Échapper à Shylock : La Hebrew Free Loan Association of Montreal entre antisemitisme et integration, 1911-1913

In the fall of 1911, representatives of Montreal’s Jewish community applied to the Quebec government for the incorporation of a charitable institution, the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Montreal, and they were immediately confronted by the stereotype of the Jewish loan shark. The author argues that the founding of this association reveals some of the tensions experienced by the Montreal Jewish community during this peak period of mass immigration. The establishment of this association and the reactions it stirred up reveal the complexity of the relationship that existed between the Jewish minority and other populations in Quebec at a time when anti-Semitism was becoming more vocal. The author points out that the effort to obtain the incorporation of the Hebrew Free Loan Association shed light on both the power and the vulnerability of the city’s Jewish elite, especially on the crucial role it played in mediation.

Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française

Vol. 59

no. 4

451-480

2006

fr