The Riot at Cristie Pits | Full Movie | Peter Williamson, Dr. Cyril Levitt, Dr. William Shaffir
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The Riot at Christie Pits exposes the roots of racism, focusing on Canada’s worst race riot. It happened in the fiery summer of 1933, in Toronto now the world’s most multi-racial city. Using contemporary and historical footage, reenactments and eyewitness accounts, the film offers insight, compassion and humour and a warning that hatred can lurk in the heart of any city. Based on an award-winning book, The Riot of Christie Pits is a historical story as gripping and urgent as the nightly news. It sheds light on the dark past of a city that remains a beacon of hope to immigrants from around the world. Based upon the Book by Dr. Cyril Levitt, Dr. William Shaffir Directed by Peter Williamson

The riot at Christie Pits was a disaster that started in Toronto on the evening of August 16, 1933, when numerous pro‐Reich spectators at a baseball game repeatedly tried to provoke Jews and their (often Italian) friends with Reich symbols and slogans. The violence soon outgrew the baseball field and thousands, possibly as many as ten thousand, took part in the riot. Although nobody died because of the riot, many people required medical attention and it had significant consequences for Canadian law.

This is a surprisingly good (if somewhat cheesy) documentary on the riot, which involves interviews with elderly Canadians and even has some class analysis. My favorite quote:

‘Why can so many police be marshalled to suppress the communists and not the Swastika clubs?’

‘I am not prepared to make any public statement as to the disposition of my men.’

Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

As I said last time, if you’d like a book on this subject then Cyril Levitt’s & William Shaffir’s The Riot at Christie Pits is a must‐read.

Other events that happened today (August 16):

1904: Minoru Genda, Axis aviator, was born.
1919: Karl‐Heinz Euling, Waffen‐SS captain, was unleashed on the earth.
1934: Rome ordered the 48,000 troops rushed to the Austro‐Italian border during the July Putsch to return to their regular bases. Meanwhile, Schicklgruber’s amnesty announcement went into effect, releasing the prisoners in time to vote in Sunday’s referendum.
1935: Representatives of France, Great Britain and Fascist Italy met in Paris to negotiate a solution to the Abyssinia Crisis. Haile Selassie offered new economic concessions to Italy, stressing that he would not accept a military occupation but would grant facilities for mining, road construction and railway operations.
1942: As the Soviets evacuated Maykop and Axis positions in Egypt were bombed by Yankee aeroplanes for the first time, the Kriegsmarine began Operation Wunderland with the objective of entering the Kara Sea and destroying as many Soviet vessels as possible. Meanwhile in Bilbao, Spain, a mass was held at the Basilica of Begoña to commemorate members of the Begoña Regiment who died in the Civil War. After the service there was some shouting between the Carlist and Falangist factions, and during the ensuing scuffle a Falangist threw two hand grenades and wounded thirty people.
1944: First flight of a jet with forward-swept wings, the Junkers Ju 287.
1945: Takijirō Ōnishi, Axis admiral, took his own life.