Sydney Simon Shulemson - Residence

1928 - 1931
5161 St-Urbain

Sydney Simon Shulemson (1915-2007) was Canada’s most decorated Jewish war hero of the Second World War. He received the Distinguished Service Order and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his services with the Royal Canadian Air Force. After enlisting in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1939, he flew some fifty missions with the 404th Battalion, including several successful sorties against German forces.

Shulemson is one of 17,000 Canadian Jews who fought against Nazism in the Second World War. His exemplary achievements illustrate the commitment of all those in Montreal’s Jewish community who served with the Canadian army.

In 1947, Shulemson attended a clandestine meeting in New York City on the defence of the future state of Israel. He made a case for the importance of air power, a recommendation that appears to have contributed to the creation of the Israeli Air Force. Back in Montreal, his birth city, he recruited pilots and procured weapons and planes for the defence of the emerging Israeli state. He even managed to convince Canada’s top fighter pilot of the Second World War, George “Buzz” Beurling, to join the effort; tragically, Beurling lost his life in a flying accident in Rome while on his way to Israel. In 1947, Shulemson and his brother-in-law, Morris “Two Gun” Cohen, engaged in backroom diplomacy to persuade China not to vote against the UN Partition Plan for the creation of the State of Israel.

Compiled by Valérie Beauchemin, translated by Helge Dascher

Liens

"Ace Aviator Honed Technique for Rocket Attacks" - Toronto Star
"This Day in Jewish History / Canadian Who Smuggled Planes to Prestate Israel is Born" - Haaretz

Sources

Azrieli, David J. Rekindling the Torch: the Story of Canadian Zionism. Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited, 2008.

Farber, Bernie M. “Remembering Sydney Simon Shulemson.” National Post 10 November, 2005.

Karsh, Efraim. Israel in the International Arena. Londres: Frank Cass Publishers, 2004.

King, Joe. Fabled City, The Jews of Montreal. Montreal: Éditions Price-Patterson Ltd., 2009.

Ralph, Wayne. Aces, Warriors and Wingmen: Firsthand Accounts of Canada’s Fighter Pilots in the Second World War. Mississauga: John Wiley and Sons, 2005.

*Images courtesy of the Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee National Archives and the Library and Archives Canada.