NOTES

TED BIGGS - Co-Producer

This idea for this program came from a story my Dad told me.

In 1957 my father, Bill Biggs, traveled through Europe and North Africa, occasionally taping travel reports for the local radio station, CKSO in Sudbury . But the real aim of his trip was adventure. 

Late one night he found himself stranded in the train station in Braunschweig, Germany , with no trains 'til morning. He decided to get some sleep on a bench but was soon shaken awake by an angry policeman who demanded his 'papers'. My Dad grew up in Ontario and was 11 years old when WW2 ended. As a kid he'd seen images of the Nazi regime in the newsreels and headlines. A tough looking cop asking for 'papers' in the middle of the night corresponded to his childhood impressions of Germans. As the policeman inspected the passport the man's face broke into a huge grin; "I spent the war near your home as a P.O.W.!"

The Gestapo-type rousting my Dad had half expected turned into a two-hour conversation with a new friend about the beauty of Canadian Shield, lumber camp work and the policeman's dream of returning to Canada . As a prisoner he'd been fed and housed better and, in significant ways, enjoyed more freedom than he'd had in Germany .

It struck me that the pleasant exile of Canada's POW camps would have shattered the worldview touted by the Nazis. The stories we discovered while making this show proved this to be true.

Along with tales of camp life, we found familiar expressions of shame and denial common to many who fought for the Nazis. For some spending the war in exile didn't help all that much. The possibilities, freedom and decency that Canada presented, even through barbed wire, provided a bitter contrast to the devastation of their own country.

There is no simple way to talk about WW2. But I think this story, in the end, shows a stark contrast between two societies. Historical relativism seems absurd in this context. In this moment in wartime Canada's fundamental decency shone through.

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