Malkin Family
Charles Malkin and Toba Gurevitch Malkin came to Calgary in 1906. With them were their two children-Fanny (Nagler), born in 1902, and Albert, born during a pogrom the very night before their departure from Russia.
Also with them came Toba’s parents and Charles’ mother. Two Gurevitch brothers were already here, homesteading in Rumsey.
Charles Malkin opened a grocery store on 8th Avenue near 2nd Street E. This establishment became a meeting place for members of the Jewish community. (His store was sold to make way for the first Safeway store in Calgary in 1930.)
When there was a Jewish death in Calgary, Charles’ mother insisted on traditional burial rites. She herself prepared the bodies; so began Jewish women’s involvement in Calgary’s Chevra Kadisha.
Charles Malkin at this time served as Vice President of the Beth Jacob Congregation where he held seat No.2. He also acted as Chevra Kadisha’s President- a post he held for many years. In 1910, when there were one hundred Jewish families in town, the Calgary Hebrew School became associated with the synagogue under Malkin’s presidency.
Daughter Fanny Malkin was the first Jewish teacher in the Calgary Public School system. In 1929, she married Herman Nagler.
