Tending the Garden/Montreal

[Page 20]

MONTREAL

EMERIC, in Hamburg, Germany, was willing to take any ship, anywhere. He finally was able to sign onto the SS Cairngowan, bound for Canada.

Meanwhile, the Gillies family lived on tree-lined Jeanne-Mance Street in Montreal. Malcolm, a captain with the Anchor Donaldson Steamship Line and his wife Catherine had immigrated to Canada from Glasgow, Scotland in 1906 with their children, Helen, Margaret and Mary. Now, years later, in the spring of 1926, young Mary was teaching kindergarten. She could not know of the youth crossing the Atlantic on the SS Cairngowan. It would not be long before they would meet.

Emeric’s account continues:

We would land either in Halifax or Montreal, depending on ice conditions in the St. Lawrence River early in May.

| was to wash the dishes and clean the officers’ mess, which seemed to me like a palace compared to the primitive quarters on the SS BURUTU. | slept in a cabin with bedsheets. ... | ate together with the steward and chief steward who, as he knew me better, suspected that | will skip ship and told me so, but | pretended not to understand his English. At five every morning | had to take a cup of tea with two pieces of toast up to the officer on the bridge. When the sea was rough it was a difficult balancing act to hold it all, and myself, on the rails.

We moved through icefields, saw seals and icebergs, as we approached the American continent. The Captain entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and proceeded to Montreal. More than a year had passed since | left Sibiu on my way to Australia. | had seen and traveled a lot but was now farther away from my goal than when | left home. Australia was ... far away not only in distance but also in my mind. | had two paramount objectives: survival and escape from Europe. If Canada was the way, so be it.

We arrived in the evening of May 6th, 1927, in the harbor of Montreal. The first thing | saw was the lighted cross on Mount Royal. The next day, after washing the lunch [Page 21]‘3, MONTREAL \& 21

dishes, | had a shore leave of about four hours. After seeing Berlin, Hamburg, Antwerp and Rotterdam, Montreal appeared to me like a provincial barrack city. Its only modern office building was the Sun Life Building. ... There were no traffic lights. What | liked best was Mount Royal and | wanted to climb it at the first opportunity.

| bought the Montreal Daily Star for two cents and looked for rooms to rent. On Saturday | got an advance of five dollars as spending money and decided to desert the ship on May 13th, which | considered a lucky number. | left behind my small suitcase with my belongings. | also left a letter for the purser, cook and assistant cook, apologizing for any inconveniences, and assuring them that | had to take this step due to circumstances beyond my control.

| was wearing my winter coat and had $20 and the three English pounds in gold, which was worth $15, in my pocket. On the wharf were several large signs of warning that deserters of ships will be prosecuted, jailed and deported. | had no other alternative. | could not realize that because of this illegal act of mine | would save not only my own life but also the lives of my brothers, sister and parents. We all would have perished in the holocaust of Hitler, which was also illegal.’

BS

First Months in Montreal

Emeric abandoned the Cairngowan, leaving behind his passport and few belongings. He knew not a single soul in the new city and he barely spoke English or French. He was legitimately afraid of being discovered as an illegal alien. Across the ocean were family, friends and all that was familiar. What he had was his strength of character, his self-discipline, the courage and hope of a 21-year old. His chronicle continues:

| took a room... as far away from the harbour as possible, on St. Antoine Street, near the CPR tracks, for $2.50 per week. A black man was my neighbour with whom | shared the bath. Later | found out that the immigration office with its jail for detainees was on the same street. Until my ship left harbour | kept myself low, fearing encounters with crew members who might report me. Even after the ship sailed | kept away from policemen, having left my passport with picture and description with the purser; | feared [Page 22]22 3y MONTREAL ‘©

it may have been circulated among them.

For reasons of economy | went back to my vegetarian diet, eating in my room mostly milk, cheese, dark bread, oranges, apples and bananas, and | felt well and happy. Since my funds were running out | had to find work. | stopped at every construction job and offered my services with no result.

Then | bought myself a pair of overalls and work shoes, and was employed on Bishop Street to carry bricks up a ladder to the second floor for 30 cents an hour, 10 hours a day. The third day, the owner and his son came to inspect the job, in riding boots and costume. By this time my movements were very slow, and looking at me they did not like what they saw. At one o'clock | was paid out and told not to come back Monday. | was fired. The next morning, Sunday, | could not get out of my bed. My back and shoulders were aching. | was glad | was fired, as otherwise | might have collapsed on the job.

After three days rest | felt strong enough to try for another job. ... | found work digging ditches with pick and shovel for the foundation of a building. As we dug deeper | thought | could hide from the eyes of the Swiss foreman. | could not keep up with the others. On the fourth day he moved me to an easier job, unloading and sorting lumber. Two more days and | was told there was no more work for me.

Since landing | bought the Montreal Star every day, partly to practice my English, but mainly to peruse the “Situations Wanted” column. | was looking for openings for an office boy, or hopefully, for a German stenographer or correspondent, which never appeared. | wrote dozens of letters listing my European experiences, to no avail.

Finally, a letter arrived from the Czechoslovak Manufacturer's Company, on St. Paul Street, that | should present myself for a job as office boy. It was an agency business run by an elegantly dressed bachelor from Prague. | would be the only employee at seven dollars per week. He dictated letters in German, | had to dust his samples—mostly glass and ceramics, clean the office and wash his car. My income was less than half that of a laborer but | didn’t mind, since | was at the bottom of the ladder | wanted to climb. About 10 days later, while Mr. Mason was out, a customer phoned whom | did not understand. He hung up. The next day | was fired, because this important customer told my employer: “What kind of a stupid bloke do you employ who does not understand English.””

Eventually, Emeric was hired as a stenographer by another importing company. [Page 23]MONTREAL ‘& 23

Mr. Kuna dictated long letters in German to Prague, and short collection letters in English. He did not mind correcting my English letters which | had to rewrite. Since his English vocabulary was limited, within a few weeks | could transcribe his letters without the need of correction. There were three more employees in that office and warehouse which made life quite pleasant.’

As many newcomers to Canada did in those days, Emeric decided to change his surname. Szalavetz became Sala. He continued to read the newspaper every day. He was now searching for free lectures to improve his English language skills and one day he found a notice that would change his life.

As soon as my ship lifted anchor, | went to all advertised free lectures to hear and learn English. | even went to church services to hear the sermons. That is how one Sunday afternoon at four | went to hear a Baha'i lecture in the Guy Block building on St. Catherine Street. There were about 15 well-dressed, middle aged or older Anglo-Saxons among whom | felt out of place. The speaker was George Spendlove. All | understood was that he was against nationalism and militarism, with which | agreed. On the way out | took a free pamphlet with me which contained the basic Baha’i principles [see Appendix A]. Reading them in my room... with the help of a dictionary | realized they were my

own.! Be

A Speaker and A Book

Emeric kept going back to these lectures. One day, the speaker was May Maxwell. She was introduced by her daughter, Mary.

...a very distinguished and elegantly dressed lady was sitting in the speaker's chair. | was charmed by her radiance, and could not take my eyes from her face. Then, to my surprise, a beautiful young girl ... stood up to introduce the speaker. She spoke with great ease and confidence with opening remarks on the subject “Interracial Marriage”. | was also amazed by the close and loving rapport which | felt between these two people,

and thought that perhaps they were related to each other. Then the lady stood up. There [Page 24]24 3 MONTREAL ‘©

was silence. She spoke and the atmosphere in that room gradually changed. Most of her words | could not understand, but | sat there spellbound, not wanting to miss a second of that unique and new experience. There was a tremendous love radiating from her, and | wanted a part of it for myself. She embodied to me the ideal Mother, and | was telling myself how fortunate the person who has a mother like her.

| left after the talk without speaking to anyone. | was and felt like a foreigner in that room. Not only because of the language, but | also felt the barrier of culture and class. ... It was only months later that | discovered that the beautiful lady was Mrs. May Maxwell, and her chairman was her daughter Mary, then seventeen years old.’

The next Sunday [while | was] looking at books, Mrs. Cowles, the librarian offered me Dr. Esslemont’s Bahd’u'lldh and the New Era. | was very impressed that she trusted me, a total stranger, with a book. | read with great interest all | could with the help of my dictionary, and when | tried to return it the next Sunday, there was a notice on the door stating that the lecture series would reopen in October. Thus, | had three months at my disposal to study this Baha’ book.

| was happy in my tiny basement room. It was no larger than a ship's cabin. It had a cot, a kitchen chair and a small table. It had no closet, but then | had no clothes either. A bare bulb hung from the ceiling. There was a small window facing the entrance stairs, giving some light but not enough for reading. Next door was the laundry room where | could shave and wash.

Reading in this room for the first time about the suffering, exile and imprisonment of Baha'u'llah, | felt guilty about my comfort. Compared to the torture, humiliation and execution of so many of the early Baha'is my life was easy. The deeper | got into this book the more | liked it. | felt that here was something worthwhile to hold on to. | felt spiritually at home, although at that time | would not have used the word “spiritual.”

Baha'u'llah was the prophet-founder of this new faith. Reading about ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Bahd@u’llah’s eldest son, Emeric realized that he had heard of

Him some years before.

When | was sixteen years old, my best friend told me that he had read in a German newspaper that a wise man died in Palestine who believed in the same things as | [Page 25]y MONTREAL ‘© 25

did: a world peace, a world government, a world religion. But he could not tell me his name. | told him that | would like the clipping, but he could not find it anymore. [Now from Esslemont’s book] | found out it was in 1921 that Abdu’l-Baha had passed away and that newspapers reported it all over the world.’

By now Emeric had finished reading Bah@’u'llah and the New Era and

as he said in an interview a few months before his death:

| felt in my own heart that that is where | belonged, there is my home. | was not fully reconciled with God. | came as an agnostic and therefore it was difficult for me to accept Baha'u'llah as a messenger of God. But May Maxwell and Mary Maxwell both helped me to get over that hurdle. From September - October | felt myself a follower.

Emeric was attracted as well to the Bahdis themselves. He found among them a space of welcome for newcomers from other cultures as he stated in this excerpt from a video interview by his nephew Rick Sala:

In the Baha'i community | felt there was no anti-Semitism. As any other member of a minority, | was sensitive to discrimination. Any people senses if another group considers itself superior. Canadian Anglophone society at that time was democratic, liberal, educated. They never said insulting words expressing anti-Semitism, but it was there. One could see it in the eyes, sense it in body language. Among the Baha'is, however, | did not feel this. To me, this was one of the proofs that the Baha’ Faith was genuine. It brought together people who were very different, and made of them genuine brothers. | had formulated these ideas of brotherhood intellectually; here | saw them in practice?

Emeric by now must have considered himself a Bahai. The process of enrollment in those early days in Canada had not yet been formalized. One day, when Emeric decided that he wished to contribute to the Bahai Fund, he came across a stumbling block. Only Baha'is are permitted to contribute to the

Bah@#i fund.

In December, | gave a check of $2.00 to Ernest Harrison [treasurer] as a contri[Page 26]26 Sy MONTREAL ‘&

bution to the Faith. He said, “l am not supposed to take it because you are not on our list.” A week or so later he let me know he did bring up my name, | assume in the Local Spiritual Assembly, and they accepted me, and accepted the check, and he wrote a beautiful letter of acceptance. It was different then in 1927. People came to the meetings, some thought they were Baha'is, some didn’t.”°

Ernest Harrison wrote this beautiful letter to Emeric. In it, aspects of contributing to the Baha'i Fund are clarified:

Dear Brother,

Until I had first brought your request before the Local Spiritual Assembly, desirous of being considered a BELIEVER, no Baha’is would ever accept or permit me as Treasurer to accept one cent from you, or from anyone but a believer, for the Cause. I hope this is now understood. I was very happy to place before them your verbal declaration and really there was no need for me to say very much - they all realized that you were at heart a believer and wished to be heart and soul in the Cause, so that just as soon as I voiced it they agreed.

Your letter was not placed before the Spiritual Assembly nor was the amount of your cheque - that is a matter of confidence between the Treasurer and each contributor - only the total on hand at the bank is reported to the believers. Each individual contribution is a matter between him and God and is not made public by the Treasurer.

Your Baha'i brother

E. V. Harrison”

With no clergy, no equivalent of rabbi, priest, or mulla, the Bahai community is administered at a local level by freely elected councils called Local Spiritual Assemblies. The same system operates at the national and international levels. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Montreal, the first in Canada, was founded in 1922.

In those early days, there was not yet an elected leadership internationally. A young man only thirty years old headed the Bahai Faith. ‘Abdw’lBaha had appointed Shoghi Effendi, His eldest grandson, to lead the Faith following His passing. Shoghi Effendi, known as the Guardian, guided the Bah@is, in part, through his many letters. [Page 27]Sy MONTREAL ‘& 27

Shortly after enrolling, Emeric wrote Shoghi Effendi a letter. Here is a section of the reply:

March 7, 1928

My dear co-worker:

I wish you from all my heart the fullest success in your efforts to teach and spread our beloved Cause, and trust that you may some day undertake the pilgrimage to the Holy Land and visit the Baha’i sacred Shrines and there obtain a clearer vision of the mission and significance of the Faith.

Your true brother, Shoghi” By

It Began With A Dream

I will now pick up the threads of Rosemary’s story. I wish she had written about her early years in the Gillies household. She was an unusual young woman for those times. Although suitors were available, she did not marry early. Rosemary longed to become an architect. In the 1920s, only Columbia University in New York City would accept women as students in that field. Her parents would not allow her to move so far from home. She decided instead to become a teacher, graduating from Macdonald College, outside of Montreal. Soon she was teaching kindergarten in an inner city school. Having a profession gave her independence, with a mind open to new ideas. Photographs show her with her hair in the fashionable ‘bob’ of the times seated at the wheel of a car.

Rosemary tells of her first encounter as a child with the Bahai Faith describing a childhood dream.

| had a dream about ‘Abdu’l-Baha. | dreamed | was in a foreign country ... | was in the shadows, very timid and afraid to have found myself in such a strange place. | was terrified and so cold. Then, | saw a bright light come along the road, and this Figure walking. He looked at me, and with His eyes, He drew me out of that dark, cold cavern, into the sunlight. | realized years later that it was ‘Abdu’l-Baha. | was a child at the time.” [Page 28]28 MONTREAL t&

In 1912, ‘Abdu’'l-Baha travelled for several months through North America, with Montreal the sole Canadian city on His itinerary. Although we have no way of knowing if Rosemary’s dream occurred at that time, there nevertheless was a Gillies family connection to His visit. Rosemary’s mother had an opportunity to hear ‘Abduw’'l-Baha speak. Rosemary continues:

One day in September, 1912, our doctor who was also a family friend, and was very interested in esoteric movements, came to visit. He told my mother that this wonderful person who came from Persia was visiting the Maxwells and he had been invited to their home to hear him, and wouldn’t Mother like to go? She rather hesitated, her Scotch Presbyterianism and her love for Christ coming before her - and she said no.

Then he said, “Well, won’t you come in my carriage and we'll drive past the house and perhaps see him walking outside.” Again, she refused. She told me this years afterwards when | had become a Baha’, that she had had this opportunity, and perhaps she had made a mistake in not agreeing to his request."

Rosemary’s first visit to the Maxwell home was not promising. One of her friends suggested they go to a youth group that was meeting that evening. ‘They were curious about the group, and the daughter, Mary Maxwell, who was considered an “unusual teenager”.

But Edith and myself (Edith became a missionary later to China) we decided that they were just a little bit too fluttery for us. That was my first entrance into the Maxwell house... But | remember Mr. Maxwell and Mrs. Maxwell being very kind and very hospitable.”

By \&

Bahai Youth Group

Sometime later, Rosemary and a friend, heading to the movies, became sidetracked:

One evening en route to the movies with a friend from Newfoundland, we got [Page 29]y MONTREAL t& 29

off the streetcar and walked down Union Avenue when | saw Baha’ Hall. | suggested we go there rather than the movies, and we did. It was in the fall ... | remember | was wearing a coat and hat that | felt a little warm in. We sat down, and | saw Rowland Estall, George Spendlove who was the leader, and Emeric Sala, who could hardly speak English.

When | looked at Emeric a voice said to me, “This is the man you're going to marry.’ | was rather indignant at this; | had sentimental feelings towards someone else at the time, and here was someone who couldn't speak English! But | was so captivated by the manners of these three young men who of course were delighted to see a new fish swim into their pool. | went back again and again and again."

‘That eventful evening, Rosemary had stumbled upon a meeting of the new Montreal Youth Group. Earlier that year, Emeric had met Rowland Estall, also a recent Bahd’i, who had just returned to Montreal from his summer job as wireless operator on ships in the St. Lawrence River. Together they teamed up with George Spendlove, who had become a Bahai in the Maxwell home following his years serving in the First World War.”

Here is Emeric’s version of how the Youth Group began.

Rowland Estall and | felt very strongly that our Faith was not growing in Canada as fast as it should. We felt that our only hope was with young people. We both had youth and enthusiasm with no experience and little knowledge. We asked George Spendlove, who was nine years older, to join us and with the assistance and encouragement of Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf [a Baha'i who had come from the United States to assist the growing Baha'i community in Montreal] we obtained permission from the Montreal Local Spiritual Assembly to hold a weekly study class - for youth only - at the Baha'i Hall ... We have never read of any similar Baha'i youth activity anywhere else in the Baha'i world prior to 1927.8

From a biography of the Maxwell family of Montreal published in 2012, we learn that May Maxwell was a force behind the scenes. “She loved them; she encouraged them; she even indulged them. At times she also ad monished them.”!” [Page 30]30 3y MONTREAL ‘&

One of Shoghi Effendi’s letters had a profound impact on the young Baha'is of Montreal. Rowland Estall had written to the Guardian about the youth group and in the Guardian's reply was this sentence:

“T urge them to study profoundly the revealed utterances of Baha’u’llah and the discourses of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and not to rely unduly on the representation and interpretation of the Teachings given by the Baha’i speakers and teachers””°

Emeric reflects on the Guardian’s letter:

This surprising statement of Shoghi Effendi confirmed our feeling that we were at the threshhold of a change. We felt that a new wind was blowing, and did not want to mix it with the old. In my own life the above statement left an abiding impression, and | have ever since listened to every fellow Baha’i’s written or oral statement with the above reservation.”

Since we invited many non-Baha’i young speakers often to share the platform with a Baha'i youth, this feature attracted many new young people and our attendance grew until by 1931 we had an overflowing audience of up to sixty-five. As we were in the Depression the predominant questions were along economic and social lines. ... Rather than lose control of such large audiences, our Youth Committee decided in the Fall of 1931 to have henceforth only Baha’i speakers on our platform with the purpose of direct teaching of the Faith. Those [guests] who were more responsive we took to meet Mrs. Maxwell, and many we invited to the Friday night deepening classes which were for old and young alike. Freddie Schopflocher invited many of us to his Sunday morning brunches. We had many Sunday picnics at the Back River... We held many anniversaries and parties in the Maxwell and Schopflocher homes. About this time the number of young Baha'is increased from three to nineteen.”

Emeric sent a report on the Youth Group's activities to the Guardian. Here was Shoghi Effendi’s response, written on his behalf:

Haifa, Palestine, 1-4-32 Shoghi Effendi was very glad to read and obtain first hand information [Page 31]MONTREAL \& 31

as to the way the young people in Montreal have succeeded to attract many souls and inspire them with the spirit of service to our beloved Faith. Once the youth learns that this Cause is their Cause, and that through it they can ensure their future social tranquility and spiritual progress, then they will arise and consecrate their life to the promotion of this Faith. And as you clearly state in your report, no one can awaken the youth of the world to a consciousness of this road to salvation except from their own numbers - youths already inspired with the Baha’ spirit.*

Today I see the twenty-first century youth of Montreal, working energetically with groups of neighbourhood children and young teens, providing leadership as Local Spiritual Assembly members, as coordinators of islandwide activities, even serving on provincial organizing bodies. ‘There is a link back to that first audacious youth group of Montreal. They have learned well “that this Cause is also their Cause.”

Within a year of encountering the Montreal ‘Youth Group, Rosemary joined the Faith. There had been some hesitation in inviting her, as Emeric’s friend, Rowland Estall describes:

Neither Emeric or I had had any experience of enrolling anyone in the Faith, but one day, in discussing it together, we decided it was high time that Rosemary should be given the opportunity to declare herself. We were not entirely sure of her reaction and so, neither of us wishing to bell the cat, so to speak, we tossed for it. I won, and invited Rosemary to become a Baha’i. She simply wondered why we had waited so long to ask her.”4

Rosemary describes her first visit to Green Acre, the Baha'i School in Eliot, Maine.

George Spendlove took me to Green Acre, and that was a tremendous experience. There was a gift shop at that time, and he was in charge of it, so he asked me if | would go down with him and help him look after it. My parents were in Europe and | asked Helen, my sister, if she had any objections to my going. She said no, she was so busy studying for her McGill exams that it didn’t interest her. That was how | got plunged into Green Acre, and that of course was a real plowing up. One day I’d be floating on cloud [Page 32]32 Sy MONTREAL ‘©

nine, and the next day I’d be grubbing in the earth - the soul going through this process.”

Siegfried (Fred) Schopflocher was an industrialist who had been born into a Jewish family in Germany. He came to Montreal as a young man, eventually developing a manufacturing process for bronze powder. He played an important role in the life of the Bahai community, and in the lives of Rosemary and Emeric. Rosemary recalls:

He was so sweet to me as a young Baha'i. | was brought up in a very churchoriented home. You know on Sundays one went to church three times a day. Then | became a Baha’i and it was rather difficult. He was so sweet and he used to invite me to his home for brunch. ... Emeric was sometimes there and other young people. ... Freddie would talk about the Guardian. He had beautiful music and all the Baha’i books. It was a perfect haven for me.

After our brunch we'd go down to the Baha'i Center for the meeting at three o'clock in the afternoon. If it was raining, we took a taxi, but if it was not raining, we all came down by streetcar. This again was wonderful; he gave us a lesson in economy. He was a very wealthy man; he didn’t give indiscriminately to charity. Once he became a Baha'i, the Baha’i Faith was his charity. He would give individually to people we don't know about who were in straits and difficulties but his whole devotion went to the Faith.”

Rowland Estall was a master storyteller and would hold audiences spellbound with his tales of these early days. In his irrepressible manner, Rowland would recall the beautiful Mary Maxwell, and how all the young men in the Montreal community were captivated by her. Emeric would have been one of these, perhaps wavering in his feelings between her and Rosemary. No one could know of Mary Maxwell's special destiny.

Another example of caution and reticence on the part of Emeric and Rowland concerned a young man from England, David Hofman.

It was Mrs. Bolles [sister-in-law of May Maxwell] who meeting David Hofman then a contact only ...walking with Rowland and Emeric, invited him to a meeting commemorating the martyrdom of the Bab. The two Baha'is were sure that this would [Page 33]3 MONTREAL \& 33

be the worst possible approach to one of David's intellectual brilliance and hoped he would not come - He came late just as Mary [Maxwell] had begun to speak. Then he left immediately after the talk; Rowland and Emeric were in agony, sure that their contact was lost forever! About a week later, David phoned Rowland to say that he was so deeply moved that he had had to leave!”

David Hofman soon joined the Baha'i Faith. Some thirty years later, in 1963, he was elected to the Universal House of Justice, the chief governing body of the Baha’is of the world.

Emeric and Rosemary’s friendship developed in the early 1930s, though we know few details. May Maxwell, ever-perceptive, wrote to Emeric of a dream she had had. Did she have a premonition? Was she aware that in the Jewish faith, the wedding ceremony takes place under a special canopy called a chuppah, symbolizing the home the couple will build together?

May 10, 1933

Emeric — I cannot go to sleep without writing you this line. Last night I dreamed of you - or should I say I saw you in the world of reality - so strong so young ~ with that strange power around you which has had so deep an effect upon my life. You were with Rosemary under a kind of canopy beneath a clear blue sky ~ and she took your hand and said, ‘Come’ and as you arose to go with her you turned and looked at me.

You have both become so rare and beautiful - and oh! - so dear to me!

Ever in His path

May M.”8

Emeric writes:

Rosemary Gillies came from a strict Scots-Presbyterian home. Her father ran away from home at fifteen and hired himself on a sailing ship. Later as captain he was transferred from Scotland with wife and three daughters to Montreal as ship’s superintendent. ... As a member of our Youth Group, Rosemary became a Bahda’i ... She was a sweet and lovely girl, and among her many admirers she had four serious contenders. Her parents and relatives would have preferred any of the other three, not only because [Page 34]34 y MONTREAL ‘©

of their more desirable background, but also because | had no funds. Rosemary, however, remained steadfast and loyal to me to the end.”

But before thinking of marriage, there were some practical matters for Emeric to consider. Though he was now working for a wealthy manufacturer, his employment struggles continued.

Mr. Reinblatt had just returned from Europe with many agencies which he wanted to develop. Most Czechoslovak and Austrian manufacturers corresponded only in German which he could not speak. He hired me at $17.50 per week, and | saw a greater opportunity. We sold tie silk from Austria, woolens and linen from Czechoslovakia, felt from Poland, lace from Belgium and velvet from France. We were just starting when the crash of 1929 depressed all business.

The crash was followed by the great depression of the 1930's. Reinblatt was heavily hit. Business was sinking, unemployment was skyrocketing. ... To earn my salary | volunteered to go out selling. | sold rayon tie silk material, ladies woolen coating, and buttons to manufacturers.

| kept my job.

One day, Nick Szalavitz, my second cousin, a bon vivant whom | had not met before, came to visit me from New York. Looking at my family pictures, he saw a photo of my sister, Blanca, and said that this was the girl he was going to marry. | took it for a joke. Some time later | was informed in a letter from home that they were engaged to be married. | mailed them my savings for a wedding present, thus contributed to their fare to

America. ... In 1931, their only child Norma was born.°

One of Emeric’s pressing goals was to convert his illegal alien status to Canadian citizen. Emeric writes:

Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf, the renowned Baha'i teacher, through whose intervention we obtained permission from the Montreal Assembly to hold our Youth meetings in the Baha'i Hall on Union Avenue ... was very close to me. She was the first Baha'i and also the first person in Canada, to whom | told very confidentially that | was illegally in the country. ... She arranged an appointment [with a lawyer friend of hers] and assured [Page 35]& MONTREAL \& 35

me that | could fully trust him. He was an imposing figure with white hair and beard. After hearing my story, he said to come back in 10 days; in the meantime he would inquire at the Immigration Department in Ottawa, without giving my name as to what would be best to do. When | returned he told me to do nothing, keep quiet and wait. About a year later, | asked another lawyer ... and got the same answer. This meant there was no way to get an exception in my case.

Reinblatt was now taking advantage of me. | earned my salary of twenty dollars, | felt, in the office. Besides | went out selling, for which he refused to pay me a commission. One day, | gave him an ultimatum: twenty five dollars or | would quit. He let me go. | did not look for anymore desk jobs. | saw my future in selling. My next job was with the Fuller Brush Company, selling from house to house. | did not earn much, but it provided an excellent training in selling, and in breaking my shyness of meeting strangers.”

Rosemary provides some context:

While cooking breakfast this morning, | thought of Emeric’s struggles when he first came to Canada and thought | should write of them. Part of his nervous reactions and outbursts sprang from that time; though like his brothers Paul and Ernest, he was always a Hungarian in temperament and a Sala!

In Europe he was the eldest son with the certain authority of respect accorded to that station. He arrived in Canada, poorly dressed to the standard of the time, with no English, desperately shy, feeling alienated as a foreigner. He poured out his loneliness in letters to his mother and was assuaged by her loving replies. He carried bricks up a ladder for a building company and was sworn at for clumsiness; he washed dishes in the kitchen of the Queen's Hotel, lower Windsor Street. When we were engaged, he took me to dinner there, (it was a good hotel at that time, convenient to the station for travelers). The doorman, major domo, was his onetime companion in the kitchen!

Then he became a Fuller-brush man. ... To his shock, one day, Mrs. Cowles, a Baha’i, answered the door - by this time he had found the Baha'is. His embarrassment was acute but she was kind and invited him in for tea but had no money to buy brushes.

His dream had been to go to college or become an air-pilot, but the urgency of the European situation and his longing to rescue his family drove him into business. Like your father, business was not his forte, he did it because it had become his skill, [Page 36]36 y MONTREAL ‘&

though even as late as our stay in Port Elizabeth, he had to conquer this shyness in his salesmanship.”

In the early 1930s, Emeric had finally saved enough money and acquired the confidence to take a first step into business for himself.

| decided to start my own business as foreign manufacturers’ representative. | had a savings of about one hundred dollars. First, | had to have a name. | submitted to Rosemary a list of five names, and she chose the one | liked also best, Transatlantic Agencies Company. | registered it in the City Hall, giving my boarding house address and telephone number. My next expense was the printing of letterheads, envelopes and the purchase of a secondhand typewriter ... Mornings and some afternoons | continued selling on commission to cover my daily expenses. The rest of the time, except when | had Baha'i commitments, | wrote hundreds of letters, asking for samples, price lists and agency contracts.

After eight months of hard work Transatlantic received its first commission cheque of twenty eight dollars. This did not discourage me, as | was on my own. The second year | had enough lines to keep me busy ... Before the end of the year, | had my own office in Fred Schopflocher’s office building ... and my own telephone. Soon after | hired a

stenographer for mornings only.” By \&

Citizenship

It was 1933. Emeric’s illegal status loomed while at the same time he was engaged to be married and the owner of a new business.

Rosemary's brother-in-law, Dr. Rolland Kennedy, had a good friend Mr. Gabouri, a French-Canadian lawyer, and he arranged an appointment for me. Mr. Gabouri checked again with the Immigration Department and then asked me to write the story of my life, the reason why | had come to Canada, and to collect as many character references as | could. | got one from Mr. W.S. Maxwell, President of the Canadian Architects Association, designer and president of the Montreal Arts Museum; one from Mr. Fred Schopflocher, [Page 37]By MONTREAL ‘& 37

Vice-President of the Canadian Bronze Powder Works; one from Captain Malcolm Gillies, one from Dr. R. Kennedy, another from Dr. Charles Johnson, another brother-in-law to-be, and one or two more. When | brought these to Gabouri with a rough draft of my life’s story, | thought he would edit my draft and correct my English, but instead he took it as is - considering it more genuine - and mailed it all to the Immigration Department in Montreal, which, according to law, issued a deportation order and mailed it all to the minister in Ottawa for a final decision.

A few weeks later, | found a letter in my box from the Immigration Department. | opened it with trembling hands. It was very short. All it said was that referring to such and such a letter the application had been rejected by the Minister.

My heart stopped beating, and | must have turned white. My world had come to an end. All my struggle was for nothing. | phoned Mr. Gabouri. He was very surprised, and said he would ask for an explanation, and would phone me back. After about ten minutes of desperation he phoned to tell me that not my application but the application for my deportation has been rejected by the Minister. Therefore | was free, and could apply for naturalization and a passport. Never before or since have | travelled in sucha short period

from the darkest pit in hell to the seventh heaven.™ By \&

Shadows of War

Emeric’s goals of Canadian citizenship and financial stability were realized, but new challenges remained. He foresaw another war. His father and mother and two brothers remained in Europe and he was anxious to bring them all to Canada. At the end of 1933, he travelled to Europe on business and to see his family.

My mother was very conscious of family. Although they all lived in the Old Hungary [the extended family lived in Hungarian sections of Romania, and Czechoslovakia as well as in Hungary itself], distances, measured in train-time, was for them very far. They did not see each other, often for periods of ten years or more. Instead contact was maintained by regular correspondence. My mother shared with us news she received from her sisters and brothers, and although we did not see all our various cousins and other [Page 38]38 Sy MONTREAL \&

relatives, they were engraved very deeply in our consciousness.

| told a cousin of mine to pack up and leave Europe before it is too late. He laughed at me. He and his wife were later exterminated in the Holocaust. | told it to others but they would not believe me. If | had told them that my authority was ‘Abdu’l-Baha, it would have meant nothing to them.*

‘Abdu’l-Baha, in 1920, had written these prophetic words: “The ills from which the world now suffers will multiply; the gloom which envelops it will deepen. The Balkans will remain discontented. Its restlessness will increase. ‘The vanquished Powers will continue to agitate. They will resort to every measure that may rekindle the flame of war.”**

From a letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, we learn that Emeric had

written him about meeting Bahda’is in Vienna.

November 13, 1933

...He thoroughly appreciates the opportunity you have been given to visit some of the important Baha’i centers in Europe and particularly Vienna where the friends are growing both in number and influence.

... He has always advised and even urged the friends to emphasize in their Baha’ activities the necessity of strengthening, through correspondence and particularly by means of frequent and warm visits, the bonds of cooperation and amity between various Baha’ centers and groups. This, he feels, is an essential step towards the further extension and consolidation of the New World Order.*”

And in Shoghi Effendi’s own words:

I wish to add a few words in person in order to confirm my deep sense of appreciation of what you have done and are still doing in the service of our beloved Faith in Europe. If you could arrange to visit some of the groups in the Balkans, such as Sofia, Tirana, Budapest and Belgrade, there is no doubt that the friends in these centres will feel greatly stimulated and grateful. Miss Root, Miss Jack and Mrs. Gregory are very active in these regions.*®

Emeric was able to respond to the Guardian’s request in a small way. [Page 39]y MONTREAL \& 39

On reading the biography of one of the first Baha’is of Hungary, Emeric recalled that he had met her in Budapest on another trip in 1937, with his young cousin, Pista:

| just finished reading “Rebirth” by Renee Szanto-Felbermann. ... In 1937, on my way to Haifa, | phoned her and arranged to meet in a Budapest coffeehouse. My 10 year old cousin (who died in the Holocaust) asked me how will | recognize her since it is a very large coffeehouse. | said ‘Don’t worry. Baha'is have a special light in their eyes. He took me very seriously. When we arrived there were about 60 people sitting around. On entering | saw a young lady sitting alone, looking at me since she was obviously waiting for somebody. | looked at her. She kept on looking at me. | proceeded toward her and she still looked at me. It was Renee Felbermann. For my cousin it was a miracle.’””

Also in 1937, Emeric visited Sofia, Bulgaria. We do not know if he ever went to Tirana or Belgrade. One of his last wishes, before his death, was to visit the emerging Baha'i communities in Romania and Hungary.

Emeric’s description of the 1933 trip to Europe continues:

| visited Aunt Natalie in Budapest, the youngest sister of my mother. She lived above their store with her husband Jeno Bolgar and their son, Pista, who had been born deaf. He was highly intelligent; he could read our lips when we spoke in Hungarian. ...He knew Budapest well and took me around on my business errands.

From among our mother’s seven brothers and sisters, we felt closest to Natalie. While my father was in the First World War, | was ten, | saw my mother taken away in an ambulance, ill with typhus. We four children were left like orphans under the care of the young maid until Aunt Natalie arrived. She was like our guardian angel ever since. ... When she entered a room she brought sunshine with her.

| discussed with her, as | did with every other relative when the opportunity arose, the possibility of their leaving Europe, which in my eyes was a powder keg. She answered with anxiety in her eyes that Pista could not learn with his handicap another language. Therefore his and their place would have to remain Hungary.

Returning home after seven years absence was a great experience. ... | obtained my parents approval to marry Rosemary which | required according to Baha’ law. My [Page 40]40 MONTREAL t&

next obsession was to bring my brothers out, and then my parents. There were only two

obstacles, money and visas, both very hard to get.” Be

Marriage

On June 27, 1934, Rosemary and Emeric were married twice. First by a Presbyterian minister in the Gillies home, and then on the same day in the Schopflocher home, the simple Bahai ceremony. In those days the province of Quebec did not recognize Bahai marriages as legal, thus the reason for two ceremonies.

What did Adolf and Charlotte, being observant Jews, think of their son’s conversion to another faith, and furthermore of his engagement to a “gentile’? When, in later years, I questioned family members, none felt this had been a major issue. Malcolm and Catherine Gillies might also have had reservations, yet they too accepted their daughter’s conversion and marriage. This parental consent on both sides would have a positive impact on the extended family, paving the way for intercultural and interreligious marriages to follow. I wonder though, if the two sets of parents, Szalavetz and Gillies, ever meet?

May Maxwell was delighted with the marriage, and wrote to Emeric, regretting that she could not attend:

June 9, 1934.

You are too close to me not to understand my deep disappointment in not being with you and Rosemary on the day of your marriage. I shall see you two glorious young people in the ranks of Shoghi Effendi standing with your faces uplifted to the light of the future, the hope, the promise, and the strength of our sacred Faith.”

In a separate letter to Rosemary May Maxwell again expressed her pain at not attending the wedding, “for very deep reasons in the Cause related to my work over which I have no control...” She continued with these insightful words about the youth, words that could be used today: [Page 41]y MONTREAL ‘& 41

June 9, 1934.

Oh Rosemary, sometimes I think that vision is given only to the youth, that, as Helen Bishop wrote from Haifa, the Guardian’s great hope lies in your generation, unveiled by ancient prejudices in the Cause, untrammeled by our early habits and tendencies, free from personalities, dogma and strife....

...my whole heart’s love to you, our precious beautiful Bride.“

Rosemary and Emeric moved to a house on Riverside Drive in St. Lambert, across the river from Montreal. According to Will van den Hoonaard, Rosemary and Emeric were “perhaps the first homefront pioneers in Canada’’, moving to another locality to help expand the Faith. Here they held community firesides in their home.** In 1938, the fourth Local Spiritual Assembly of Canada was formed in St. Lambert.”

In the late 1930s, as the world drifted relentlessly towards another war, Emeric continued his efforts to bring his family from Eastern Europe to Canada. This was difficult. Canada was not the multicultural nation it is today; anti-Semitism and racism were widespread. In the ten years from 1935 to 1945, fewer than 5000 Jews were accepted into this country although hundreds of thousands applied, desperate to leave Europe.”

In his unpublished autobiography, Emeric describes his struggle to

bring his family members to Canada during that time. By &

Heavy Doors Open

Using friends and lawyers | knocked for over two years on the heavy doors of the Immigration Department in Ottawa to obtain a visa for Ernest but the answer was always no. Finally, | obtained the visa under the condition that Ernest bring with him two thousand dollars in cash. Since | did not have such liquid money, Freddie [Schopflocher] loaned it to us and Ernest arrived in Montreal in 1936.

In the meantime | had been working on a visa for Paul. The only [Jewish] immigrants Canada accepted at that time were bona fide farmers. Since Paul had been working for the last 10 years on our uncle, [Armin] Valko’s estate, and was interested only in agriculture, | thought it should be easy to obtain a visa. We were turned down. We were [Page 42]42 &y MONTREAL \&

made to understand that there were no Jewish farmers in Canada, or anywhere else. That the few Jews who did come to Canada as farmers, as a pretext to get in, soon disappeared in the cities. After guaranteeing that | would buy a farm and Paul would stay on it, we finally got his visa. Paul arrived in 1937, we bought his farm in Riviére Beaudette, where an immigration inspector kept checking on him for a number of years. It turned out that Paul remained on the farm over 40 years.

By this time, the [three] Sala brothers were well known to the Immigration Department, and when we applied for a visa for our parents it was granted without difficulty. They arrived in May 1939, four months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, and settled on the farm.’”

‘The farm, situated near Riviére Beaudette, close to the Quebec/Ontario border, became a rallying point for the Sala family. Emeric and Ernest built summer cottages. Blanca and family visited every summer. Ida Kaplan and her family were among the small number of Jews accepted into Canada during those pre-war years. The Kaplans arrived in Williamstown, not far from Riviére Beaudette, just weeks before World War II began. Paul Sala and Ida Kaplan met and eventually married. They were my parents. Three generations lived on that beautiful farm; my parents, my sister Renée and I, and our grandparents.

I have fond memories of my paternal grandparents, Adolf and Charlotte. German was the one language in which the adults could all communicate, and thus it was my first language. ] remember watching Charlotte (whom I called Oma) light sabbath candles on Friday evenings. Sometimes, Adolf (Opa) would take me with him to a Sabbath service in the small Montreal synagogue he attended. I recall going for walks with him at the farm, holding his hand. The temper for which he was noted was of little concern to me. He was an intelligent man who liked to keep up with world events, and in Canada, regularly read the Kanader Adler, a Yiddish newspaper. Two stories of Oma stand out for me. In Europe, at a time when there was little food, probably during World War I, she provided the family with a meal of pork, which observant Jews avoid. She had a streak of pragmatism. She also had courage. Another time, also during the First World War, she took the children to her parents’ village home in Slovakia where conditions were safer. Then she bravely returned [Page 43]y MONTREAL ‘*& 43

to Sibiu, a day’s train ride away, to collect much-needed winter clothing.

One of my earliest memories takes place after World War II ended. I was watching my grandmother read a letter, her tears falling on the thin blue airmail paper. She might have been reading about her brothers, sisters and their families who had perished in the Holocaust. What suffering there must have been in the family as they heard of nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles who perished. Of the six million Jews exterminated by Hitler during World War II, 43 were members of Emeric’s family.

By \&