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German-Canadians in Western Canada

Film Examples

Sound Examples

See also:

Film

  • CBC Digital Archives
  • National Film Board of Canada
    • The Pacifist Who Went to War
      This documentary is the story of two Mennonite brothers from Manitoba who were forced to make a decision in 1939, as Canada joined World War II.
    • The Enemy Within
      This feature-length documentary looks at German POWs from the WWII who were housed in 25 camps across Canada. Filmmaker Eva Colmers follows her father's story - Theo Melzer - who spent three and a half years in a POW camp in Lethbridge, Alberta.
    • Opa's War
      "While visiting her ancestral home in Austria, a young Canadian woman unearths an old photograph of her late grandfather dressed in full German military uniform and is struck with the devastating realization that her beloved “Opa” was a soldier in Hitler’s army.
       
  • YouTube
    • War comes to Victoria
      The Lusitania departed New York for Liverpool carrying munitions. On May 7, 1915, off Ireland, it was torpedoed and sank immediately. Among the 1,198 dead were many women and children, including entire families from Victoria, Vancouver, Nelson and other BC communities. The news came to Victoria on top of the reports about the first use of poison gas. Soldiers waiting to go overseas gathered in the bar of the former Kaiserhoff Hotel (Blanshard and Johnson Street). The riot began there.
    • Der Traum vom Auswandern – Ankommen in Kanada
      German family is moving from Germany to Alberta.
    • AhornTV
      AhornTV is a weekly German TV show made for German-Canadians living in British Columbia.
    • Fortsetzung folgt: Hermann – Auf und davon nach Kanada
      Swiss immigrant Hermann Schoenbaechler immigrated to Terrace, BC. The documentary follows him for several years and shows his and his family's experiences during that time.
    • Ein Blockhaus am Yukon
      German immigrant Horst Kliem is filming himself building a log cabin over several years in the Yukon territory.

 

Please check BC Archives, Vancouver Public Library, University of Victoria Library, UBC Library for additional film footage.

Sound

  • Simon Fraser University Archives
    • British Columbia women’s history audio collection
      In the spring semester 1989, Kathryn McPherson was instructor for Women Studies 202, “History of Women in Canada.” As part of the course work, McPherson assigned students to conduct a 2-3 hour interview with a British Columbia woman.
       
  • UBC cIRcle
    • BC & Canada through Arriving Eyes
      The “British Columbia and Canada through Arriving Eyes” research project conducted several interviews with German speaking immigrants from Germany & Austria, living in Canada.
       
  • BC Archives
  • YouTube
    • Living Sounds
      At the Edge of Wilderness is a 52-minute installation about mining ghost towns in Southern British Columbia, Canada. Created by Hildegard Westerkamp, who was born on April 8, 1946, in Osnabrück, Germany. In 1968, she emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
       
  • The Memory Project
    • John “Hans” Rock: “During wartime, it was 3,000 voluntary from Germany prisoners went out and worked at the farm.”
    • Rudolf “Rudi” Walter: “They put the Americans out when they had 25 or 30 [air] missions.
    • Otto Hassibeder: “About the Dieppe landing — well, the messages were getting so crazy. I mean, the bombs were dropped on boats, and artillery.

 

Please check Vancouver Public Library, University of Victoria Library, UBC Library and for any location WorldCat.org, for additional sound files.