Vanished in Darkness

Eva Brewster

Newest Press

Edmonton

1986

ISBN 0-920897-06-1

On the opening page of the book we are given a rundown of its contents including the birth of Eva Brewster to a wealthy Jewish family in Berlin in 1922, her marriage at sixteen to Freddy Raphael was followed by the birth of their first daughter Reha. When Eva was just 20 in 1943 her family was sent to the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau of which Eva is one of the few inmates to survive. The author recounts her story in the only way she is able using the name Daniella Raphael, her resistance name and her first husband's last name.

The book begins with Daniella being moved around prisons in an attempt by the Gestapo to get her to talk of what she knows of the resistance. The Authoress remembers "My little Reha was only a baby when I was forced to work in a factory","Reha was the first child at the center in the morning and the last to be collected at night. I remember her forlorn little figure, sitting half asleep in a tiny chair in the huge, deserted play-room,".

We are told of the conditions of life for a Jewish family living stripped of their wealth with their yellow stars, their bank accounts frozen. In Berlin in 1943 "Jews were no longer given scarce milk, butter,eggs or fruit."

Daniella talks about her mother's job at an emergency ward "My mother told me of many, many old people who attempted suicide. Often their attempts were unsuccessful and they were taken to the hospital to be nursed back to health only to be arrested and sent to an unknown, terrifying destiny."

As the family heads underground and in separate directions as not to be captured by the Gestapo a plan is hatched to send Reha to east Prussia to be taken care of, and in the middle of a cold windy night Daniella hands off Reha to a stranger and in that moment is left haunted by the fact that she forgot to give Reha a kiss goodbye.

Daniella is forced into an underground life in the resistance and in February of 1943 while waiting for a midnight meeting with resistance member she is arrested by the Gestapo and taken back to the police station where she is interrogated but also meets her contact in the resistance who happens to be a police officer.

The following morning Daniella is taken to a field where she is forced to take off her clothes and stand in the snow to be executed by firing squad but is saved by her policeman contact in the resistance. Soon Daniella is on her way to a new prison in Ludwigshafen in which she recalls was a comfortable prison or better than what would come later.

As luck has it Daniella comes face to face with Freddy who has also been captured, and thanks to the kind warden allow them to spend a short time together after the Gestapo leave for the nights. Soon Daniella is joined in her cell by two school girls who take the prison and everything as a joke.

Daniella tells us "One day, therefore, the two girls and I were taken to the station and put on a prison train consisting of many carriages, with no windows other than small barred light shafts in the roof." We are then told of a journey passing through a number of different prisons before reaching Berlin.

In Berlin, Daniella is freed to go find her mother but it is a trick and only a few blocks after freedom Daniella is again back in Gestapo hands. She is led to an office which contains a man dictating a letter to a "very glamorous secretary." Daniella describes the man as "tall, dark and handsome,". "His face seemed friendly and honest."

After the secretary leaves the man approaches Daniella and barks at her "Where is your child?", "He was towering over me know, his face revealing his true self.". The man precedes to beat her up blackening both eyes and knocking her out until he begins whipping her which bring Daniella to consciousness who screams "Oh, mother, help".

With this Daniella has reminded the man of her mother and she considers this a betrayal to her mother. The man makes now threats about what he is going to do to her mother. With more threats Daniella is removed from the man's presence and cared for by people she cannot see until she hears her mother's voice who has also been arrested, Daniella takes comfort in the belief that little Reha is safe somewhere in East Prussia.

On April 20th in honor of Hitlers birthday, a large transport of young strong Jews was rounded up and deported including 500 boys and 500 girls of which none of the boys would survive. Daniella and her mother were also on the cattle cars along a number of young mothers with small children.

After days of travel, the doors of the cattle car opened revealing only yellow mud with patches of poisonous grass while "Somebody whispered we were in Poland". Soon Daniella and her mother and the prisoners are standing at attention to be judged by the infamous Dr.Mengele as to whether worker to the left or someone who needed rest to the right.

Those to the right were sent immediately to the gas chambers and those to the left were marched into the camp, the Authoress recalls the guards and German shepherds, the sign over the camps entrance read "Arbeit Macht Frei ". Daniella and the ladies of her transport are marched into a room with a fire, behind the fire sat a man with a needle in the fire in which in turn each of the ladies would be jabbed by the red hot needle.

When it became Daniella's turn "An SS man immediately twisted my arm back, almost dislocating my shoulder in the process. I became number 51459." Once this has been done the ladies are corralled and ordered to take off their clothes and with that the SS guards advance on the women and tear off their dresses and all is removed in the presence of the leering guards.

The ladies are then taken back to their barrack where they meet the prisoner who will be in charge of the ladies and see their accommodation where they will sleep ten per cot. A rough first night is spent in darkness unable to move being repeatedly awakened by the screams of nightmares. Just before dawn, the women are forced outside in the mud for the morning roll call. The rag covered women stand there for hours waiting to be counted while a few of the luckier ladies had died during the night.

The Barracks of the camp are laid out in rows surrounded by barbed wire and factories who's chimneys spew "An evil sickly-sweet smell" that covers the camp. A series of SS guards commit acts of savagery, mockery, and murder upon the camps prisoners and soon the workers are herded into a shower room with only one working spigot, or letting the prisoners have showers and then turn off the water once the prisoners are lathered up.

Soon the ladies are assigned a work detail and are given uniforms and better rations though they are sent to do jobs that the SS expect only half to go back to barracks each night and guards are given bonuses for killing prisoners. As the defeat of Germany closes in we find the killing stepped up and supplies of gas running low so it is ordered that babies and small children will no longer be gassed but thrown right into the crematorium.

The book is an incredible journey of a descent into hell and the depravity of mankind but it is also a story of those who rose above the horrors to inspire survival of themselves and those around. The book is not long but puts into perspective the readers own problems against those experienced by Daniella and her mother.

"Vanished in Darkness" was an excellent read and a history which must remain told, if for nothing else so that such cruel history never repeats itself.

Canadian Pictures: Drawn with Pen and Pencil

The Marquis of Lorne, K.T.
The Religious Tract Society
London
1890

Canadian pictures is one of a series of travel books which include titles such as "The land of the Pharaohs" and "Indian pictures". The Marquis of Lorne, 1845-1914,was also the ninth Duke of Argyll and Canada's fourth Governor General 1878-1883.

This beautiful book opens with a wonderful full-page etching from one of the Marquis' sketches of a "Road near New Westminster, British Columbia", The road is surrounded by massive cedar trees while a two horse carriage passes through. At the head of the contents page another of the Marquis' sketches of "The Rocky mountains from our camp on the Elbow river" is magnificent clearly the Marquis was a talent with pen and pencil.

A large fold-out colored map of Canada issued by the Minister of Railways and Canals (1882) is present as well as impressive. The map contains within it a small insert map of the routes to and from the British Isles and North America.

Chapter one is titled "The Dominion of Canada", here the viewer is confronted by two more high-quality images one of New Westminster, British Columbia but the more interesting image is the full page sketch of "Shad Fishing", The fisherman stand above a choppy shore on crudely made docks while holding long sticks with nets on the end.

The chapter is on the statistics of the Dominion beginning with Newfoundland and heading west including the makeup of its area, the habitable area, as well as resources, export, and import revenues and governing bodies. The populations are broken down by religious denomination, this being either Protestant or Roman Catholic with it being notable that at the time of writing the chapter in 1884 Ontario has some Jews.

The images are enchanting views of yesteryear including the "Indian hunting equipment" from the author's collection, so too is the etching of the oxen pulling a cart across the great bluff of the Thompson River. The next chapter "Relations between Canada and England" contains an image of a snowplow train, a most remarkable relic of ingenuity!

Of relations between Australia, Canada, and the British Isles the author says "How foolish therefor, will our successors in England deem us to have been, if we do not meet to the fullest degree possible the wishes of these growing states!", "They will retain a brothers feeling for us, if we are friendly to them in the critical time of their coming manhood.". The author continues "Days may arrive when we shall implore their assistance, and when the alliance of those powers, grown into maturity and strength, and under very possible circumstances the strong arbiters of our own destinies, shall be ours through the wisdom we may show to-day, or may be lost to us, and become the property of our enemies, by the coldness of our conduct at this hour."

Chapter three is on "The climate of Canada" and opens with a sweet picture of children tobogganing as well as an image of dogsled harnessed but at rest. The author lays down the costs of emigration to Canada from the British Isles and encourages women to go as far west as they can afford, as there is a shortage in the western provinces. The images of an Indian camp on the plains and British Columbia's Homathco river are wonderful and alluring views.

The Maritime Provinces are the subject of chapter four with an excellent picture of the town of Halifax. While collecting relics at Louisburg the Marquis finds the ruins of the old French fort built on behalf of Louis XIII. Of this fort, the author says "There was, the remnant of an old sword, although green with age; there was even the breech piece of a small canon, and the barrel of a musket. Had these lain buried ever since the day that saw the arrival of General Wolfe".

The beautiful pictures keep coming as the Marquis ventures on to Canada's most populated province Ontario with the opening image being that of Niagara falls and another remarkable picture of "A beaver village". The provinces accommodations , industry, religion and environments are delved into including girls schools recommended highly by the author.

With chapter six we are introduced to Canada's largest French province, Quebec, with a nice image of Montmorenci falls which the author tells us that the falls freezes in winter creating a slide for the amusement of locals, the author tells us "Quebecois are heard with a sigh of regret to recall the days when the presence of a garrison of British regulars supplied numbers of young men who could devote their days to such amusements, and very gay were the parties whose members flew down the white slopes until evening came, and time was found for a dance and supper".

The author goes on to record the fate of a pair of French soldiers captured by the Iroquois in years gone by and after a night of beatings the two soldiers were expected to be burned at the stake the following morning but of which fortune spared, the author also mentions some talk about the custom of taking scalps . An old engraving of Champlain attacking an Iroquois fort is amazing!

Having said all that I have to admit the book is very statistically orientated with matters that would have concerned an emigrant of a hundred and twenty years ago but so many mentions on crop yields, that being bushels per acre, and I imagine many readers would not be going further or might confine themselves to the areas of their interest.

In chapter VII we are on a tour of Lake Huron to Winnipeg with an image of the town of Winnipeg surrounded by fields and Indian Teepees and a covered wagon. The author discusses the enormous mineral potential including copper mines around Lake Superior. The author also discusses the mining of silver by an American consortium "It came up in moss like branches running through a white stone; it was found in blocks of grey ore, and in thick sheets of solid silver,".

With chapter VIII we find "The Indians of the North-west" and a wonderful sketch of "Blackfeet Indians crossing a river". The author presents an argument for the licensing act of 1883 which controlled the licensing of alcohol and says "If an argument derived from the effects of over-indulgence in stimulants can be derived from the conduct of white men under their influence, a far stronger proof of their bad consequence may be drawn from the ruin they work on the Red man." We are presented with a sketch titled "Ugly Customers" which portray four natives, three of whom are leaning on a counter in a general store and the author now tells about the Cree tribe and horse stealing.

Of complete fascination the author than goes on to tell us about Sitting Bull and General Custer with Sitting Bull saying "he sent a letter to me, telling me that if I did not go to an agency he would fight me; and I sent word back to him by his messenger that I did not want to fight, but only to be left alone.". After more messages of intimidation from Custer to Sitting Bull, Sitting bull relinquishes " 'All right; get your men mounted, and I will get all my men mounted; we will have a fight; the Great Spirit will look on, and the side that is in the wrong will be defeated. ".

Sitting Bull recounts "I believe Custer was killed in the first attack, as we found his body, or what all the Indians thought was Custer's body, about the place where the first attack was made. I do not think there is any truth in the report that he shot himself.". We are next told about Sitting Bull and his tribe taking refuge in Canada and the desire to deport the chief and his people back to the United States as a prisoner of war.

A most horrible description of young warriors being deliberately tortured in order to prove their mettle is presented and a very difficult description to read let alone willingly participate.

The author talks about the early explorers and their meetings with the natives, Champlain described the treatment given one French captive, "They bade the poor man sing if he had the courage to do so, and the victim did manage to sing, but naturally enough, "it was a song which was sad to hear." He tells us "our friends lit a fire, and when it was well aflame, each took a brand and burnt the miserable creature by slow degrees, so as to make him suffer more torment." After many hours more torture by fire and scalping the party pours hot resin over the victims head and pierces his arms near his fists to draw forth his nerves, it is thankfully at this point that Champlain is able to convince the Indians to let him kill the half dead man.

The author goes on to tell us of less gruesome activities of the Indians. As the chapter closes we are presented with an image of "An Indian Burial on the Plains", the body wrapped and placed upon a platform of sticks high above the ground.

With chapter IX we are presented "The New Territories" and an etching of the Marquis' collection of native artifacts. Here the author deals with the western provinces including Saskatchewan, Athabasca and Alberta recalling about many of the first settlers and the productive value of these lands for farming as well as mineral exploration and the gold rush.

We are presented with a land of great opportunity for emigrants who the author lays out the costs to settle and build a farm as well as the expected bushels per acre. The image of "Fort Edmonton" is terrific.

The last chapter on British Columbia opens with a beautiful quaint sketch by the Marquis of a "View From Esquimault. ", though it must be said that the images of this chapter are some of the best including a view of an Indian suspension bridge and views of the Fraser River and an Indian salmon cache. The view of Indian graves with carved statues in front is also magnificent.

But of the China man the author says "There is no doubt that the presence of the Chinese in any number is only a temporary phenomenon. They remain strangers to the country they reside in." From here we are informed of the beautiful properties of the land, the customs of its native populations.

The author talks about a 300-foot tall tree and its surroundings "All around this giant at Burrard Inlet were others nearly as large." We are told about the various explorers who investigated this shore and its value to the Dominion as the countries Pacific shore.

We are again presented with the assets of the land for pioneers including the husbandry of its animals. Finally, we are told that at the time about 40 000 to 50 000 people emigrate to Canada each year. An appendix follows discussing the states of Government in development in the Dominion as well as the United States.

Canadian Pictures was thoroughly interesting in its images which almost if not all took me to another time and place though the author's descriptions were often more information than a casual reader needs but would have been incredibly useful to those considering emigration to Canada in the later part of the Victorian era.

Across the Sub-Arctics of Canada

James W. Tyrrell, C.E., D.L.S.
William Briggs
Toronto
Third Revised Edition
1908
ISBN-10: 1298590264
ISBN-13: 978-1298590268

In the years 1885, 1893 and 1900 J.B Tyrrell working on behalf of the Canadian Geological Survey, and his brother, (the author) James W. Tyrrell conducted three expeditions of the Canadian sub-arctics lying north of the 59th parallel, including surveying as well as documenting the "savage" Eskimos of the region.

The expedition begins "One beautiful May morning" as the author and his brother make final preparations from Toronto to meet up with their team of rustic canoe-men and portages. Among the team is a recommended man named John Flett who is well experienced and an Eskimo linguist.

Three more members of the team are brothers who are Iroquois experts from Caughnawaga these being Pierre, Louis, and Michel French. While at Fort McMurray two more strong fellows would join the expedition they were James Corrigal and Francois Maurice.

The author J.W. Tyrrell refers to three of the above men as "half-breeds", the author then goes on to give an explanation of why he has not hired Indians from Lake Athabasca because he considers them to be lazy in disposition. Boarding the train in Toronto begins the five-day ride to Edmonton.

"We arrived early on the morning of the 22nd at the busy town of Calgary, pleasantly situated in the beautiful valley of the south branch of the Saskatchewan river, and just within view of the snow-clad peaks of the Rocky Mountains." "On the evening of the same day, in the teeming rain, we reached Edmonton".

As the journey continues J.W. says " we reached the height of land between the two great valleys of the Saskatchewan and Athabasca rivers. Here, upon a grassy spot, we made our first camp." The author continues "our slumbers were somewhat broken by the fiendish yells of prairie wolves from the surrounding scrub, and the scarcely less diabolical screams of loons sporting on a pond close by. An effort was made to have the later removed, but anyone who has ever tried to shoot loons at night will better understand". Soon the author and his brother come across a moose which they shoot multiple times before killing the poor creature.

I really like the sketches and photographs of the journey and the author's writing style is better than his shot but through only the first few chapters in the author's perception of his fellow man is clearly that of an education of the later Victorian era in which the author classifies people as either gentleman, half-breeds or savages.

Among the indigenous people's a man by the Christian name of Moberly agrees to help the expedition find the way but unfortunately the guide is unreasonable and lag's sulking behind the members of the expedition. After canoeing to Moberly's village they finally arrive where Moberly pulls a screaming fit and threatens to not lead the men unless they hand over to him a portion of their supplies, with this the men head on without their guide.

The early part of the expedition heads through thick sheets of rain, up hill portages climbing through dense forest and jagged rocks carrying thousands of pounds of supplies and over small lakes as the expedition turns into a fantastic journey and civilization slowly disappears. One of the last stops before heading into the wild of the sub-arctic is at Fort McMurray, a settlement containing five small log buildings and then a number of Indian villages containing Cree tepee's pass by.

As the people disappear the men are joined by huge swarms of mosquito's and black flies, and unfortunately James Corrigal receives a gash to his knee but is thankfully still useful. With the hardship and sheer brute struggle of the journey the men of the expedition to be worthy of the truly heroic challenge facing them.

Pierre turns out to be the strongest canoe man in the bunch with the ability to guide his canoe through the most rugged rapids. The nineteenth-century photographs of the people and the journey are truly amazing, thankfully on just about every page they are found.

Soon the trees start to thin out and become more isolated and gnarled, the air becomes colder, the mosquito's go away and glaciers appear. The men now look across a barren rocky landscape covered in mosses and to their good fortune find miles of herds of caribou of which the men kill a couple dozen and spend the next three days cutting up and drying for the long journey they have before them. Near the outlet of Markham lake the men make a discovery as J.W. explains,

     "It is worthy of note that at this point some very old moss grown "tepee" poles and fragments of birch bark were found, indicating that in days gone by the spot had been visited by Indians". The author goes on to say "There was more than sentiment to us in the fact, for from the old rotten poles, few and small though they were, we built a fire that gave us not a little comfort and cheer."

After a number of days on the lower Dubawnt river navigating ice flows and open water and down pouring rain the cold wet explorers come across at the second rapids signs of people as J.W. tells us "the first unmistakable signs of the recent habitations of Eskimos were discovered, They consist of rings of camp stones, an old bow, several broken arrows, a whipstock and numerous broken or partly formed willow ribs of a "kayak," or canoe."

The following day down a little stream called the Chamberlain river on the edge of Grant lake the men of the expedition spot their first Eskimo as the author explains "Towards evening we sighted, upon the right bank" "the solitary lodge of an Eskimo. In front of the doorway stood a man gazing towards us, and behind and around him excited women and children were gathered. These were all placed inside the "topick" or lodge, and the door laced up securely. But the man remained outside."

The meeting was cordial with the Eskimos and upon leaving the authors steersman Louis commented that "They are not savage, but real descent people." On the evening of the 26th of August the expedition reached a magnificent body of water known as Aberdeen lake, the author says "a feeling of awe crept over us. We were undoubtedly the first white men who had ever viewed it, and in the knowledge of this fact there was inspiration."

On the page opposite is a photo of one of the men standing next to an Eskimo cairn. From here J.W. goes on to describe the daily life of the Eskimos including types of tools they use and type of animals they hunt, also the author goes into their winter and summer homes and the amusements of the people.

The author tells of a ball game where the ball is made up of the bladder of a walrus, J.W. tells us that the game is without rules and says "Here a woman, carrying a child on her back, may be seen running at full speed after the ball, and the next moment lying at full length with her naked child floundering in the snow a few feet beyond her. A minute later the child is in its place, and the mother, nearly chocking with laughter, is seen elbowing her way after the ball again."

J.W. describes Eskimo marriages and the women which is basically the two parties agree they are a couple and go build their own igloo. Of the brides J.W. says " Eskimo brides are usually very young, and often very bonnie creatures. They lose much of their beauty, however, in early life, and at about forty mature into ugly old dames."

As the journey continues much of the men's time is spent hunting for food, as winter begins to approach the canoes become bogged down in the ice and the decision is made to abandon most of their supplies including the rock collection which had been gathered.

With the load lightened and the weather worsening the men make the last dash in their now lighter vessels down the west shore of the Hudson bay till the canoes could go no farther in the ice. Now it was over the frozen shore.

The men of the expedition are hungry and weary while Michel French's feet have suffered frost bite, Pierre to is physically weak, this is true of the author and his brother while John Flett and Jim Corrigal are in the best condition and agree to go on without the others the remaining fifty or so miles to Fort Churchill to get help for the rest.

The return of John and Jim is only a couple days wait and with them provisions and help to get the expedition party to Fort Churchill where they can rest and recover for a couple weeks while Michel's feet are attended by the doctor there. At Fort Churchill the men gather supplies for the final leg of the journey but due to crippling leg problems both the author and his brother are left to ride bundled on sleds while Michel is left behind to recover.

As the expedition comes to its end Pierre and Louis are both crippled from the snowshoes and must be dispatched by horse and sleigh the rest of the journey. The men of the expedition have traveled by canoe and hiking thirty-two hundred miles in eight months to accomplish their goal.

The book ends with the author giving a rap up of the assets of Hudson Bay including animals, vegetables, and minerals. In the end, J.W. Tyrrell expresses a great respect for his fellow man but especially for the Eskimo people, his earlier classification of savages and half-breeds have been words and not backed by any dislike for his fellow man.To me, the books last jewel is its second appendix, Eskimo vocabulary of words and phrases.

"Across the Sub-Arctics of Canada" is a wonderful early Canadian adventure on a truly heroic journey well taken in the age of exploration. It documents the lost romance of Canada's northern wilderness at the entry into the twentieth century by men of great courage whose explorations, often treacherous, laid the path for future industry in Canada's north.