Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest Dr. Simon Kreindler author of Peddlers All, Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados.

Simon was born and grew up in Barbados. After completing high school there, he studied medicine at McGill University in Montreal and between 1966 and 1971, trained in adult and child psychiatry at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. For the past 48 years he had been in private practice in Toronto, Canada. He is now retired.

In 2013, a long-standing interest in family history led to his writing a memoir for his children and grandchildren incorporating his 40 plus years of genealogy research. 

The stories of his parents' journey from pre-WWII Europe to Barbados inspired him to record the equally fascinating stories of their Ashkenazi Jewish contemporaries on the island as well as the stories of their children who had the good fortune to grow up there. These stories have now been published in Peddlers All, Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados.

Norm: Good day Simon and thanks for participating in our interview.

What are your thoughts as to why people read biographies and memoirs?

Simon: There are probably as many reasons why as there are biographies and memoirs. In assembling the Peddlers All, Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados, I had a very specific objective.

I wanted to document the experiences of 40 brave and determined Ashkenazi Jewish families who came Barbados in the 1930s and 40s to escape the harsh economic conditions and growing anti-Semitism of Europe. I wanted to hear what their lives had been like before they left Europe and what it had been like for them starting over in a place like Barbados. Because all but two of them had already died when I began the project, I needed their adult children to tell their stories and I also wanted them to tell their own stories of growing up on a tropical, island-paradise.

Norm: What was it like growing up in the Barbados as a Jew? 

Simon: My parents always impressed on us children the importance of our being Jewish and although we were not a particularly observant family, we did observe the High Holidays and I did study for, and have, a Bar Mitzvah.

Norm: Were you able to apply any of your skills as a child psychiatrist in writing Peddlers All, Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados?

Simon: It may seem like a cop-out, but applying my professional skills is something I do almost automatically in my day to day dealings with people. Because the individuals whose help I most needed in putting the book together were people I had known most of my life and because they all shared my enthusiasm for the project, I didn’t have to do much cajoling to get it completed – although there were a couple of exceptions!

Norm; What served as the primary inspiration for the book?

Simon: The primary inspiration was recognizing that we, the adult children of the original 40 families, were getting older and that if our parents’ stories weren’t documented soon, something very valuable was going to be lost. Most of us were particularly anxious to have these stories in a book for our own children and grandchildren.

Norm: Could you briefly tell our readers a little about the book?

Simon: The book starts out with a brief history of the Jews of Barbados. It is actually a very interesting story that goes back to the 1600s when there was a substantial Sephardic community of Dutch Jews who had escaped the Inquisition on the Iberian Peninsula, travelled to Brazil and helped start the sugar industry there. In the mid 1600s, some of them came to Barbados to help the first English settlers develop the island’s sugar industry.

The Sephardim built a beautiful synagogue in the island’s capital where they worshipped for more than 350 years. For a variety of reasons, their numbers started declining in the 1700s and 1800s, and there was increasing assimilation. Around the time the last member of the Sephardi community died in the early 1930s, the first Ashkenazi families started arriving from Europe. They managed to rescue the disintegrating synagogue from planned destruction and with international financial support restored it. Today it is one of the island’s unique treasures and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The stories of the forty, mostly Polish, Ashkenazi families and their children, most of whom were born on the island, make up the bulk of the book. Stories of some later arrivals, who came to Barbados to start business or retire, are also included, as is a collection of old photos, etc.

Norm: Did you see your book from an outline or did it come from a completed manuscript?

Simon: Planning the book involved a number of preliminary outlines that were periodically adjusted and re-adjusted.

Norm: What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book? 

Simon: It was always intended that the primary audience for the book would be the children and grandchildren of the original 40 families. However, anyone who has been to Barbados; visited the Nidhe Israel synagogue; attended Friday evening services; met with current or former Bajan Jews; or is interested in the history of the island, will likely find it interesting.

Readers should know that the book was published privately and all profits from its sale are being used to maintain the Barbados Jewish cemetery, adjacent to the synagogue.

The book is 450 pages long and sells for CAN $45 or US $35 plus postage. It can be ordered through the following WEBSITE 

Norm: What challenges or obstacle did you encounter while writing the book and how did you overcome these challenges? 

Simon: The biggest challenge, and the only really significant one, was getting a few laggard authors to finish the job they had committed to. I set deadlines, sometimes repeatedly, but deadlines only work for people who care about them!

Norm: What did you enjoy most about writing this book? 

Simon: Without a doubt, it was seeing the joy the finished product brought to the many contributing authors!

Norm: Can you share some stories about people you met while researching this book? As a follow up, can you explain some of your research techniques, and how you found sources for your book? 

Simon: I knew most of the people who contributed their parent’s stories and I also knew their parents. I had grown up with them and we shared a common history. However, many of us in the second generation eventually left the island and went our separate ways. “Catching up” with some of these people 50 years later and hearing about where their lives had taken them was truly fascinating.

I have been intrigued by the number of former Bajans who contacted me wanting to buy the book who were not themselves Jewish but were aware of having had a Sephardic Jewish ancestor on Barbados. Some were looking to trace their ancestry and I connected at least one with an experienced genealogist who helped him do this. Others had known members of the original 40 families through business in Barbados and still others were living overseas but remembered socializing with members of that generation and were curious to learn more about them

Norm: What is next for Dr. Simon Kreindler?

Simon: Assembling Peddlers All, Stories of the First Ashkenazi Jewish Settlers in Barbados got me to thinking about the Sephardim who preceded the Ashkenazim on Barbados, more than 350 years ago. Their story is fascinating I am currently working on a paper about them.

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and your book?

Simon: MY WEBSITE 

Norm: As this interview comes to an end, what question do you wish that someone would ask about your book, but nobody has?

Simon: I can’t think of any particular questions I wish I had been asked, but one that most people are reluctant to ask is what the book costs! I think I answered this above.

Norm: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.