “stateless, friendly aliens”, arrived. Arnold settled in Ottawa, Ontario, and was taken in as a boarder by Morris Shabinsky, a local Jewish property owner and businessman who rented out several rooming houses to Jewish refugees on York Street in Ottawa’s downtown area. Learning of Arnold’s skills as a tailor, Morris helped him secure a job as a tailor’s assistant in a small shop on Dalhousie Street in what would be known later as the market area. There, he settled into his new life, living in Ottawa for the next two years.

Arnold loved to go out and enjoy time with the new friends he made in Ottawa. He accepted an invitation to attend a wedding with his brother Simon in Montreal, Quebec, where he met the love of his life, Goldie Haber. Not only were they perfectly matched but they would come to be known, much later in life, as the “love birds”.

Within a short period of time, they were engaged in 1943 and married on March 26, 1944. Arnold moved to Montreal where he found employment as a tailor. He was a man with a strong work ethic, determination, the ambition to provide well for his wife and future family and possessing the commitment to make it all happen. With assistance from his father-in-law, he opened his own men’s haberdashery using his name,” Arnold,” on St. Hubert Street, a large retail clothing district in the east end of Montreal. Years later, he opened a second retail store,” Ralond”, carrying both men and boys clothing. Remarkably, he achieved his goals, making a new life for himself in Montreal, becoming a devoted and loving husband, father, grandfather and a successful businessman.

Arnold’s painful experiences and memories under Nazi rule in Germany did not overshadow his warm family memories prior to his internment at the Dachau Labour/Concentration Camp, when, during the month of November 1938, he was rounded up and transported with his brothers, Herman and Simon. His experiences there were not a topic for conversation in our home. He did however share small bits of information when we were adults such as the fact that he worked in the kitchen at Dachau and was

able to take advantage of opportunities to steal food and bring it back to his barracks to eat and share with others.

What Arnold was comfortable and happy to speak of were his happy and warm memories of his childhood and the musically talented siblings he grew up with. He also spoke of his mischievous nature as a young child. He always had a smile on his face when reminiscing about his childhood antics. According to him, he frequently challenged rules and limits that were set for him by his parents and teachers and “would drive my mother crazy with worry”. One anecdote he told often and with pride was when he chose to leave his shoes on the bridge by the Rhine River and swam across rather than going straight home from school as expected. Not only did he arrive home late, but he arrived barefoot as his shoes were gone when he went to retrieve them. For him, the story was about how well he could swim!

Arnold’s spirit of adventure, his physical strength and his athleticism was another topic he enjoyed sharing stories about. His strength and physical stamina was demonstrated as an amateur lightweight boxer in Cologne and as a member of the Maccabi Boxing Team in 1934 and 1935. He was coached and assisted at ringside by his brother Simon. He shared his love of boxing and reflected on these experiences and how he and his brothers were known in their region as “the Sprecher brothers” boxing boys. His nickname at that time was “Bubbie”, and he often joked about how his nose was flattened over the years by being punched so hard by his opponents. Of course, he always bragged that the other guy looked worse! His and Simon’s love for the sport continued in Montreal as spectators, often watching boxing matches together on television either at our home or at Simon’s apartment. My sisters and I were more interested and amused watching them wiggle in their chairs, both moving their arms, fists clenched, while they boxed along as they watched the matches.

Our fondest memories of our father revolve around music, reflecting the love of culture that permeated the Sprecher home in Germany. His brother Willi was educated and became proficient in the violin and the French horn. His sisters sang and performed in theatre and on live radio in the medium of Opera. Arnold had a collection of classical and pop records and he loved listening to music on the family Victrola. In our home, he enjoyed playing his L.P.s on our RCA stereo.

We had many instruments in our home throughout the years. Arnold owned a violin, mandolin, banjo and ukulele, often rotated playing his instruments in the evenings and Sundays when everyone was gathered together, singing well known Yiddish, Hebrew and English Folksongs. He would regularly buy song books with lyrics from popular radio tunes and would sing and play them and teach them to us. Peter, Paul and Mary’s Jet Plane, Dona, Dona by Sholom Secunda and Aaron Zeitlin, Tumbalalaika, I Love to Go A-Wandering and Those Were the Days were some of his favourite songs. We would often sing these tunes in harmony when we drove long distances to our vacation destinations. I am forever grateful that his love of music, through song and instrument, was passed down to us as a result of these wonderful childhood experiences.

Of his life changing experiences beginning in Cologne in 1938, Arnold never let his exposure to hatred and oppression stop him from moving forward. That part of his life was rarely spoken of. It was only much later in life, while he was with Marlene, sitting at the Seder table celebrating Passover with her family and friends at the age of 89 in 2003, Arnold spoke about Kristallnacht and then disclosed the details of his rescue with his brothers from Dachau. His sister Elsa used money as a bribe to the guards at Dachau to release the three brothers so that they could attend their mother’s funeral. An escape plan was hatched. Later in the month of June, they were taken to a car in a remote area of town, driven through back roads to a dense wooded area and escaped Germany.

He then retold the story of his travel from England to Canada aboard a ship that also held Prisoners of War including several high ranking German officers. All of his belongings were on another ship that sailed around the same time. A German U-boat torpedoed the ship with his luggage. However his ship was not sunk as several of the German officers were brought to the deck of the ship so that the U-boat captain could see them. He always said that, “in the end, it was the Nazis that saved him.”

What he shared next came as a huge surprise. After 64 years, he was about to share “a secret” that he had been keeping for his entire life in Canada. As we held our breath, he shared that while living in Britain, he was recruited by MI6, the British Intelligence Unit, to work as a Translator, decoding German messages that were being transmitted from Germany

and intercepted by the British Intelligence as a counter-espionage activity. He said he was sworn to secrecy and had never told a soul about his work there before. He felt that at his age, he was now free to disclose this information. He felt a great sense of pride that he was able to do his part to fight against the Nazi regime.

What a remarkable man Arnold was. He lived his life with love, joy, humour, confidence, ambition and determination to carry on for his family of origin, for his new family in Montreal, Canada (the Haber family) and for the family he established with his beautiful and loving wife, Goldie. Arnold adored his three daughters Claire, Rosalie and Marlene. Later in life, he referred to us as his “three angels”.

Arnold was ever so proud of his extended family of grandchildren, Adam Marc, Noah Seth, named in blessed memory of Nachman and Simon, Raquel Paula named in blessed memory of Rachel, Jeffrey Neil named in blessed memory of Nachman, Michael Simon named in blessed memory of Simon, Samantha Louise named in blessed memory of Simon and Gabriel Jordan named in blessed memory of Jacob. To date, eleven great grandchildren are now the third generation to carry the legacy of the Sprecher Family.

What does Arnold’s life from incarceration by the Nazi regime to freedom and fulfilment as a Canadian citizen signify?

For Arnold, and many Holocaust survivors, it is living proof that Hitler’s objective to murder and annihilate the Jewish people for no other reason than that they were Jews DID NOT SUCCEED!

Arnold’s legacy and the legacies of the Sprecher siblings as described in this book testify to the fact that they individually rose above the atrocities, tragedies and challenges that befell them. They created new lives, new families and were successful each in their own manner.

May we all learn from their examples.

May we all celebrate their lives.

May we preserve their stories for generations to come in the spirit of “Never Again!”

 

“The Sprechers of Cologne – An intimate History”

Arnold Sprecher: Mensch!

Addendum

Written by Claire Horowitz

A.  Our family never knew how my father, Arnold, and his brothers, Simon, and Herman, escaped from Germany to their next destination, England.

With additional research, much was uncovered following the publication in 2018 of “The Sprechers of Cologne – An intimate History”. The book was published to coincide with the first Reunion of the Sprecher family’s third, fourth and fifth generations of cousins held in Toronto in June 2018.

We found a document that indicates that a “VISA FOR UNITED KINGDOM” – “GOOD FOR SINGLE JOURNEY ONLY” was granted at the Consular Service in Berlin in Arnold’s name. Another document indicates arrival in Dover on June 13,1939 and stamped on June 14, 1939, by the Kent County Constabulary, a police force in the southeast of England.  

What precipitated these actions?

Arnold and his two brothers, Herman, and Simon, came to England on their application to the Council for German Jewry, a British Jewish organization established in 1936 to help German Jews leave Germany. We assume that it was urgent to get the brothers out of Germany because they left Dachau Concentration Camp on a bribe and did not return. Our cousin, David Sprecher of London, England, in his narrative of his father, Herman‘s story, stated, “Family Lore has it that because of their prominence through boxing, one of the Jewish committees established to assist Jews in peril, arranged for them to go to Britain in 1939.” Arnold’s participation as an amateur lightweight boxer on the Maccabiah Boxing Teams of 1934 and 1935 may have added weight to their application. The conditions for leaving Germany were that they would become “stateless” and that they would not reside in England.

The three brothers were interned as “enemy aliens” at the Kitchener Refugee Transit Camp, Richborough, Kent, England pending emigration. They were deported to Canada on July 3, 1940 and set sail on the s.s. “Ettrick”.

  B.  Our father never knew the fate of his siblings, Anna and Jakob, Jakob’s wife, Dina, and nephew, Alfred. Anna contracted polio as a young child and was confined to a wheelchair. Thanks to meticulous research by Arnold’s grandson, Gabriel Wolinsky, Marlene’s son, we now know what happened to them.

In summary, all four were deported from Cologne on July 20^th, 1942, on a Transport Train #DA 219 to Minsk. There were 1,164 people on the transport including 118 children under the age of 10.

The train was routed to Maly Trostenets Extermination Camp, the only death camp in Czechoslovakia. The camp was located on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, and operated between July 1942 and October 1943, by which time all Jews remaining in Minsk had been murdered and were buried there.

On arrival at Maly Trostenets on July 24, 1942, Jakob, being fit and healthy, was selected by SS members for labour. His life was temporarily spared along with 50 others. The rest of the deportees on the Transport including his wife, Dina, son, Alfred, and sister, Anna, were led away to the edge of a pit in a nearby forest and were immediately shot by SS men and policemen. Jakob most likely witnessed the death of his family. Jakob met the same demise on Oct. 21, 1942.

 Arnold would have shed many tears if he had learned about the brutal murders of his siblings and relatives.

Stories about these types of killing fields were well documented in the post Holocaust period, such as Sobibor, a Nazi extermination camp located in a forest near the village of Sobibor in the present-day Polish province of Lublin.

Never could we have imagined that this barbarity happened to our family members.

Owing to the volunteer efforts of Arjen Dijksman, and his team of dedicated volunteers in Belarus, a Memorial has been created at the Maly Trostenets site called “Forest of Names”. Posters with names and photos of those murdered there are mounted on the trees as a collective memory of what occurred there. It is the very place where Jews from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia were shot. The physical monument beside the forest is in the shape of a train with windows high up, open to the outside world.

A YouTube video from April 21, 2021, provides more details. Participating in the video are, Gabriel Wolinsky, and Arjen Dijksman. Arjen mounts a poster on a tree in memory of Anna, Jakob, Dina, and Alfred Sprecher.

May their memories be for a blessing. Yahrzeit date: July 24, 1942.

C.   We now know more about Camp “N”, the internment camp in Sherbrooke, Quebec, set up by the Canadian Government to house German Prisoners of War. Camp Newington was one of five such camps. It was located along the Saint-Francis River in Sherbrooke. Others were located south of the St. Lawrence River.

As the Second World War broke out, people were fleeing Nazi Germany and arriving in Britain. They included German Jews like my father, Arnold and his brothers, Simon and Herman who already had spent six months at Dachau Concentration Camp. Since it was feared that Nazi sympathizers were among them, they were again incarcerated at Britain’s Isle of Man. There they were categorized as A- “dangerous Nazis” or B and C – “possibly dangerous or not dangerous at all”. A combination of all three categories arrived at Camp Newington starting in July of 1940. Later Camp Newington was reserved for those of Jewish descent.

The conditions at Camp Newington were appalling! The barracks consisted of two abandoned railway repair sheds. Windows were broken; the roof leaked; the walls were covered in grease. There were two toilets for 736 men.

Arnold never spoke about these conditions that he and his brothers had to endure. He did tell us that Nazis were interspersed among the German Jews. Since he was a tailor by trade, he worked there in the sewing department. But now we know that he was paid 20 cents per day, the maximum salary allowed for a prisoner of war, another indignity.

The prisoners denied being “prisoners of war” and protested wearing POW uniforms. In due course, owing to the actions of Alexander Patterson, Commissioner of Prisons in London, who was sent to Canada to sort out the actual status of those incarcerated at Camp Newington, their status was changed to “Refugee”.  The new status would allow them to be released. Their release remained a challenge due to the anti-Semitic and anti-German sentiment in Canada. However, by 1942, refugees were slowly being released, Arnold on July 7, 1942, Herman on April 28, Simon on August 21.

Arnold and Simon remained in Canada. Herman returned to England and settled in London.

More detailed information about this chapter in Canadian history can be found in an article published on Tuesday, September 24, 2019, in “The Record”, Sherbrooke’s only English language newspaper.