Southern Alberta Jewish Veterans of World War I & II
Dedicated to Val Rimer z"l and the Jewish War Veterans of Canada, Post No. 2, and created with the support of the Ghert Family Foundation
What It Is
This database is a searchable collection of biographical information on those Jewish veterans of the First and Second World Wars who have a significant connection to southern Alberta.It refers to veterans who were either born in southern Alberta, or who called southern Alberta their home for a significant amount of time.
Using this database, you can search for veterans’ names, birth places, areas served in, battles fought, decorations awarded, and many other pieces of information. You can also make more complex searches for statistical information, such as how many Jewish veterans from Calgary served in the RCAF, or enlisted in Lethbridge. We seek to honour all applicable Jewish veterans: of all nationalities, branches and countries of military service, theatres of conflict, and roles played in the World Wars. We hope that it will be an invaluable aid to scholarly researchers and family genealogists alike.
What It Is Not
The database only contains information on Jewish veterans of the First and Second World Wars: veterans of other conflicts are not included (unless they also fought in the World Wars). It also only covers those veterans with a connection to southern Alberta. As such, Jewish Albertan World War veterans who were born or lived north of Red Deer are not included. We hope, in a future project, to add military actions post-1945.
How You Can Help
The database is an ongoing project, as is the research behind it, and you may notice that for some veterans there is missing information. If you have information not in our database, contradicting details, or the name of a veteran we missed, please contact us. Government documents are especially valuable, especially for Second World War veterans, as the Government of Canada has not yet released much of this information to the public. Privacy issues mean that only the family of a veteran can, in many cases, provide much of the information we seek. To find out how to obtain family military records, please see our FAQ page.
Where Else Can I Look?
A wide variety of resources is available to those seeking information on veterans of the World Wars. Please see our bibliography and links pages for some suggestions.
Acknowledgements
This database would not be possible without the warm support of the Ghert Family Foundation, the help of the Alberta Community Spirit Grant, and a grant from Veterans Affairs Canada . Much of the initial research for this project was done by the late Jack Switzer. Commander Val Rimer z”l, of the Jewish War Veterans of Canada Post No. 2, was generous with his time and expertise, and the Post’s records were an important resource. This database was spearheaded by Saundra Lipton, and our primary researchers were Keith Hann and Roberta Kerr. In addition, special thanks is extended to all the staff and volunteers who invested so much of their time and effort interviewing veterans, and pouring through archives, journals, government records, newspaper clippings and other documents.