Although Montreal’s Baron de Hirsch Cemetery opened at the beginning of the twentieth century, its roots lie in the very foundation of the Jewish community in Quebec.
Jewish life sprang up in Montreal in the last third of the eighteenth century, the period following the French and Indian Wars and the Seven Years’ War. The British military occupied Montreal on September 8, 1760.

A number of Jewish officers, soldiers, and military purveyors decided to remain in Quebec. They became merchants and fur traders, and brought
their families from England and the Thirteen Colonies.

By 1890, more Jewish refugees were arriving in Montreal than New York City. (Apparently many of the immigrants to Montreal were not aware
that the part of “Amerike” in which they were disembarking was a different country from the United States.) Montreal’s Jewish population topped
six thousand five hundred in 1890, an almost twelve-fold increase in twenty years. The new arrivals were mostly poor, and challenged the established community’s capacity to help. Money was desperately needed. Members of the community met, and decided to write to the great European Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch and request his assistance.

The Baron responded within three weeks with a cheque for the then immense sum of $20,000 for a Jewish school and a house of refuge. He promised more if needed. After much discussion the members decided that the Society should name its school and refuge in recognition of the Baron’s generosity. And so, the Baron de Hirsch Institute was formed.

Between 1902 and 1905, the Burial Committee of the Baron de Hirsch Institute  made repeated efforts to secure ground suitable for a cemetery.

Those efforts resulted in the official opening of the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery in July of 1905.  It is interesting to note that the first known burial on the new site was eight months earlier in December of 1904.

For the complete story of the 100 year plus history of the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery please look into purchasing “Sacred Ground on de la Savane.”  Just
click on the Press section for details.