Kristallnacht Commemoration. Hans Wolpe: A Holocaust Survivor Who Joined the Royal Winnpeg Rifles

As part of the community-wide commemoration and recognition of the historical significance of Kristallnacht, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg and the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum and Archive will present a program and unveil an exhibit dedicated to Hans Wolpe, a German Jew, Holocaust survivor, and World War II hero, who answered the call to combat Nazism and fascism and joined the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. Guest speakers include representatives of the host organizations, military historian Jody Perrun, and Lisa Wolpe, daughter of Hans Wolpe.
The Hans Wolpe story is one of valour and bravery, of an individual whose family, including his parents, siblings, and grandmother, perished in the inferno that was Auschwitz. The lone survivor, Wolpe moved around Europe using false papers, sometimes posing as a German, other times as a Frenchman, but always hiding his Jewish identity. He wound up in Calais, France, where his proficiency in several languages allowed him to procure employment as an interpreter with an engineering firm that was responsible for building Nazi Germany’s fortifications.
When Calais was overrun by Canadian forces in September 1944, Wolpe crossed over to the Canadian lines waving a white flag and encountered soldiers from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. At first, suspected of being a spy, he soon won the confidence of the regiment and volunteered to show them the location of German defences. However, because he was classified as an unofficial soldier, he could not be paid and could not be protected by the Geneva Conventions if he were captured.
He fought with the regiment for six months under the assumed and less German sounding name of “John”. His valour earned the praise and respect of his fellow soldiers.
Wolpe was wounded in action in Netherlands and subsequently hospitalized in England. At the time, Wolpe was not a member of the Canadian army, nor a Canadian citizen. Because the Nazis had revoked his German citizenship (as they had to all German Jews), he was classified as stateless. At the insistence of Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who reportedly stated, “if he’s not Canadian, we’ll make him one”, he was given permission to join the Canadian army and was granted citizenship in 1945. He came to Winnipeg under the sponsorship of the General Monash Branch of the Canadian Legion.
Hans Wolpe was to lead a successful academic career. After studying at the University of Manitoba he received his doctoral degree in modern languages at Harvard, became a visiting professor at Tulane University, and then took a teaching position at Stanford University. In 1961, Wolpe accepted a position at Rockford College (Illinois), but sadly. he took his own life in 1963 due personal problems.