Invitation to The North

A man with a recent degree in Agriculture from the University of Berlin Hermann came to Canada in 1930 to escape inflation and lack of jobs in Germany.<br /><br />A chance encounter led him to the North and a job prospecting for gold.<br /><br />He fell in love with the North like so many others had done before him.<br /><br />In 1939 the declaration of war against Germany stopped all searches for gold in the North. Suddenly other minerals were more important.<br /><br />This brought all the gold prospectors to Edmonton from the North and there were many more men than jobs. <br /><br />Hermann his wife and little daughter moved 'back' to Montreal where he was hoping to find a job. Fortunately through a friend of a friend he did land a job at an alloy-producing plant in Beauharnois Quebec near Montreal.<br /><br />The first job was as a 'stoker' on a platform above the huge vats of molten metal stirring the mass which would be used to make armoured steel for vehicles and tanks for the Canadian Armed Forces.<br />He worked at St. Lawrence Alloys as a Stores Keeper and then as the Purchasing Agent until he retired in 1968. <br /><br />He died in 1970 never having returned to the North which he loved so well.<br /><br />This is his story in his own words.