As the evening light falls over the gentle slope of the ravine, Natalia Yefimushkina, her head tightly bound in a red scarf, stares into the heart of one of Russia’s largest mass graves.
In the summer on 1942, the Nazi death squads first came to Rostov-on-Don, a city about 1,000 kilometres south of Moscow. Over the next year and half, they would kill 27,000 people here, most of them Jews like Yefimushkina’s grandparents. They were ordered to strip and line up along the ravine before soldiers opened fire and executed them in what has been called a “Holocaust of bullets.”
Yefimushkina is so traumatized by the stories of what happened here that she is haunted by visions of her family members.
“Up there on the top, they were standing. They were speaking in German, there were dogs, and [people were] crying — and I’m standing over there. It’s as if I’m there, too, with them,” Yefimushkina said, crying herself.
“I’m standing here as if my grandparents see me. I can feel them … do you understand?” Yefimushkina said. “I can feel them.”
Zmiyovskaya Balka, which translates to “the ravine of snakes,” is now the site of a towering memorial to those who died here. It consists of a cluster of stone figures with outstretched arms and terror, despair and sorrow etched in their faces.
One of the figures in the memorial to the tens of thousands of people killed in Zmievskaya Balka. (Corinne Seminoff/CBC)
These feelings are reflected in the faces of the living. Inna Rizhevskaya lost family here, too. The remains of her pregnant aunt and cousin lie somewhere in the ravine.
“I did not know them at all,” she said. “Of course, this is sad. It’s sad that for no reason, for nothing, they were killed.”
Given the sheer horror of what happened, many people in Rostov-on-Don were shocked to learn that a man who translated for the Nazis responsible for this ended up building a life in Canada.
And that more than half a century later, the Canadian government still hasn’t been able to remove him.
Inna Rizhevskaya stands in front of the memorial. Her aunt and cousin were among those who died in the ravine. (Corinne Seminoff/CBC)
“He’s living a quiet life there? He isn’t having nightmares?” said Yefimushkina.
“They should send him to this place, then for sure he will feel his guilt. Let him come here. There’s no way he won’t feel something. The children, the young people, pregnant women, the old people — there were thousands in this pit.”
Settled in Ontario
Helmut Oberlander was just 17 when he started interpreting Russian for the German-speaking Einsatzkommando 10a, one of the Third Reich’s most brutal mobile killing units.
The kommando squads, a subgroup of the Einsatzgruppen, would move into newly German-controlled territory and kill people considered “unacceptable” or a threat. The 1946 Nuremberg tribunal estimated the units were responsible for the execution of more than two million Jews between 1941 and 1944.
In the summer of 1942, Oberlander’s unit moved through Rostov-on-Don.
After the war, in 1954, he moved to Canada and settled in Waterloo, Ont., where he became a successful developer and community leader. But his past was eventually revealed.
According to declassified government documents, it began in 1963, when the RCMP quietly started a file on him after receiving diplomatic information from New York alerting them to Oberlander’s presence in Canada and alleging he may have taken part in war crimes.
He would face questions about what happened in Rostov when German investigators looking into war crimes deposed him in Toronto. At that time, Oberlander said he did not know the name of the unit to which he was assigned.
Helmut Oberlander has said he was forcibly conscripted by the Nazis when he was 17 years old. The 97-year-old now lives in Kitchener, Ont., and is facing deportation from Canada. (CIJA)
“I do not know anything about any executions of Jews in Rostov,” he said.
Oberlander told the authorities he only remembered working alone as a sentry in a boat anchored nearby. “I had to guard the grain so that the population could not loot it.”
But one of Oberlander’s fellow unit members, Leo Marr, repeatedly told German investigators in the ’60s that Oberlander was more involved in the operation there. He described an operation in which Jews were processed in a house: men were directed to one room, women to another. They were ordered to strip and remove their jewellery and any valuables before being transported to the ravine.
“Oberlander, the interpreter that I knew, came into our room with a girl of 19 or 20 years of age who still had her clothes on,” Marr said. “The girl was crying profusely and swore she was not a Jew, but Russian.” Marr testified that Oberlander translated for her and told her she was free to go home.
Oberlander told the authorities he has no recollection of this incident.
Case became public in ’90s
In 1985, Canada created the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals, which started an exhaustive review of potential war criminals living in the country. Once-secret documents reveal Oberlander was among 29 cases flagged for special investigation.
The next year, according to the documents, Quebec Superior Court Judge Jules Deschênes recommended “no prosecution should be started against Helmut Oberlander” because German investigators failed to prove Oberlander took part in any crimes.
Instead, it recommended he be stripped of his Canadian citizenship because he did not divulge his membership in the SS and the Einsatzgruppen to immigration officials.
Ten years later, the news of Oberlander’s past became public when Canada started proceedings to remove him. His Canadian citizenship would be revoked four times after 2000. Three times it was overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal, but his final appeal was quashed in 2019.
Now 97, Oberlander is awaiting an immigration hearing, which has been delayed because of complications around COVID-19 and a hearing disability that prevented him from fully communicating with his lawyer.
On Thursday, Oberlander’s lawyer, Ronald Poulton, filed a motion to permanently stay the proceedings against his client, alleging he had new evidence the government withheld important evidence.
In a statement, Canada Border Services, which handles deportation matters, said it cannot comment on matters before the courts, but added that it places the highest priority on removal cases involving national security, organized crime and crimes against humanity.
It’s now up to a judge to consider the motion. If the stay is not granted, immigration hearings will proceed.
If he were to be deported, Oberlander would likely be returned to Germany, even though he lost his citizenship there in 1960 when he became a Canadian.
Canadian rabbi rebuilds
Rostov-on-Don’s chief rabbi, Chaim Danziger, has struggled to explain to the community how Canada has handled the case.
WATCH | Rostov-on-Don’s rabbi talks about the community’s feelings:
Chaim Danzinger, a rabbi in Rostov-on-Don, says it’s been hard for the city’s Jewish community to learn about Oberlander. 0:43
“They came to me to explain it, like, what’s going on? How could this be? How could there be someone who was involved? What is Canada doing?” said Danzinger, who is originally from Toronto. “How do you answer such a thing?”
Danzinger came to Rostov-on-Don 12 years ago, attracted by the challenge of helping rebuild its Jewish community, which was almost completely wiped out during the Second World War. As a part of that effort, he’s worked with surviving families to put a name to every person lost in the Ravine of Snakes.
“People are still hurting with what happened. We can’t say that it happened so long ago and just let’s move on, let’s turn the page. No, the tragedy that happened in 1942 here in Rostov is felt today. The families are grieving.” he said.
Danzinger says it is unlikely an interpreter working for a Nazi death squad would not know what the unit was doing in Rostov.
“A translator was used to tell the Jews where to put their keys, where to put their jewellery, where to get undressed and where they must march,” said Danziger. “That’s what a translator was doing here.”
Rostov-on-Don reacts
Oberlander’s past denials about knowing anything about the execution of Jews haven’t gone down well in Rostov-on-Don.
“Oh, he didn’t see how they shot people?” said Maya Rozina, whose grandparents and mother’s 13-year-old sister were killed in the ravine.
“How about when he had to translate ‘get naked?'” she asked. “He was blind, I guess? Well, I think for this, too, he should be punished. But not deportation. This is not a real punishment.”
Rozina said even if authorities put him in jail for a month or two, “that will truly be a punishment for a person of 97 years. He will have no freedom. He will be sitting behind bars.”
WATCH | A relative of Jews who were killed in Rostov reacts:
Maya Rozina’s grandparents and aunt were killed in the Ravine of Snakes. She says deportation wouldn’t be a ‘real punishment’ for Oberlander. 0:43
In the city’s only synagogue, Inna Rizhevskaya shares photos of the family she lost. She, too, is incredulous at Oberlander’s long-standing claim he didn’t know about the execution of Jews in Rostov.
“This is all nonsense. He’s making this all up. At 17, he was a translator, but the fact that they were killing people, he did not know this?” she said.
“It seems Canada will take anyone in — the good and the bad. A very strange country,” she said.
For his part, Rabbi Danzinger is philosophical about what could happen next.
“What’s justice mean? It’s not about an eye for an eye. It’s not about punishment. Justice just means that someone has to be held accountable for something he did,” Danzinger said.
As the community watches Canada to see what it decides to do with Oberlander, Rostov’s focus is also drawn inward on healing and rebuilding its once-robust Jewish culture, with help from their Toronto rabbi.
Danzinger leads marches of remembrance, and runs an active social media profile that focuses on outreach and education. His efforts are paying off in a city that once had 13 synagogues.
Danzinger has seen a shift as people who were once afraid to identify as Jews are openly embracing it. He said many families felt “we’re Jewish, but let’s not discuss it. Let’s not practise. Let’s not participate [in the community].”
But now, he said, “Jews are coming out. They’re coming to participate.”
WATCH | Former Nazi interpreter living in Canada tries to stop deportation proceedings:
Jewish residents of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia are outraged that the former Nazi interpreter whose unit almost wiped out their community is ‘living a quiet life’ in Canada. WARNING: Some of the images in this story may be disturbing to some viewers. 6:17
WINNIPEG – Some 250 coloured tacks pepper a large-scale world map among bookshelves at Whodunit Mystery Bookstore.
Estonia, Finland, Japan and even Fenwick, Ont., have pins representing places outside Winnipeg where someone has ordered a page-turner from the independent bookstore that specializes in mystery and crime fiction novels.
For 30 years, the store has been offering fans of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot or Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes a place to get lost in whodunits both old and new.
Jack and Wendy Bumsted bought the shop in the Crescentwood neighbourhood in 2007 from another pair of mystery lovers.
The married couple had been longtime customers of the store. Wendy Bumsted grew up reading Perry Mason novels while her husband was a historian with vast knowledge of the crime fiction genre.
At the time, Jack Bumsted was retiring from teaching at the University of Manitoba when he was looking for his next venture.
“The bookstore came up and we bought it, I think, within a week,” Wendy Bumsted said in an interview.
“It never didn’t seem like a good idea.”
In the years since the Bumsteds took ownership, the family has witnessed the decline in mail-order books, the introduction of online retailers, a relocation to a new space next to the original, a pandemic and the death of beloved co-owner Jack Bumsted in 2020.
But with all the changes that come with owning a small business, customers continue to trust their next mystery fix will come from one of the shelves at Whodunit.
Many still request to be called about books from specific authors, or want to be notified if a new book follows their favourite format. Some arrive at the shop like clockwork each week hoping to get suggestions from Wendy Bumsted or her son on the next big hit.
“She has really excellent instincts on what we should be getting and what we should be promoting,” Micheal Bumsted said of his mother.
Wendy Bumsted suggested the store stock “Thursday Murder Club,” the debut novel from British television host Richard Osman, before it became a bestseller. They ordered more copies than other bookstores in Canada knowing it had the potential to be a hit, said Michael Bumsted.
The store houses more than 18,000 new and used novels. That’s not including the boxes of books that sit in Wendy Bumsted’s tiny office, or the packages that take up space on some of the only available seating there, waiting to be added to the inventory.
Just as the genre has evolved, so has the Bumsteds’ willingness to welcome other subjects on their shelves — despite some pushback from loyal customers and initially the Bumsted patriarch.
For years, Jack Bumsted refused to sell anything outside the crime fiction genre, including his own published books. Instead, he would send potential buyers to another store, but would offer to sign the books if they came back with them.
Wendy Bumsted said that eventually changed in his later years.
Now, about 15 per cent of the store’s stock is of other genres, such as romance or children’s books.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced them to look at expanding their selection, as some customers turned to buying books through the store’s website, which is set up to allow purchasers to get anything from the publishers the Bumsteds have contracts with.
In 2019, the store sold fewer than 100 books online. That number jumped to more than 3,000 in 2020, as retailers had to deal with pandemic lockdowns.
After years of running a successful mail-order business, the store was able to quickly adapt when it had to temporarily shut its doors, said Michael Bumsted.
“We were not a store…that had to figure out how to get books to people when they weren’t here.”
He added being a community bookstore with a niche has helped the family stay in business when other retailers have struggled. Part of that has included building lasting relationships.
“Some people have put it in their wills that their books will come to us,” said Wendy Bumsted.
Some of those collections have included tips on traveling through Asia in the early 2000s or the history of Australian cricket.
Micheal Bumsted said they’ve had to learn to be patient with selling some of these more obscure titles, but eventually the time comes for them to find a new home.
“One of the great things about physical books is that they can be there for you when you are ready for them.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Sept. 15, 2024.
MONTREAL – Canada’s labour minister is praising both Air Canada and the union representing about 5,200 of its pilots for averting a work stoppage that would have disrupted travel for hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Steven MacKinnon’s comments came in a statement shared to social media shortly after Canada’s largest air carrier announced it had reached a tentative labour deal with the Air Line Pilots Association.
MacKinnon thanked both sides and federal mediators, saying the airline and its pilots approached negotiations with “seriousness and a resolve to get a deal.”
The tentative agreement averts a strike or lockout that could have begun as early as Wednesday for Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, with flight cancellations expected before then.
The airline now says flights will continue as normal while union members vote on the tentative four-year contract.
Air Canada had called on the federal government to intervene in the dispute, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that would only happen if it became clear no negotiated agreement was possible.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
When it comes to plant-based alternatives, Canadians have never had so many options — and nowhere is that choice more abundantly clear than in the milk section of the dairy aisle.
To meet growing demand, companies are investing in new products and technology to keep up with consumer tastes and differentiate themselves from all the other players on the shelf.
“The product mix has just expanded so fast,” said Liza Amlani, co-founder of the Retail Strategy Group.
She said younger generations in particular are driving growth in the plant-based market as they are consuming less dairy and meat.
Commercial sales of dairy milk have been weakening for years, according to research firm Mintel, likely in part because of the rise of plant-based alternatives — even though many Canadians still drink dairy.
The No. 1 reason people opt for plant-based milk is because they see it as healthier than dairy, said Joel Gregoire, Mintel’s associate director for food and drink.
“Plant-based milk, the one thing about it — it’s not new. It’s been around for quite some time. It’s pretty established,” said Gregoire.
Because of that, it serves as an “entry point” for many consumers interested in plant-based alternatives to animal products, he said.
Plant-based milk consumption is expected to continue growing in the coming years, according to Mintel research, with more options available than ever and more consumers opting for a diet that includes both dairy and non-dairy milk.
A 2023 report by Ernst & Young for Protein Industries Canada projected that the plant-based dairy market will reach US$51.3 billion in 2035, at a compound annual growth rate of 9.5 per cent.
Because of this growth opportunity, even well-established dairy or plant-based companies are stepping up their game.
It’s been more than three decades since Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.-based Natura first launched a line of soy beverages. Over the years, the company has rolled out new products to meet rising demand, and earlier this year launched a line of oat beverages that it says are the only ones with a stamp of approval from Celiac Canada.
Competition is tough, said owner and founder Nick Feldman — especially from large American brands, which have the money to ensure their products hit shelves across the country.
Natura has kept growing, though, with a focus on using organic ingredients and localized production from raw materials.
“We’re maybe not appealing to the mass market, but we’re appealing to the natural consumer, to the organic consumer,” Feldman said.
Amlani said brands are increasingly advertising the simplicity of their ingredient lists. She’s also noticing more companies offering different kinds of products, such as coffee creamers.
Companies are also looking to stand out through eye-catching packaging and marketing, added Amlani, and by competing on price.
Besides all the companies competing for shelf space, there are many different kinds of plant-based milk consumers can choose from, such as almond, soy, oat, rice, hazelnut, macadamia, pea, coconut and hemp.
However, one alternative in particular has enjoyed a recent, rapid ascendance in popularity.
“I would say oat is the big up-and-coming product,” said Feldman.
Mintel’s report found the share of Canadians who say they buy oat milk has quadrupled between 2019 and 2023 (though almond is still the most popular).
“There seems to be a very nice marriage of coffee and oat milk,” said Feldman. “The flavour combination is excellent, better than any other non-dairy alternative.”
The beverage’s surge in popularity in cafés is a big part of why it’s ascending so quickly, said Gregoire — its texture and ability to froth makes it a good alternative for lattes and cappuccinos.
It’s also a good example of companies making a strong “use case” for yet another new entrant in a competitive market, he said.
Amid the long-standing brands and new entrants, there’s another — perhaps unexpected — group of players that has been increasingly investing in plant-based milk alternatives: dairy companies.
For example, Danone has owned the Silk and So Delicious brands since an acquisition in 2014, and long-standing U.S. dairy company HP Hood LLC launched Planet Oat in 2018.
Lactalis Canada also recently converted its facility in Sudbury, Ont., to manufacture its new plant-based Enjoy! brand, with beverages made from oats, almonds and hazelnuts.
“As an organization, we obviously follow consumer trends, and have seen the amount of interest in plant-based products, particularly fluid beverages,” said Mark Taylor, president and CEO of Lactalis Canada, whose parent company Lactalis is the largest dairy products company in the world.
The facility was a milk processing plant for six decades, until Lactalis Canada began renovating it in 2022. It now manufactures not only the new brand, but also the company’s existing Sensational Soy brand, and is the company’s first dedicated plant-based facility.
“We’re predominantly a dairy company, and we’ll always predominantly be a dairy company, but we see these products as complementary,” said Taylor.
It makes sense that major dairy companies want to get in on plant-based milk, said Gregoire. The dairy business is large — a “cash cow,” if you will — but not really growing, while plant-based products are seeing a boom.
“If I’m looking for avenues of growth, I don’t want to be left behind,” he said.
Gregoire said there’s a potential for consumers to get confused with so many options, which is why it’s so important for brands to find a way to differentiate themselves, whether it’s with taste, health, or how well the drink froths for a latte.
Competition in a more crowded market is challenging, but Taylor believes it results in better products for consumers.
“It keeps you sharp, and it forces you to be really good at what you’re doing. It drives innovation,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2024.
