Murray Jacobs grew up in prewar Toronto, where he saw some of the city’s growing pains in the 1930s. That included the infamous Christie Pitts Riots of the 1930s, in which he was involved and was forced to confront the reality of local anti-Semitism. He enlisted in World War Two, where he would serve in the engineering battalions. He was sent overseas and eventually went ashore at Juno Beach in the week after D-Day. His regiment fought through Normandy, the Netherland, and into Germany. Murray has since visted the Netherlands, where he is a proud member of Canada’s army of liberation. Today he continues to involve himself in the Royal Canadian Legion and the Memory Project. He was interviewed for this project by Matt D’Ambrosio and Brian Schwartz.
Videos
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- 1. Murray Jacobs - Introduction and Prewar Memories
- 2. Other Prewar Memories
- 3. Prewar Toronto
- 4. Awareness of Hitler
- 5. Joining Up
- 6. Christie Pitts
- 7. Anti-Semitism; Parental Reaction to his Enlistment
- 8. Training
- 9. Manning Depot and the Troop Ship
- 10. Training; Life in England
- 11. Memories of Battle
- 12. The Combat Engineers
- 13. The Battle of Falaise
- 14. The Scheldt and the Ardennes
