[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] The Beaverbrae

[rlyster]

Great pictures---I have forwarded to my brother who was 8 when them came.  He will, no doubt, remember many of them! 
Thank you for sharing!!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Helen Gillespie" <gilleh23 at gmail.com>
To: "SGGEE" <ger-poland-volhynia at sggee.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2016 12:06:17 PM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] The Beaverbrae

The *Beaverbrae* was a ship leased by the Christian Council of Churches for
the Resettlement of Refugees (CCCRR) sponsored by the Lutheran World Relief
organisation to bring German (and other) refugees to Canada post Second
World War.  There were upwards of 18 million refugees in Germany and
Austria at the end of the War.  These refugees were processed at the
Ueberseeheim in Bremen prior to their departure.  A monthly voyage
transported up to 775 people. Many were sponsored by their own families or
other church or non-profit organisations across Canada, factories, mines
and forestry organisations, My own family came this way - on three separate
voyages.   Of course there were other ships too, but the main ship bringing
our families was *The Beaverbrae.*

Information on its history can be found on the Web, but *Library and
Archives Canada *has two photo albums of images from Spring 1950, one of
which was presented to the Deputy Minister of Immigration in gratitude and
for information about the organisation's work.  The photos in the second
album shows the activities taking place.

In 2015 there were Beaverbrae reunions in a number of places across Canada
(again info on the Web) but the one I attended was in Kitchener.

Here is the link to the photos in the album  (please note that a couple of
the sepia toned photos are from other places on the web and not from the
Albums.)

https://plus.google.com/105029983656360804778/posts/Q51LgP57Ci8

If your family came through the CCCRR you might find this interesting.

The *Lutheran World Relief *fonds is also held at Library and Archives
Canada and some of the files have been digitised but sadly not in much
chronological order, however there some partial manifests and file cards
(these refugees did NOT come gratis.  They had to repay their fare.).  It's
a slog, but if you're lucky, you might find some family information since
Canadian immigration data for this period is not open like Ellis Island.

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_100878


Helen
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