Shirley Blay is from Poland, but in the chaotic days at the start of the war she and her family found themselves in the Soviet side of Poland, and they were subsequently transported deep into the USSR, to Kazakstan and Uzbekistan.  They endured many hardships but unlike many Polish Jews they were able to escape the horrors of the Nazi camps, though Shirley did lose much of her extended family.  When the war concluded Shirley’s family headed west, to Poland and Germany, and subsequently Canada.
We met Shirley at Baycrest’s Cafe Europa in October 2013, when Shirley was interviewed by Kristen Stribopoulos and Amal Ismail-Ladak.