Fans of humanitarian Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova will be saddened to learn that her biographer, Clyde Sanger, passed away in Ottawa on January 20, in his 94th year.
Sincere condolences to Clyde’s family and many friends and colleagues around the world.
In their lengthy tribute to Clyde, Carleton University notes that “The world has lost a great writer, professor of journalism and champion for Africa and the global South.”
I share this deep sense of loss, but also celebrate Clyde as a mentor and friend, spanning more than four decades. Continue reading →
Selecting a single individual, as was the case for Viola Desmond and the $10 banknote, can be a very challenging task, with so many worthy candidates.
So to help move things along, I’d like to offer the following suggestion to Finance Minister Chrystia Freedland and her advisers at the Bank of Canada and the Department of Finance:
To select Terry Fox, Lotta Hitschmanova and Isapo-muxika (Crowfoot) to appear together on our next $5 banknote.
Each November 28, thousands of Canadians celebrate the birthday of beloved humanitarian, Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova (1909-1990). This year, there is a second celebration, as the Canadian Unitarian Council celebrates its own 60th anniversary this week. The two celebrations have much in common.
In Part I of the “Lotta Unitarian” story, I asked the question how a World War II refugee, born into a Jewish family in Prague, Czechoslovakia, could became such a revered figure (a “saint”) for Unitarians in Canada?
Here’s a recap of the “Lotta Unitarian story,” as sketched in by Lotta’s biographer, Clyde Sanger: Continue reading →
Dear fans of celebrated humanitarian, Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova, CC (1909-1990), I have some disappointing news to share.
A couple of years ago, I started a “Let’s put Lotta on a Stamp” petition that has now grown to include 1,420 signatories. In June of 2020, I made a proposal to the Stamp Advisory Committee of Canada Post as follows:
Today I have received an official response from Canada Post thanking me for my proposal and announcing Canada Post’s 2022 Stamp Program. Continue reading →
Today we welcome guest blogger, Jennifer Keane, who shares her reminiscences of her family’s connection with celebrated humanitarian, Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova (1909-1990).
Vancouver Province – June 29, 1959 – Fisk family moves to Tokyo
“I had the great good fortune to spend important years, 1959 to 1962, of my life in Tokyo. My father, Fred Fisk, was manager of the Tokyo office of Canadian Pacific Airlines.
“Lotte Hitschmanova visited Tokyo during this time, likely en route to Korea. My father met Lotte early in our stay, perhaps 1960, helped her arrange her travel and became a devoted friend. Continue reading →
Today we welcome guest blogger Calla Fireman, who shares her story (originally published in the Ottawa Citizen) about her family connection with celebrated humanitarian, Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova (1909-1990).
The story concerns her father, Dr. Harold H. Fireman (1919-2020).
Dr. Fireman was born and raised in Toronto, graduated from the University of Toronto Medical School in 1942, spent over 4 years with the Canadian Air Force as a medical advisor mostly in Newfoundland, before returning to a long and successful career in Internal Medicine in Ottawa.
“I’ve enjoyed reading about Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova as I have a family connection to her. My father, Dr. Harold H. Fireman, was Lotta’s physician in Ottawa for many years. Continue reading →
Today we welcome guest blogger, Sharon Wells, who shares her touching memories of the time when her mom was Lotta Hitschmanova’s caregiver during the years (1983-1990) she was tragically afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease.
Hear Lotta’s voice again: “Development often starts with a woman. Support leadership programs for women through the USC, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa.”
March 8 is International Women’s Day, a time here in Canada to celebrate the achievements and lasting legacy of remarkable women like Lotta Hitschmanova (1909-1990), currently one of the eight nominees to appear on the new Canadian $5 bill.
Lotta’s story is heart-wrenching: Born in 1909, she grew up in a Jewish family in Prague. A journalist by profession, and an outspoken critic of the Nazis she had to flee her Czech homeland in 1938. For four years she was forced to wander about Europe, eventually finding her way to Marseilles, where she worked with refugee support groups.
She lost both parents in the Holocaust, and in 1942, after a 46-day voyage on a converted banana boat, she arrived penniless in Montreal – “with an unpronounceable name, [feeling] completely lost.”
In the depths of her personal tragedy, she could have given up. Instead, just three years later, in 1945, she founded the organization to whose humanitarian mission she would dedicate the rest of her life: the Unitarian Service Committee (USC Canada, now called SeedChange).
Something sparked her, deep inside. She was driven by an indefatigable energy to make the world a better place, and inspired thousands of Canadian supporters to join her in this crusade.
Half the year she was travelling. She personally visited all the USC programs overseas: first in post WWII Europe, then the middle East, Asia and in the 60s and 70s, newly-independent countries of Africa. And she made a gruelling, annual tour across Canada, to share stories with volunteers and donors on how the money was being spent overseas.
She had many nicknames, including the Soldier of Peace, for she always wore a distinctive army nurse’s style uniform wherever she went.
She was sometimes called the Atomic Mosquito. She never took “no” for an answer, and by her sincerity and the force of her personality, she was able to gain the support of people from all walks of life: homemakers, farmers, civil servants, newspaper publishers and even prime ministers.
Quite remarkably, as a refugee to Canada, Lotta became the most prominent woman of her generation! Her TV and radio PSAs in the 60s and 70s were legendary and made USC’s Ottawa office at 56 Sparks Street the best known address in the country.
But more than that, she pushed hard for women’s development around the world, decades before this became a common approach of international development agencies.
In particular, she felt strongly about young women and girls. Once their basic food, shelter and clothing needs were satisfied, Lotta and USC were at the forefront of ensuring that they were offered meaningful educational opportunities, skills training and leadership training.
She also mobilized and empowered a whole generation of Canadian women (including my own grandmother Mary Rain in Winnipeg), who joined her cause and indeed made it all possible, through the thousands of volunteer hours that they put in for USC.
Here is how Lotta’s biographer, Clyde Sanger, so aptly put it:
“Before many other agencies, [Dr. Lotta] was particularly concerned with the improvement of the position of women….
“I doubt that Dr. Lotta would ever have described herself as a feminist at any stage of her life….
“But it is intriguing that the staff she worked with in Ottawa for 25 years were all female, that most of the USC representatives she chose in Asia were women…and that a surprisingly high number of project leaders were also women.
“As well, the USC branches and working groups across Canada were mostly women, while men cheerfully headed for the background and basement where the packing cases were. It is not that men found it difficult to work with such a strong-willed ascetic woman….
“Rather, it seems to have been an instinctive desire on her part to bring out the leadership qualities she knew were in so many talented women she met, and an intuition that their ideas on human development would match her own.”
Thank you Lotta, for your inspirational and ground-breaking leadership, and Happy International Women’s Day!
“There’s only one thing: to work, so that their sacrifice may not be in vain.”
Lotta Hitschmanova grew up in a loving Jewish family in Prague. She was forced to flee in 1938, and after years wandering as a refugee in western Europe, she arrived penniless in Canada in 1942.
In the summer of 1945, she learned the devastating news that her beloved parents (Max and Else Hitschmann) had perished in the Holocaust.
“I never met Lotta, but I do remember 56 Sparks Street, I do remember that voice.”
In 2009, more than 50 events were held coast to coast to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr Lotta Hitschmanova (1909-2009). In Ottawa, USC Canada (now SeedChange) organized a special “Lotta 100” event to honour their founder.
The M.C. for this event was Bob Carty (1950-2014), an award-winning CBC documentary producer and justice-seeking singer-songwriter.
As a tribute to Lotta during his introduction, Carty leads the audience in the singing of his haunting anthem of hope, “Desert Eyes.”
Fans of humanitarian Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova will be saddened to learn that her biographer, Clyde Sanger, passed away in Ottawa on January 20, in his 94th year.
In 
The story concerns her father, Dr. Harold H. Fireman (1919-2020).
Today we welcome guest blogger, Sharon Wells, who shares her touching memories of the time when her mom was Lotta Hitschmanova’s caregiver during the years (1983-1990) she was tragically afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease.
Lotta Hitschmanova grew up in a loving Jewish family in Prague. She was forced to flee in 1938, and after years wandering as a refugee in western Europe, she arrived penniless in Canada in 1942.