"That we now have a treasure trove of information to which we have never before been privy is beyond important and will help us to fill out our understanding of Canada’s and the Jewish community’s war experience."
Jennifer Shaw, Canadian Jewish Studies
"One of the first books to be released by the Toronto-based New Jewish Press may turn out to be one of its most impressive. Double Threat by Ellin Bessner leaves no stones unturned in its telling of the full-blooded saga of the heroic participation of Jewish men and women in the Canadian military during the Second World War. It’s a worthy topic, and one that, surprisingly, has never been covered in such depth before. For that reason, the book has the feel of a popular Canadian Jewish classic, comparable, say, to None Is Too Many or Canada’s Jews: A People’s Journey."
Bill Gladstone, Canadian Jewish News
"Bessner has written a very readable and engaging story on the challenges and obstacles (not the least of which was antisemitism) confronted by the serviceman and servicewoman at home and in the battlefields."
Sonia Smith, McGill University, AJL Reviews
"This book is the first study that delves into the lives of these men and women: who they were, their hopes for the future, and why they volunteered. It’s also about the daily anti-semitism they confronted and the dangersvthey faced if they were captured by the Nazis…Thoroughly researched, the book is replete with anecdotes Bessner picked up from the more than 200 interviews she conducted…[This book is] a worthy and long awaited celebration of the bravery and sacrifice of a generation of Canadian Jewry."
Irving Abella, York University, The Canadian Historical Review
"Ellin Bessner’s Double Threat: Canadian Jews, the Military, and World War II makes a compelling contribution to our understanding of how this country’s diverse Jewish population responded to the cataclysms of the Second World War and the genocide of European Jewry."
Andrew Theobald, Canadian Military History
“Double Threat is an important book. More than 17,000 Jewish Canadians fought in World War II. Many never came home and instead lie in the ground of Canadian war cemeteries across Europe with the Star of David carved into the stone above them. They fought the Nazis with a passion that allowed them to move past the antisemitism they had faced, first at home, and then, too often, right beside them on the battlefield. Bessner’s writing brings this part of our history out of the shadows. All of us owe it to those remarkable men and women to read their stories.”
Peter Mansbridge O.C.
“Like a million of their fellow citizens in World War II, they put life aspirations aside, left family, friends, and lovers behind and departed the relative safety of Canadian shores. The difference? Canadian Jews in the armed forces faced antisemitism in the ranks, politicians and commanders who doubted their effectiveness, and feared certain death if captured in Nazi-occupied Europe. In victory, they bore the sting of neglect by their nation’s historians. Until now. In Ellin Bessner, these Canadian-Jewish servicemen and women have found a documentarian who understood their faith and has dug deep, listened long, and fought hard to tell their stories.”
Ted Barris, author of The Great Escape: A Canadian Story
“This book is an important contribution for several reasons. Here at last is a single authoritative reference. Double Threat fully vindicates against any naysayers who doubt or would impugn the accomplishments of that Great Generation of Canadian Jews. Ellin gives a voice to the veterans and more particularly to those who could never return to Canada. Her technique to achieve this is reminiscent of Pierre Berton’s Vimy: lead in with some of their background, an anecdote or two, and perhaps even a quotation or words attributed to them. It is only later that we learn if they were amongst the fortunate ones who returned to Canada to complete their lives or if they perished overseas. When we meet yet another personality, the anticipation of learning whether they survived or not is almost palpable.”
Major General Ed S. Fitch, OMM, MSM, CD (Ret’d)
