Turned Away: The World War II Diary of Devorah Bernstein

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

In Turned Away, Carol Matas, well-known for her award-winning historical
fiction dealing with the plight of European Jews during World War II,
turns to a shameful part of Canadian history—the national
government’s restrictive immigration policy, which turned away
thousands of Jews, thereby likely condemning them to death in Europe’s
concentration camps. While Canadian children have encountered books
about other wartime governmental policy misdeeds, Turned Away is the
first to focus on this lesser-known part of Canada’s history.

The diary of Winnipeg’s Devorah Bernstein, age 12, begins on December
6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, and concludes
11 months later. While Devorah records many personal issues typical to
the time and her age group, the war has particularly affected the
Bernsteins: two of Devorah’s brothers have already enlisted, with one
becoming a fighter pilot in Britain and the other a soldier in Hong
Kong. Devorah’s third window on the war is through her cousin Sarah,
who lives in France; it is through Sarah’s letters to Devorah that
readers trace the deteriorating conditions being experienced by European
Jews. Additionally, Sarah’s family is one of the Jewish families that
unsuccessfully seeks to immigrate to Canada. A 14–page concluding
section of black-and-white photos reinforces the book’s period
setting. Highly recommended.