The Stories

In the 1940's, Moishe became very active in the Jewish Labour Committee, an organization who helped coordinate relief and support for Jews in Europe and North America during and after the war. To find out more about why Moishe moved his family to Canada, Avi heads to New York City and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

There he learns that Moishe was born in Svisloch in modern Belarus in 1888. In Svisloch he was a tanner and a member of the Jewish Bund, a socialist, labour-focused, Jewish political party. Svisloch was part of Poland for much of the early 20th century. When the Russians took

Moishe and Family

control of the area in 1920, Moishe was held by the Bolsheviks and interrogated for days because of his affiliation with the Bund and social activism. It was after this threatening experience that Moishe decided to relocate his family to Canada.

At the YIVO Institute, Avi is shown some photographs of Svisloch before the Second World War. Astonishingly there is a photograph of David Lewis on a visit to his hometown in 1932. But Avi is even more amazed to see a photograph of David's maternal grandfather, Osher Berl Lazarovitch, an elderly white-bearded man photographed by chance, walking down the street.

Moishe and Family

Avi takes the photographs and archives that he has found relating to Svisloch, David, and his ancestors home to show his father, Stephen and his mother, Michelle Landsberg. Stephen believes that David had no idea he was under surveillance by the government. As disturbing and perplexing as the RCMP's 50-year file on his grandfather is to Avi, he is somewhat thankful, because it has brought him far closer to his grandfather than he could have imagined. He is also grateful to learn that his family's strong sense of social justice remained strong despite numerous obstacles.

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