Chapter 19 – The Canadian League Against War and Fascism/Berlin Olympics protest

Quoting from Marilyn Jensen’s interview, this is how Dad describes the evolution of the Canadian League Against War and Fascism:

“In the early thirties, things began to happen in the world – fascism – and it was being instilled in Italy and Germany and the rest of the countries were beginning to follow. Certain elements in society thought that Hitler was the man to solve the problems in Germany, and the German legations – the Nazi legations. There were literally nests of Nazi activity across the world. There were legations in Canada, in Montreal and Toronto and Calgary too. They were all active.

I spent one winter in Montreal, and in Toronto, I joined an organization of people who were well aware of the trends towards fascism. It was called the League Against War and Fascism. It was a left wing organization made up of socialists and communists. The general philosophy of the organization was that everybody should join in, socialists, communists, church people...We had many church people in the League, particularly the United Church. The United Church gave good support to the organization. We had some great meetings. I remember one of the meetings was in Montreal and was in protest of Canadian participation in the 1936 Olympics which were to be held in Berlin. We contended that the Olympic ideal – free sports – competitive sports for all people should not be held in a fascist country because the fascists had a racial and discrimination belief. We contended that it had nothing to do with the Olympic ideal which was for free sports, for all types of people, for all types of competitors. And therefore we protested against holding the Olympics in 1936 which was the following year in Berlin.”
This protest took place in the Montreal Forum in 1935 during a Montreal Canadiens’ or perhaps a Montreal Maroons hockey game. The plan was that after the first period, leaflets would be fanned out over the stands by members strategically placed around the top of the stadium. Then, at the second period, girls (as Dad called them) were to come out onto the ice with a 40 foot banner that read “No Canadian Participation in the Berlin Olympics”. Apparently, when the time came and with the arena packed to capacity, the girls backed out, so Dad and another man headed out onto the ice with the banner.

First, I’m assuming hockey and politics were not an ideal mix. Dad and his colleague quickly found themselves rushed by a mob trying to tear the banner down. Also, at that time, a pro-Hitler anti-Semitic organization known as the National Unity Party had established roots in Quebec and Dad always maintained that once on the ice, the mob turned its focus to his partner who was Jewish. Luckily, enveloped in a cloud of steam, the two of them escaped out an emergency exit into a -40 below Montreal night. Nevertheless, Dad remembered this as a very effective demonstration.