In May 1936, the German cruiser Emden, Swastika flags flying, visited Montreal for a controversial and politically charged six-day stay. With international tensions growing due to Germany’s repudiation of the 1935 Treaty of Versailles and the re-militarization of the Rhineland in 1936, the Nazi warship represented a dictatorial regime that the Canadian press frequently portrayed as repressive, destabilizing, and potentially dangerous. The visit created vexing protocol issues for the Departments of External Affairs and National Defence and precipitated protests in Montreal by left-wing political parties, labour groups, the Canadian Jewish Congress, and concerned citizens. Emden’s visit to Montreal has gone undocumented in the historical literature treating Canadian-German relations, the City of Montreal, the Canadian Left, German ethnic communities in Canada, antisemitism in Canada and Quebec, and Nazi activities in Canada prior to the Second World War. This article adds to these and argues that the Canadian government was alert to the possibility of domestic discord occasioned by the German warship’s visit and that this influenced its diplomatic stance with Berlin; that there was little Ottawa could do to prevent Emden from visiting Canada; that there was much overt support for the Nazis in Montreal’s German community; and that many English-speaking Montrealers approved of the warship’s visit, more so than was the case with French speakers.
Serge Durflinger (Sun,) studied this question.