Faye and Chaim Malowayne

Faye and Chaim were a married couple with a young son named Zalman living in what at the time was Ostrog, Poland but now would be considered in Ukraine. Faye came from a family of three brothers and three sisters. Chaim was the youngest of 12 or 13 children. 

There was a famous forest near their town and when the war started in 1939, almost all of their family members decided to flee and hide in the forest in order to stay safe from the Nazi regime. Faye and Chaim then found out that the Russian border had been opened and it was decided that the three sisters would travel to Russia. The brothers all had established families and made the decision to stay. Unfortunately none of them were able to survive the Holocaust. However, the three sisters did flee: Faye with her family, her middle sister Cyril and her youngest sister Ettel who was only a teenager. 

When they got to Russia, Chaim was conscripted and served in the Russian army until the end of the war. He served alongside Cyril’s husband and Ettel’s boyfriend. The three men were in the army for a long time serving all over, including Japan. It was a miracle that all three men survived the war and were able to return to their families. 

While Chaim fought in the war, Faye found a job working in a Russian orphanage. This job allowed her and Zalman food and shelter.

After the war, Chaim, Zalman and Faye (who was now pregnant) went back to Poland. A baby girl was born along the way in a town called Swidnica in what was Russian territory at the time (Ukrainian land now). When they returned to Ostrog, they were met with nothing. No homes and no family. So they found their way into a displaced persons camp in Austria called Admont. 

Then they started the search of where they were going to live. Ultimately, they came to Toronto through a program called the Tailor Project. This was a movement started by a Jewish tailor named Max Enkin, living in Toronto, who wanted to help those who had survived the Holocaust seek refuge. However, it was difficult because of the lack of willingness of governments at the time from around the world. 

Enkin convinced the Canadian government that skilled tailors were needed in Canada, and they were. There was a great economic boom in 1947 that occurred in Canada that had left labour shortages in many industries, including the Jewish-dominated garment industry. So tailoring firms in major cities including Toronto and Montreal agreed to hire skilled tailors on one year contracts. Enkin led the search for skilled tailors to displaced persons camps all over Europe. He knew this would be an effective way to give as many survivors as he could a fresh start. He reached out to established Jewish community organizations that helped raise and donate the funds to bring over and house the tailors. Around 2,000 – 2,500 tailors and their families came to Canada. It was the first program that permitted large numbers of Jewish people to immigrate to the country following the war. 

One of the camps in which they searched for tailors was Admont. Chaim was an experienced tailor and was accepted into the program. In March of 1948, Faye, Chaim, Zalman and their daughter Czarna Sonia arrived in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax. They came on the Nea Hellas. 

Once in Canada they took trains to get to Toronto and were lucky enough to start a new life. Chaim worked as a tailor, Faye as a lace seamstress. Their two children now live in Toronto and are both married with children and grandchildren.