HAIBLEN, Alfred : Internee and Post-Internment Papers
Extent and Medium
Env. 0.06 metres of textual records. - 8 photographs. - 4 drawings.
Biographical History
Alfred Hans-Dieter Haiblen was born in Germany and came to England from Cologne in 1939, from whence he was interned and sent to Canada. He was mainly in Farnham camp (Camp "A") in Quebec, after a brief period in Monteith (Camp "Q"), a Northern Ontario prison farm camp. After his release one and a half years later he went to McGill University and excelled in his studies. He graduated in electrical engineering and moved to Toronto to work in the steel wire business in 1948. In 1969 he began working with a New York wire mill company, commuting between Toronto and New York for 7 years before moving permanently to the USA in 1976. Mr. Haiblen was one of the former internees interviewed by Paula Draper during her in-depth study of German Jewish internees in Canada. He away on June 23, 2011 at the age of 87. His daughter Barb Rugo, who initiated and facilitated this donation, lives in Alaska.
Acquisition
The collection was donated by Alfred Haiblen and Barb Rugo on Feb. 9, 2009. Additions were made on Feb. 25 and April 24, 2009 by Mr Haiblen.
Scope and Content
Several folders of correspondence with various Canadian and American family friends and sponsors, McGill university documents, all from the late 1930s and early to mid-1940s. Short biographical and explanatory letters written by Mr. Haiblen in 1980, 1993, 2000 and 2004, with explanatory notes appended by his daughter Barb Rugo. Addition: 1 copy print photo Alfred Haiblen (at left) and 3 other McGill land surveying course students on a fieldtrip, outside the Seignory Club at Montebello in 1944. 7 additional photos of Fred Haiblen (1939-1946). One additional folder of school-related documents (1941-1948). 1 article from McGill University magazine about the former internee students, with a photo including Mr. Haiblen, 2001. 1 pen and ink with water color drawing in card format, documenting Mr. Haiblen's journey from England to Canada painted by Norbert Berstl, another inmate of the camp. Added in February 2012: 1 cm. of additional internment papers, sketches and ephemera found among the papers of the late Alfred Haiblen and donated through his daughter Barb Rugo. The documents include: currency exchange records from camps A and Q, travel itinerary between camp Q, and blank forms of consent to return to the United Kingdom accompanied by handwritten note of refusal to return voluntarily. Also a certification letter regarding Joseph Ettinger as a geometry teacher in Camp A. The ephemera includes: Camp A, luggage tags, canteen tokens, unused camp postcard and envelopes. There are 3 pencil sketches: one a portrait of (Alfred) Hans-Dieter Haiblen as a young man, one of a guard tower (initialed with a monogram possibly composed of the letters "L, J, E."), and one showing several identified figures in a group, perhaps meant to accompany a group photograph.
Note(s)
Alpha-numeric designations: P09/04.Related groups of records: UJRA Interned Refugee Collection.General note: Mr. Haiblen has a file in the UJRA interned refugee collection at CJCCCNA and was befriended and sponsored by Percy Jacobson (see Jacobson collection). The records and biographical information he provides serve to round out and inform the internee story as seen from the administrative side of the UJRA records.