Mendel Good was born in Nowy-Sacz, Poland on November 26, 1925. His parents were Dora and Bernard Aftergut. Good had two brothers and one sister. His immediate family was all killed in the Holocaust. In August, 1940, Mendel Good was sent to his first concentration camp in Rosnow, Poland. Throughout the war, Mendel was sent to seven different concentration camps within Poland and Austria. He was liberated on May 7, 1945 from a concentration camp in Ebensee, Austria. Mendel Good moved to Ottawa in September, 1948 where he became a tailor. He has been actively committed to many Holocaust organizations. He has chaired the Holocaust Committee of Ottawa, developed a Holocaust memorial in the Ottawa Jewish cemetery, and has been one of the main leaders of the March of the Living - a tour of concentration camps for students. In addition, Good has organized reunions for Holocaust survivors from across Canada and educated students with his visits. On January 18, 1993, Mendel Good was awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation by His Excellency The Right Honorable Ramon John Hnatyshyn, Governor General of Canada. He married Valerie Blau (also a Holocaust survivor) in Ottawa where they met. Their daughter and son are also involved in educating individuals about the Holocaust.
Related material included in Jewish Community Council of Ottawa fonds, Standing Committees series, Shoah Holocaust Memorial Committee , and Shoah (Holocaust) Documentation book located in the vault.
1. Donated by Mendel Good on August 16, 1999. 2. Related material included in Jewish Community Council of Ottawa fonds, Standing Committees series, Shoah Holocaust Memorial Committee, and Shoah (Holocaust) Documentation book located in the vault. 3. Videocassette is located in the cabinet, second drawer, in the vault. 4. Artifact is located in the Mendel Good fonds. 5. No restrictions. 6. Audio Cassettes Series [ca. 1990's] - 1 audio cassettes Filing Cabinet, Drawer 4. 7. Series consists of audio cassettes of Valerie and Mendel Good’s testimonial to Steven Spielberg.
0.21 cm of textual records and related material vault
Fonds consists of personal files; 8 colour photographs, 1 artifact; 1 videocassette - File 1 - Holocaust Memorial Observance. Includes speeches - 1978, 1982, 1986; program from Holocaust Memorial Observance - 1982; program from Tribute to Arie van Mansum - 1991; 1 blank Yad Vashem Testimony form; File 2 - Canadian Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Children, Ottawa Congress Centre. Includes correspondence, program, speeches, and related ephemera - 1984-1986; File 3 - Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation - 1992-1993; File 4 - St. Augustine's March Lenten Series Poster; File 5 - General Correspondence - 1983-1985; File 6 - General Correspondence - 1996-1998; File 7 - Federal Correspondence - 1978-1979; File 8 - Speeches, various - 1981-1983, 1991-1992; File 9 - Tribute to Mendel Good, invitation - June 2, 1992; File 10 - Student Essays 1986, 1991-1992, 1994, 1997; File 11 - News clippings - various; VHS cassette, Mendel Good's Story, approx. 1 hour 30 minutes - November 4, 1981; Book, Bar Mitzvah Program, Bernard Jeffery Good - 1972; Artifact,"Thanks a Bunc" - an envelope of unique tokens that one trades with for various things in return, such as a hug.
Mendel Good fonds