By Sean Graham Nazi Prisoners of War in Canada | RSS.com Nathan M. Greenfield, author of Hanged in Medicine Hat: Murder in a Nazi Prisoner-of-War Camp and the Disturbing True Story of Canada’s Last Mass Execution, joins me to talk about POW camp 132 in Medicine Hat. We talk about how the camp came to be, the prisoners’ relationship with the… Read more »
By Sean Graham A Samurai Suit in Fort Smith & A Blanket of Butterflies | RSS.com Fort Smith, NWT is probably not where you would expect to find a suit of samurai armour and sword, but at the local museum that’s exactly what you can find. When he first saw it, author Richard Van Camp started to think about all… Read more »
Alvin Finkel When people desire a more bellicose response to an international conflict, they often accuse their opponents of failing to recognize the lessons of “Munich.” We are hearing that from some Canadian conservatives with regards to Canada’s response to the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The assumption in their use of “Munich” is that the leaders of… Read more »
https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/History-Slam-179.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham Every May, the City of Ottawa hosts the annual Tulip Festival to celebrate the relationships built between Canada and the Netherlands during the Second World War. Following the war, the Dutch Royal Family gifted tulips to Canada as a symbol of friendship, in part to commemorates the birth of Princess Margriet… Read more »
https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/History-Slam-176.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham The first time I came to Ottawa to do research at Library and Archives Canada, I was walking back to the hotel at the end of the day and decided to stop at Parliament Hill with a specific goal – to find the statue of William Lyon Mackenzie King. I had… Read more »
https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/History-Slam-154.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham During the Second World War, Canada, along with all combatant countries engaged in a massive mobilization effort that included shifting industrial production to supply the war efforts. During the six year conflict, Canadian factories transitioned from consumer products to military production. For instance, the Canadian Cycle and Co. Ltd. in Weston,… Read more »
By Shirley Tillotson Imagine a 500% increase in business and a steady loss of your best staff, snaffled up by competing firms who double their salaries. It’s 1944. You’re the federal income tax department. Tens of thousands of unassessed returns pile up. By 1949, the backlog reaches 1.9 million. The Canadian Emergency Relief Program (CERB) is today’s explosively expanded program…. Read more »
Sarah Glassford and Amy Shaw A week or two into our respective COVID-19 isolations at home in Alberta and Ontario, we (colleagues Amy and Sarah) each received, by mail, fresh from the printer, our copies of our new edited collection about female Canadians’ and Newfoundlanders’ experiences of the Second World War. The title – a last minute substitution at the… Read more »
https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/History-Slam-138.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust will be screened on Wednesday November 6 at the Bell TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, after which there will be a special talkback with the three Holocaust survivors featured in the film along with the director and producer. The world broadcast premiere will be on November 11… Read more »
This is the eighth of several posts marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the end of the Second World War as part of a partnership between Active History and the Juno Beach Centre. If you would like to contribute, contact series coordinator Alex Fitzgerald-Black at alex@junobeach.org. Today’s post is the second part of a series published on the Library… Read more »
