written by Amy Fish
May is Canadian Jewish Heritage Month, an opportunity to spotlight the achievements, the contributions, the heroes of Canadian Jewish history. While we honour each other’s contributions daily, it’s nice to have a dedicated moment to reflect on a specific theme, like National French Fry Day (July 11th) or National Napping Day (March 10th).
My latest book, One in Six Million: the Baby by the Roadside and the Man Who Retraced a Holocaust Survivor’s Lost Identity (Goose Lane 2025), tells the true story of a Jewish Canadian genealogist, Stanley Diamond, who cracked a 73-year-old cold case. And he did so for no repayment whatsoever, just to help a family that had been torn apart by World War ll.
Maria grew up in Poland, Ukraine, and Siberia, always being told that her parents found her on the side of the road in 1942. She grew up suspecting she was Jewish but never knowing for sure — until the story fell into the hands of Montreal’s Stanley Diamond. Along with an international band of genealogy volunteers, Stanley helped her find out what really happened to her family, and discovered over 100 relatives alive and well and living in Tel Aviv. Maria was flown to a family reunion, and her Jewish heritage was confirmed.
I was pulled to write this book because of the kindness and goodness in the story. The kindness of the parents who left Maria because they knew they could not save her by keeping her with them. The goodness of the parents who picked Maria up because she was a helpless baby, abandoned during a violent war. The absolute generosity of Stanley and his colleagues who — out of the goodness of their hearts — dedicate hours each week to the reunification of families they don’t even know.
I believe that one small act of goodness inspires another, and another and another. And I hope that readers of my book will in some small way be inspired too.
The best way to honour Canadian Jewish Heritage Month, I think, is to do one small act of kindness, one little thing to bring more light into the world. Call someone you haven’t spoken to. Bake a banana bread for your neighbour. Visit a sick friend. Something little will mean a lot to someone.
Amy Fish is the author of two previous books of non-fiction, The Art of Complaining Effectively and I Wanted Fries with That: How to Ask for What You Want and Get What You Need. Her writing has also appeared in the Globe and Mail, Montreal Gazette, and Canadian Traveller. She has taught writing workshops for the Canadian Creative Non-Fiction Collective, the University of King’s College, and the Quebec Writers’ Federation. She lives in Montréal where she works as the Ombudsperson at Concordia University.
If you want to hear more from Amy, grab a copy of One in Six Million or check some of her interviews and TV appearances here:
