A Review of the Book "None is Too Many" by Irving Abella & Harold Troper

Title: None is Too Many

Author: Irving Abella & Harold Troper

Publisher: Lester & Orpen Dennys Publishers

Year: 1982

285 pages

From the Back: We tend to think of Canada as a compassionate, open country to which refugees from other countries have always been welcome. Yet, as historians Abella and Troper conclusively demonstrate, in the years 1933 to 1948, when the Jews of Europe were looking for a place of refuge from Nazi persecution, Canada effectively shut the door. Out of the millions of refugees, Canada admitted a paltry 5,000. In a world which was decidedly inhospitable to refugees, Canada's record was the worst.

    None is Too Many is a rigorously documented, brilliantly researched account of a shameful period is Canadian history when the country continually ducked chance after chance to save European Jewry from Nazi genocide.

Personal Thoughts: This was a really tough book to read for two reasons. The first was the subject matter. The Holocaust, or Shoah, was an absolutely awful time in human history. One man making the decision that millions of people need to die in horrific ways and no one apparently able to stop him. This was not new information as I've been drawn to reading a lot about this period over the last couple of years. And I knew that I chose a book about this topic and that it would, as always, be hard to take in. But to read that Canada had the opportunity time after time to save the Jewish people from the gas chambers? I was flabbergasted! It took me a very long time to read None is Too Many because I kept having to put it down due to the sheer emotional pain I was feeling as I read.

    The second reason I found this book to be a tough read was the horrible writing. If these two gentlemen were well-renowned historians and writers, you'd think they could do a better job of it! I realize that reading about history can be drab sometimes, but the writing was dry and repetitive, and the book could have been half the length with the reader coming out with the same amount of information.

    I think it's very important for us to read about our history, and to be aware that we need to learn that history from various angles and opinions. The information found in None is Too Many is extremely important for us to know about as I'm sure many of us have no idea that Canada is not as "open door" as we might believe. However, I hope there are better written books out there than this one. It's a good place to start, but beware of what you're getting yourself into.