Open Your Hearts: The Story of the Jewish War Orphans in Canada

J.L. Granatstein, distinguished research professor emeritus of history
at York University, is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and
co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influential Canadians of the
20th Century and the Dictionary of Canadi

Open Your Hearts is a well-written, well-researched book about the 1123
Jewish orphans of the Holocaust who were brought to Canada for adoption
in 1947. Through good luck all had survived in the midst of horror, and
they eagerly seized the chance to come to Canada. Not that the Canadian
government much wanted them: the same officials who had blocked refugees
in the 1930s were still sitting atop the bureaucratic pyramid, and their
objections had to be overcome. And not that it was easy to place the
orphans with Canadian Jews: the community was small and not yet
especially wealthy, and it took much persuasion to get all the orphans
into homes. Yet, the plan worked. Families had trouble overcoming the
psychological problems of their charges, and sophisticated children
sometimes ended up with working-class parents who cared little for
education. But, overall, everyone adapted, and Canada acquired a group
that contributed greatly. The brilliant stage director John Hirsch was
among them, along with countless doctors, scientists, academics, and
ordinary good citizens. Disproportionate numbers ended up in the caring
professions, something that seems to characterize most North American
Holocaust survivors. In all, Canada got a good bargain, as Martz’s
book makes clear.