Mapping Ann-Marie MacDonald

"Toronto Star" Holocaust Survivor Robert Engel Delivers Gifts

An article from the Toronto Star newspaper from December 21, 1996. The article details how 71 year-old Robert Engel, a holocaust survivor, coordinated with Scouts Canada to organize the delivery of 18,000 presents from The Star's Santa Claus Fund. The article was written during his eleventh year of making the gift deliveries. The article describes Engel's story as follows: "He was born in Berlin and survived World War II by fleeing to Amsterdam at the age of 15. He joined the Jewish under-ground there, but was picked up by the Nazis and detained at Westerbork, the largest concentration/transit camp in the Netherlands during the German occupation... Engel was liberated at the war's end by Canadian soldiers. His mother and sister escaped from Germany by obtaining visas to England after applying to work as maids in London. "The rest of my family was murdered," Engel says in a solemn tone." The photograph included with the article shows Engels in a coat and Boy Scout's beret carrying what appears to be 10 gift boxes stacked on top of one another.

Theresa Boyle (Staff Reporter)
Boris Spremo (Photographer)

December 21, 1996

News Article

English

Holocaust Survivor Robert Engel's assistance with The Star's Santa Claus Fund

From AMM's personal archive