Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

Helmut Kallmann cites: One of his Jewish School teachers, Alfons Rosenberg, recorded a list of his students who should be transported to London, which he gave to the committee supporting the Kindertransport.
Since Arthur Kallmann had lost his position as a solicitor and notary public, and the family had no chance to emigrate, so he agreed to allow his son to join the Kindertransport.

MS Sobieski was a Polish passenger ship, crewed by Polish sailers.
Built: 1938 by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Wallsend
Built for Gdynia-Ameryka Linie Żeglugowe SA, Gdynia America Line GAL
Launched: August 25, 1938
Completed: June 15, 1939
Length: 155,8 meters
Beam: 20,4 meters
Draft: 8,3 meters
Engine: Twin screw, by J. G. Kincaid & Co, Greenock
Speed: 17 knots
Eric Koch cites Sobieski had been in the emigrant trade before the war, and had a kosher kitchen and kosher dishes.

From June 22-24, 1940, MS Sobieski was part of Operation Ariel, with MS Batory, Ettrick, Arandora and Star, evacuating Allied forces from western France.

In May, 1940, MS Sobieski took part in Operation Alphabet, along with MS Batory and MS Chobry, evacuating troops from Narvik.
In late June, 1940, she sailed from Narvik. well stocked with liquor and cigarettes.

On July 4, 1940, MS Sobieski sailed from Greenock, carrying 982 Category B and C internees, and 548 POWs, in a convoy with 2 other ships.
Martin F. Auger cites MS Sobieski sailed from Greenock, carrying 980 Category B and C internees, 450 German POWs and 400 Italians,
MS Batory, was part of the convoy; she carried a part of Poland's art treasures to safety in Canada, including Szczerbiec, the 1320 Polish Coronation sword, a Gutenberg Bible, 136 huge tapestries which had been commissioned by King Sigismund 11 Augustus in the 16th century (collection of the Wawel Castle in Krakov), 36 Chopin manuscripts, plus several hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold bars, reserves of the Bank of England sent to the Bank of Canada for safe keeping; probably the richest treasure afloat - ever.
The Royal Navy provided a convoy of heavily armed escorts for MS Batory, a battleship and assorted destroyers and cruisers.
On day four of the crossing, MS Sobieski developed engine trouble, and she became separated from the 2 other ships.
At 0:00AM, midnight, July 8, 1940, battleship HMS Revenge sailed from Greenock with cruiser HMS Bonaventure and destroyer HMS Garth, carrying a cargo of gold bullion.
At 5:45AM, day break, they made a rendezvous in the north channel off Scotland with Monarch of Bermuda, MS Sobieski and MS Batory; four destroyers served as escorts, under command of Admiral Sir Ernest Russell Archer.

MS Sobieski stopped in St. John's to repair the failing engine.
U Boat.net cites MS Batory was slowed down by an engine defect and was diverted to St. John's, escorted by HMS Bonaventure.

On July 15, 1940, MS Sobieski landed in Québec, 2 days after Ettrick, a boat in the convoy.
On July 13, 1940, MS Batory docked in Halifax, and the treasures filled two rail cars and transported to Ottawa to safety.
U Boat.net cites on July 13, 1940, the three ships arrived in Halifax, followed by MS Batory and HMS Bonaventure, and the gold was transported train from Halifax to Montreal, where it was stored.
The 715 internees aboard MS Sobieski were transported by train to Trois-Rivieres.

On July 23, 1940, MS Sobieksi sailed from Halifax with troopships MS Batory, Antonia, Monarch of Bermuda, Duchess of York and Samaria, in a convoy carrying 8,077 Canadian troops bound for Britain, escorted by destroyers HMCS Assiniboine and HMCS Saguenay, and Royal Nay cruiser HMS Emerald.

On August 1, 1940, MS Sobieksi arrived in Scotland, with the convoy.

In 1942, MS Sobieski took part in Operation Ironclad, the Invasion of Madagascar, sailing in Convoy WS17 from Greenock to Freetown.

In July, 1940, Helmut Kallmann, after internment on and the Isle of Man, was transported from England with 2,200 other male internees.
Two transport vessels sailed from Greenock, Sobieski sailed to Canada, while Dunera sailed to Australia.

After rhe 715 internees aboard MS Sobieski were transported by train to Trois-Rivieres. then on foot, from the train station to the camp, in a sports complex.
Helmut Kallmann cites on their arrival at the Trois-Rivieres Detention Camp, the German POWs sang their Nazi song "Wenn's Judenblut vom Messer spritzt, dann geht's noch mal so gut." "When Jewish blood spurts from the knife, then it is twice as good."

On August 12, 1940, the Trois-Rivieres Detention Camp was closed, and Helmut Kallmann was transferred to a camp in Fredericton, which was a real prison camp, surrounded by guard towers and barbed wire fences.

Until 1970, Helmut Kallmann worked in, and became supervisor of, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)'s Toronto Music Library, where he built up a substantial library of some 1000 Canadian compositions and organized performances.

From 1970 to 1987, Helmut Kallmann headed its first subject division, the Music Division, of the National Library of Canada, becoming the first subject specialist hired by the National Library.