7 - Sammy Luftspring & the Christie Pits Riot

On June 8, 1933, when Sammy Luftspring was 17 years old, 60,000 people crowded into Yankee stadium to watch the world heavyweight boxing match between two major competitors: Max Baer, from California, was a Jewish boxing champ and a hero to Sammy and the other boxers who trained at the Jewish gym on Brunswick Avenue. Fighting him that night was German-born Max Shmeling, who was known as “Hitler’s Darling”. Shmeling was the pride of Germany, which had just elected Hitler to power. For Sammy and his friends, who crowded around their radios to listen to the match, this was more than a fight over the heavyweight title. It was a chance for them to fight back against Hitler’s hateful and discriminatory treatment of Jews. They cheered when Max Baer came into the ring wearing a big Star of David on his boxing shorts. And they were ecstatic when, in the 10th round, Baer picked up steam and landed 21 blows against his opponent and the referee separated the two men, thrust the Jewish boxer’s hand into the air announcing his victory. (Sound clips from the fight)

A few months after the Baer, Shmelling fight, Toronto had its own, local brawl over anti-semitism. That summer, in 1933, anti-semitic “Swastika Clubs” began forming, mainly around Toronto’s east end Beaches area. Members of these clubs publicly flaunted the swastika to provoke Toronto’s Jewish residents. On August 16, a group of racists unfurled their homemade swastika flag at Christie Pits park, in the middle of a baseball game involving the Harbord Playground Baseball team, whose players were mainly Jewish and Italian immigrants. (picture of the team). A spark was lit, and a riot broke out. (Picture of the riot).While you can’t make out Sammy in this picture, the only one ever taken of the riot, he did join the 10,000 people who fought into the night, using fists, boots and lead pipes to settle the issue about who “belongs'' in Toronto.

Fortunately, no one was killed in the riot. But it was a clear signal that Canada had a serious problem with racism in general, and anti-semitism in particular. Following the riot, Toronto mayor William James Stewart promised to prosecute future displays of the swastikas. This was one of Canada’s first policies prohibiting hate speech.

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