Oral history interview session (51mm 32ss) with Roz Usiskin, conducted by Nolan Reilly, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2018. Interview is indexed and transcribed in full.

Usiskin tells about the circumstances that led her father to leave the Ukraine and eventually arrive in Winnipeg, Manitoba just prior to the First World War. Family life in the Ukraine was one of impoverishment and persecution for being Jewish and engaged in left politics. Describes attempts to bring his mother and sister to Winnipeg during the War, father joining the Jewish Legionnaires, and returning to Winnipeg to take up his job as a tinsmith. 1919 father participated in the Winnipeg General Strike. Usiskin describes her aunt, her father’s sister, in the Russian Revolution and her father’s successful efforts to bring his sister and mother to Winnipeg, her father and mother’s meeting in Winnipeg and subsequent marriage. Explores the hardship of the family’s life in Winnipeg, and difficulty of finding steady employment. Yiddish was spoken at home, Jewish education was emphasized, and Jewish traditions followed, although her father was a secularist and labour supporter. She speaks of the special relationship her father had with the children. Describes the Cold War and its effect on the family and friends is explored in some detail. Ms. Usiskin’s aunt joined the Communist Party of Canada and was a union organizer in Winnipeg and Toronto before moving to New York.

This is the first of 8 Abe Arnold interview sessions.

This interview session (58mm 36ss) includes Arnold's early life in Montreal, his parents, and his family's circumstances living in Montreal's Jewish neighbourhoods.

This is Session 2 of 8 of the Abe Arnold interview.

This session includes Arnold speaking about his maternal grandparents and children; father’s siblings; Jewish holidays with his family; his work from the early 1940s (Joseph Gould and Sons in Toronto); education in drafting and mechanical drawing; service in the army; the onset of his illness; involvement in the Young Communist League; first article in Volchenblatt and Modern Digest; marriage to wife Bertha in 1945; freelance work for Montreal Standard, Canadian Film Weekly; work at Anglo-Jewish News Service (1946-47); attendance at meeting of the Jewish Press Association (1946); influential leftist literature; Gouzenko Affair; political climate in Ontario through the 1940s; and his family in the 1940s.

Oral history interview session (01hh 06mm 16ss) with Roz Usiskin, conducted by Nolan Reilly, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2018. Interview is indexed and transcribed in full.

Nolan Reilly, the interviewer, outlines the objectives and procedures for the interview with Roseline (Roz) Usiskin. Usiskin agrees to be recorded. In her narration, Usiskin elaborates on themes raised in the first interview session on her father and his family’s immigration to Canada, his search for work, and his meeting her mother. She describes her childhood and her family’s close relationship to the Jewish community. Yiddish was spoken in the home. Usiskin describes her mother as devoutly religious and her father as an atheist and a socialist. Jewish traditions she indicates were and still are important to her family but from a very secularist perspective. She describes in good detail her education through grade eleven as a combination of parochial and public schooling. Usiskin for many years attended public day school where she experienced what she describes as a process of Canadianization and then spent several hours each late afternoon and evening in the Jewish Peretz School. She describes a vibrant Jewish culture in North End Winnipeg that continued into the post-Second World War years. The family lived in the Boyd-Burrows neighbourhood, an area of primarily Jewish and Ukrainian immigrants. Her family home often had boarders to help with their finances. Usiskin concludes this recording session with an introduction to her siblings.

Oral history interview session (01hh 05mm 01ss) with Roz Usiskin, conducted by Nolan Reilly, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2018. Interview is indexed and transcribed in full.

Nolan Reilly, the interviewer, outlines the objectives and procedures for the interview with Roseline (Roz) Usiskin. Usiskin agrees to be recorded. Usiskin begins this recording session with a deeper explanation of the difficult circumstances her father, his sister and mother experienced in Ukraine before emigrating to Canada. Usiskin next provides a detailed exploration of her involvement in the United Jewish Peoples Order’s Order (UJPO) from in the early-1940s to the present. The UJPO proved to be a significant personal, cultural, and political centre of Usiskin’s life. It was through the UJPO that she became the director of the organization’s summer camp for children. She also taught as a young woman in the Peretz school in Winnipeg. Usiskin continues on to describe the growing awareness in the 1940s of the Jewish community of the Holocaust. She explores the difference she experienced between the response of the UJPO and other Jewish organizations to the Holocaust. UJPO always emphasized resistance from its earliest to its present-day activities undertaken to commemorate the Holocaust. Usiskin describes a particularly emotional visit with her husband to the Anne Frank Museum.

This is session 3 of 8 of the Abe Arnold interview, including session log and transcript.

Arnold begins the session by sharing the story of Abram in the Idolshop, a play he participated in as part of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. He discusses growing into political consciousness. Arnold recalls his time living in Toronto then the move to Vancouver in 1948. Arnold recalls the work he did while in Vancouver, including detailed recollections of running the Jewish Western Bulletin, where his wife Bertha also worked. He recalls his activities and affiliations with several organizations, including the Canadian Jewish Congress, B’nai Brith, and the Civic Unity Association (a human rights group), the U.J.P.O. and the Peretz School. He recalls the political climate in B.C. in the early 1950s, including elements of antisemitism that were apparent at the time, and the politics between Canadian Jewish organizations during this time. He recalls the purchase of their first car and house, and the birth of twin daughters all in 1951. Throughout the interview session Arnold recalls key players in organizations and politics, illustrating the relationships and interpersonal dynamics between them.

Oral history interview session (01hh 41mm 08ss) with Roz Usiskin, conducted by Nolan Reilly, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2018. Interview is indexed and transcribed in full.

Nolan Reilly, the interviewer, outlines the objectives and procedures for the interview with Roseline (Roz) Usiskin. Usiskin agrees to be recorded. She describes how in 1946 she and her community of friends continued to feel the aftereffects of the war. Learning about the Holocaust, she explains, made her grow up faster. She explores how the emerging Cold War significantly affected her life. The UJPO supported the Soviet Union and some of the organization’s members joined the Communist Party of Canada, although she never did. Usiskin describes details of a very difficult period for her and her community. Phones were wiretapped, police informants attended their meetings, and some of their events were disrupted. Family discussions, especially with her aunt now living in New York, became very guarded and circumspect. She declares that the Cold War was a terror for her and others and that she continues to experience the effects of the period. Usiskin describes beginning of the decline of the UJPO and the Jewish left due to the pressure of the Cold War and the actions of the Soviet Union, including the revelations about Stalin, the invasion of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, its treatment of Jews. The decline of Yiddish is another topic explored by Usiskin which she experienced within her second generation of Jewish immigrants. This is attributed to living in an English speaking society but also to the emphasis on Hebrew considered the biblical language of Jews with the rise of the new state of Israel.

Usiskin speaks next about meeting Larry Usiskin, her future husband, through the UJPO. A detailed description of the history of Usiskin’s extended family is provided. Larry Usiskin's family in Winnipeg was very poor and much more radicalized than Roz Usiskin’s family. Their interest in one another focused on a shared interest in books, music, travel, and politics. Both families were happy with the marriage. Roz Usiskin’s family were progressive and secular (except for her mother who was somewhat more conservative).

This is session 4 of 8, of the Abe Arnold interview, including session log and transcript.

Arnold begins the session by remembering a family vacation the Arnolds took in 1953. He then discusses his work in the mid-1950s, writing columns which addressed antisemitism. He recalls the stigma of communism during these years and how that indirectly caused trouble for him in his work. Arnold details his work as the Research Chair for the Vancouver Centennial Committee (Folk Festival), and also some of the travel he did for his writing, starting the “first Jewish Archives collection” in Vancouver, and recalls the first International Festival in Vancouver in 1958. Arnold recalls his first trip to Israel in 1959. He discusses the Canadian Jewish Congress’ celebration of the bi-centennial of Jewish settlement in Canada, and being appointed Chairman of the Bi-Centennial Committee. Arnold discusses the B.C. Provincial Government’s troubles with the Doukhobors. He recalls doing a program on the C.B.C. and writing articles on human rights issues, and discusses his professional relationship with Saul Hayes (National Executive Director-Canadian Jewish Congress). Arnold recalls some of the artists he worked with while in Vancouver. He concludes the session by telling about a Quebec news writer who noted one of his articles on Jews in Canada as one of his preferred renditions of that history.

Oral history interview session (01hh 14mm 22ss) with Roz Usiskin, conducted by Nolan Reilly, Winnipeg Manitoba, 2018. Interview is indexed and transcribed in full.

Nolan Reilly, the interviewer, outlines the objectives and procedures for the interview with Roseline (Roz) Usiskin. Usiskin agrees to be recorded. Usiskin begins the session with a description of Sid Bagel, her brother in law, being forced to abandon a doctoral programme in the United States during the Cold War, because Usiskin’s best friend whom he was marrying was associated with the Communist movement. They instead moved to Vancouver where he completed a doctoral programme at the University of British Columbia. Usiskin then provides a detailed description of her marriage to Larry Usiskin. The wedding was small with the ceremony held at the rabbi’s home and the reception at her family home. They initially resided in the home of her parents but moved after several years to a newer house in West Kildonan. Their son Michael was born in 1951. They would have two other boys in the next few years. Roz Usiskin’s father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1950 and suffered greatly until his death in 1965. He was a great letter writer and conversationalist who grew increasingly frustrated with his declining ability to do either because of the disease. Usiskin describes the impact this had upon their family. Her mother died in 1966 from cancer. Usiskin continues the interview with her recollections of raising three boys in a busy household amidst the expectations of their extended families and the society of that era. She describes how her community activities involved many evening meetings, but her husband happily spent time with the children. The interview session closes with Usiskin reflecting on their hopes and expectations for their children as they grew to adulthood.

Session 5 of 8 of the Abe Arnold interview conducted by Nolan Reilly.

Arnold begins the session speaking about his health issues and the medical treatment of them while he was living in Vancouver. He then turns to speaking about his work at the Jewish Western Bulletin during the 1950s. He tells how he moved to Montreal in 1960 and began work as the Publicity and Public Relations Director for the Jewish Federation (later Allied Jewish Community Services), which was primarily doing editing work. Both he and his wife Bertha found better paying work in Montreal. Arnold also speaks about the special education one of his daughters required in Montreal, and working with his wife Bertha and other community members toward establishing such a class for children in their community. Arnold talks briefly about challenges his children faced during this time, one of his daughters enduring an illness, and there being not sport facilities for his son to continue his track and field, and later some difficulty with school. He recalls being hospitalized in 1961, to have a lung operation, and his wife Bertha then becoming ill with tuberculosis in 1963. Arnold continues to speak about his work writing and his involvement in politics in Montreal and becoming established in his work as the Executive Director of the Canadian Jewish Congress in Winnipeg, after moving there in [1966?]. He speaks briefly to the experiences of his children at this time, and concludes the session describing his participation in forming the Manitoba Human Rights Association in 1968.