The Beaverbrae’s legacy: a lifeline for thousands seeking safety – John’s story
“We had to flee or end up in a concentration camp,” says John Weingarthner.
Born in 1936, in what was then Yugoslavia, now Croatia, John was just a child when war forced his family to leave everything behind. Alongside his parents and three siblings, he fled to Austria, where they lived in limbo for nine long years, waiting, hoping for a chance at safety.
That chance came in 1953, when they were resettled to Canada through a CLWR-supported program. They arrived on the Beaverbrae, a ship that carried more than 33,000 displaced people to new lives in Canada between 1948 and 1954.
After the war, many children in refugee camps were undernourished, prompting the Lutheran World Federation to organize a series of summer camps like this one. John’s father, Pastor Philipp Weingartner, served as camp director for four summers. Photo courtesy of John Weingarthner
John’s family found a home in Hamilton, Ontario. He went on to become a teacher, raise a family, and celebrate 65 years of marriage. Today, at 89 years old, he and his wife Barbara, who was born in Berlin but also fled with her family to Canada, still live in the same home, surrounded by a lifetime of memories made possible by that one journey.
Thanks to the compassion of Canadian Lutherans, our refugee resettlement program continues to change lives, just like John’s. Last year, 199 refugees were sponsored through CLWR. Including folks from Afghanistan, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria.
Through your generosity, CLWR continues to help people flee violence and persecution, and find safety, belonging, and hope. Consider learning more about sponsoring or donating to CLWR’s refugee resettlement program.
John and his wife Barbara with their family and spouses, and the first Canadian-born members of the next generation, likely taken around 1970.
John, Barbara and their growing family, through marriage or by birth, around 2010. Photos courtesy of John Weingarthner.
Top image caption: The members of the Weingartner family that left Austria in 1953. Photo courtesy of John Weingarthner.