ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED | JUNE 22, 1940 | CANADIAN COUNTRYMAN
This cartoon, appearing in the June 22, 1940 edition of the Canadian Countryman, was published on the cusp of one of the most decisive turning points in the early phase of the Second World War. By this point, Hitler’s Germany had invaded and occupied much of central and northern Europe, and France would soon follow three days later. In the east, Stalin’s Red Army conquered the Baltic states and half of Poland. In Spain, the recently-concluded Civil War had sapped much of the country’s manpower and destroyed valuable farmland.
With Europe engulfed by the most destructive conflict in history, the plight of millions of refugees driven from their homes was noticed in North America. This cartoon demonstrates the careful optimism in Canada during the early years of the war of the country’s ability to weather the storm of war, and to provide assistance for its victims. Tragically, Canada’s supposed generosity towards Europe’s refugees did not extend to those of Jewish heritage. Only a year previous, the Canadian government turned away over 900 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Germany on the MS St. Louis, and they were forced to return to Europe where many of them perished in the Nazi regime’s extermination camps.