Fonds F2886 - Marion Meyer fonds

Born in Berlin Germany, as a child, Marion Meyer (née Klein) was known for her brilliance and was reciting her poems on Berlin radio at the age of four. She went on to dub American and British films into German by the time she was seven years old. Fleeing the Nazis in 1934, what was planned as a temporary stay in Paris became a permanent departure from Germany. The family was separated as the Nazis began rounding up French Jews and Marion escaped into Switzerland. Returning to Paris in the late 1940's, she received a scholarship to go to the Sorbonne. After accepting her cousins' invitation to visit the United States, she decided to stay with a close friend in New York City and was accepted into a Masters program in sociology at the New School in NYC using her fourth language, English. Her professor was the aunt of her future husband Henry. They married in 1956, she immigrated to Canada, raised two children and returned to the workforce in 1967. As a lecturer and then Professor of Sociology at Queen's University, Marion enjoyed over 20 years of teaching. In 1983 she published "The Jews of Kingston: A Microcosm of Canadian Jewry." Upon retirement, Marion volunteered with the Canadian Executive Service Organization [CESO]. She was engaged with the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Association for the Perceptually Handicapped, Amnesty International, The Jewish Community Council and the Kingston Youth Shelter.