Alfred Bader – Camp I

Alfred Robert Bader (1924 – 2018) came to Canada a prisoner. By the end of his life, he had become a distinguished chemist, businessman, and philanthropist.

Born in Vienna, Alfred Bader was the son of Alfred, a middle-class Czech Jew, and Elisabeth, a Hungarian aristocrat. His father passed away soon after his birth and Bader was raised by his aunt Gisela in a loving extended Jewish family. When antisemitic persecution intensified in Europe in the 1930s, Gisela placed the fourteen-year-old Alfred on a Kindertransport train headed to England, where he boarded with a Jewish family near Brighton for the next fourteen months.

As the British grew increasingly fearful of a Nazi invasion, Austrian- and German-born “enemy aliens” were arrested and imprisoned, including Bader. It was suspected that there may be Nazi spies hiding in their midst. Internment in England did not last long. In July 1940, Bader and 272 other Jewish refugees were brought to the small island of Île-aux-Noix, southwest of Montreal, and placed in Camp I. The commandant, Major E.D.B. Kippen, told Bader he was surprised that a sixteen-year-old had parachuted into England. When Bader replied that he was a Jewish refugee, Major Kippen scoffed. “Do not pretend to be a Jew,” he said. “I do not like Jews either.”

Despite the rough start, life in internment gradually became more pleasant. The internees established a camp school and Bader spent much of his time studying. In June 1941, the students were allowed to take the McGill matriculation exams. Bader was granted leave to visit Montreal to sit the examinations, where he also attended a reception at the Montefiore Club, a social club for wealthy and influential members of the Jewish community. There, Bader met Martin Wolff, whose mother had hosted Bader in England.

Wolff, an engineer and historian, sponsored Bader’s release from internment and encouraged the young man to pursue his education. Bader was accepted into Queen’s University, where he completed a B.Sc. in engineering chemistry, a BA in history, and an M.Sc. in chemistry. During the summers, he stayed at the Wolff family’s home in Westmount while working for the Murphy Paint Company in Montreal. Its owner, Harry Thorp, encouraged Bader to go to Harvard and provided significant financial support. An MA and a PhD in chemistry at Harvard University followed. Within a year of leaving Harvard, Dr. Bader co-founded the Aldrich Chemical Company, which grew into a significant pharmaceutical company.

Looking back on his internment in Camp I, Bader reminisced that “we were treated badly at first because the Canadians had been given no information about us, but what was that compared with the concentration camps of Europe? Not a single man died in the camp and those who wanted a great education received it.”

Compiled by Alison Dringenberg

Sources

1 61e Av, Île-aux-Noix

Other Exhibits

• Alfred Bader – Camp I (1940-1941)