Film chronicles relationship between PoWs, southern Alta.
German prisoners exposed to a new world while in Lethbridge
With ultra nationalism, war-mongering and troubling undertones of fascism rising all over the world, Remembrance Day this year is a good time for people to be reminded of the lessons learned in the Second World War, says Corey Lee, director of the Telus Original documentary “Secret Alberta: PoWs on the Prairies.”
“I am a little disheartened with a lot of the stuff that’s happening today, whether it is straight south of the border or looking at more of the Middle East in Syria, Yemen and places like that,” Lee admits. “I think we have forgotten the lessons of the Second World War, the dangers of ultra nationalism and labelling things. I feel like the generation that participated and were affected by the conflict of the Second World War never forgot those lessons. I think that’s why this film is so timely.”
The short film chronicles the interconnections made between German PoWs held in the Lethbridge and Medicine Hat camps during the war with everyday southern Albertans. The film explains how through examples of simple kindness, openness and good treatment, the German prisoners were exposed to a new way of being in the world, a way of being not steeped in the hateful nationalism and savagery of the Nazi party, or in the rigid conventions of the old European class system.
Gisela Kellner’s father, Hans Pfeffer, was conscripted and fought in North Africa with the German Army before coming to Canada as a prisoner. He was one of 5,000 former German prisoners who returned after the war to build a new life for themselves as Canadian citizens.
“He is actually one of the ones who applied to stay in Canada while he was still a Prisoner of War,” explains Kellner. “My dad always liked Canada and the opportunities he saw there. He liked the openness and the freedom here. There was a freedom and openness in the personalities of the Canadian people he liked. He just saw this was a healthier country than what he was going home to in Germany.”
Pfeffer once put it even more succinctly in his own words.
“I could see in the future Germany could not possibly be victorious in the war, and I thought only economic chaos and political unrest would follow,” he once told an interested chronicler who asked him about his reasons for wanting to come to Canada. “I saw that freedom of thought and expression were a part of Canadian democratic life, and this system is superior to any of those in continental Europe at the time. I knew the higher standard of living in Canada would help to bring a better way of life for everyone, regardless of his occupation or social standard.”
Director Corey Lee says if there is anything he hopes can be taken from his film it is a sense of compassion for our common humanity.
“Humanity is humanity wherever we come from,” he states. “We are all capable of evil, and we are all capable of love and kindness. These German prisoners embraced the opportunities, I think, that were presented to them in the situation.”
Kellner says throughout his life in Canada her father never wanted anything to do with ideas or ideologies which glorified war. He just wanted to live a peaceful, happy and prosperous life with his family and with his neighbours.
“People are people,” says Kellner in summary. “And most people don’t buy into this whole idea of war. They just want to be happy, successful and move forward in life. Be good with their neighbours. There is lot of hate-mongering going on again in the world and in our country. This film is a reminder these Germans were enemies at one time, and here we are today living intermingled with all sorts of different people in Canada as we enjoy and appreciate each other’s company.”
“Secret Alberta: PoWs on the Prairies” is available for viewing on YouTube.
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