OUR KITH AND KIN - NOT ALWAYS A SOFT LANDING WHEN COMPARING THE DEEDS OF OUR ANCESTORS
IT'S PART OF THE PACKAGE OF BEING "US"; ROOTS RUNNING DEEP AND SOMETIMES A LITTLE DARK
I'VE TALKED CASUALLY TO FRIENDS, IN SOCIAL OCCASIONS, ABOUT THE CURIOSITIES OF OUR ANCESTRY, AND A FEW HAVE TOLD ME NEAT STORIES ABOUT BEING RELATED TO BUCCANEERS, MUTINEERS, TRAITORS, ROBBERS, MURDERERS, AND ON THE OTHERS SIDE, ADVENTURERS, WELL KNOWN POLITICIANS, INDUSTRIAL MAGNATES, AND THE CLERGY. ONE ANCESTOR OF MY GRANDFATHER'S WAS A MINISTER, IN A CHURCH IN THE LIVERPOOL AREA OF ENGLAND, AND ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE JACKSON CLAN, WAS, ME THINKS, A GAD-ABOUT WHO MADE MANY TRIPS VIA SCHOONER, FROM ENGLAND TO JAMAICA. ONE OF MY AUNTS THOUGHT HE WAS A RUM-RUNNER. MORE OF AN ADVENTURER-PIRATE-SPECULATOR. GENERALLY, THE JACKSONS, OF TORONTO, AND TRENTON BEFORE THIS, WERE SETTLERS TO THE BAY OF QUINTE REGION AFTER THE WAR OF 1812, EMIGRATING LIKE MILLIONS OF OTHERS, FROM ENGLAND. THEY WERE TINSMITHS AND FARMERS. NOT TOO MUCH CONTROVERSY IN THAT WING OF THE FAMILY. ON MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S SIDE, OF THE SANDERCOCK AND VANDERVOORTE BRANCHES, OF THE OLD FAMILY TREE, THE DUTCH AND GERMAN SIDES WERE MUCH MORE INTERESTING, THAN THE BRITISH COMPONENT. AS FOR THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, I THINK WASHINGTON IRVING, MAY HAVE BEEN WRITING ABOUT MY KINFOLK, WHEN HE PENNED THAT SHORT STORY IN 1819. THEY WERE MAINSTAYS OF THE NEW YORK, HISTORIC HUDSON RIVER REGION, FROM THE FIRST DAYS OF ITS EUROPEAN INFILTRATION. AS FOR THE DUTCH SIDE, OF MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S FAMILY, WE MAY HAVE EVEN BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR TAKING THE MOST LAND AWAY FROM THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION OF THE NEW YORK AREA. NICE EH? AND THEN THERE WAS THE GERMAN SIDE OF THE FAMILY, AND WE ARE WELL APPOINTED IN THIS REGARD, BEING RELATED TO ONE OF THE FIRST INDUSTRIALISTS, AND MAJOR MOVERS AND SHAKERS IN THE COMMUNITY OF BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO. IT'S ON THIS SIDE THAT BOTH FAMILIES CAME TO CANADA AS UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS, DURING AND AFTER THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
BUT WHAT ABOUT CARRYING THE BURDEN OF WAR, AND REPRESENTATION OF FAMILY ON THE LOSING SIDE
MOST OF YOU WILL, BY NOW, BE WONDERING WHAT THE DEVIL CURRIE IS UP TO NOW. PONDERING THE PURPOSE OF HEADING TODAY'S BLOG, WITH PORTRAITS OF GERMAN SOLDIERS, ONE FROM THE FIRST WORLD WAR, THE OTHERS FROM THE PERIOD OF WORLD WAR TWO. IT'S NOT FOR SHOCK VALUE, THAT'S FOR SURE. I DON'T GO IN FOR THAT KIND OF STUFF. IT'S ACTUALLY A PREAMBLE OF A SHORT SERIES OF UPCOMING BLOGS, WRITTEN ABOUT GRAVENHURST'S UNDER-RECOGNIZED, GERMAN PRISONER OF WAR CAMP, KNOWN AS BOTH "CALYDOR," AND "CAMP 20, WHICH WAS OPERATED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, FROM 1940 TO 1946. IT'S ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HISTORICAL REALITIES IN THIS COMMUNITY, AND THE WIDER MUSKOKA, AND AS AN HISTORIAN OF SOME MILEAGE, I WILL TELL YOU HONESTLY, IT OUTRANKS MANY OF THE OTHER HERITAGE SITES AND CIRCUMSTANCES, PROMOTED BY REGIONAL MUNICIPALITIES. IN GRAVENHURST, IF IT WASN'T FOR CECIL PORTER'S WELL RECEIVED BOOK, "THE GILDED CAGE," WHICH WAS THE STORY OF THE INTERNMENT CAMP, PUBLISHED IN 1999 BY THE GRAVENHURST BOOK COMMITTEE, IT WOULD BE OUR BEST KNOWN SECRET. THE OFFICERS IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS ABOVE, WERE NOT IMPRISONED HERE IN GRAVENHURST, BUT THERE WAS AN ASSOCIATION, OF CIRCUMSTANCE BY RESIDENCE, THAT BROUGHT THESE IMAGES OF FAMILY TO OUR REGION OF SOUTH MUSKOKA. THE OWNER OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS, OWNED SEVERAL COPIES OF "THE GILDEN CAGE," AND WAS VERY VOCAL ABOUT ITS CONTENT TO THIS WRITER, DURING NUMEROUS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WAR AND CONSEQUENCE.
I KNOW OF AN INCIDENT AT A REGIONAL SCHOOL, THAT HAD A MINOR HISTORICAL KICK-BACK, BECAUSE OF THE ANCESTRAL TREE. THE STUDENT, FOR A PARTICULAR HISTORY PROJECT, BROUGHT IN A SELECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF HER GRANDFATHER, IN FULL MILITARY UNIFORM. WHILE OTHER STUDENTS HAD SIMILAR VINTAGE IMAGES, FOR THAT AFTERNOON'S "SHOW AND TELL," TAKEN DURING THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS, SHOWING THEIR RESPECTIVE GRANDFATHERS, IN CANADIAN AND BRITISH UNIFORMS; THIS STUDENT PROUDLY EXHIBITED A STRIKING PORTRAIT OF HER GRANDFATHER, IN THE ATTIRE OF A HIGH RANKING GERMAN OFFICER. THE STUDENTS, VIEWING THIS, WERE SOMEWHAT STARTLED BY THE PORTRAIT, AS WAS THE INSTRUCTOR, BUT IT ACTUALLY FOSTERED A POSITIVE DIALOGUE, ABOUT ALL SIDES OF WAR. MANY OF THE STUDENTS, WOULD FIND OUT LATER, BY ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS OF THEIR PARENTS, ABOUT THEIR OWN STAKE IN THE FAMILY TREE, THAT THEY ALSO HAD GERMAN ANCESTORS MANY GENERATIONS EARLIER. WHILE THE CARNAGE OF THE WAR WASN'T THE TOPIC OF DISCUSSION, WHAT TRANSPIRED WAS A SOLID, BALANCED LOOK AT HOW INTERNATIONALLY CONNECTED, THEY ALL WERE TO THE CULTURES OF THE WORLD. SOON, IT WASN'T ABOUT THE STUDENT'S GERMAN GRANDFATHER ANY LONGER, BUT ABOUT THE ANCESTRAL CONNECTEDNESS TO WORLD HISTORY.
THE VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS PUBLISHED ABOVE, WERE ACQUIRED FROM THE ESTATE OF A LOCAL GERMAN / CANADIAN WOMAN, WHO I KNEW FROM NUMEROUS PHONE CONVERSATIONS. SHE LIKED MY EDITORIAL POINTS OF VIEW, PUBLISHED IN THE LOCAL PRESS, AND THE FACT I WAS AN ACTIVE SHIT-DISTURBING HISTORIAN. SHE WAS CONVINCED I WAS A GOOD PERSON TO TALK TO, ABOUT GERMAN HISTORY, AND HOW IT HAS IMPRINTED IN CANADA SINCE CONFEDERATION. IT'S TRUE SHE HAD PROBLEMS WITH CLAIMS ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST, BUT ON THOSE MATTERS, I DECLINED TO COMMENT. SHE DID TALK ABOUT FIRESTORM BOMBINGS IN GERMANY, THAT KILLED THOUSANDS OF INNOCENTS, AND FOR THIS, I JUST LISTENED. SHE WAS WELL INFORMED BUT CARRIED A RESPECT FOR HITLER I COULD NEVER TRULY UNDERSTAND. SHE WAS OLD AND SET IN HER WAYS. I WAS A LITTLE YOUNGER, AND LOOKING FOR AS MANY OPINIONS ABOUT HISTORICAL EVENTS AS I COULD. JUST BECAUSE I DIDN'T AGREE WITH HER, BASED ON MY OWN RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE, DIDN'T MEAN I WASN'T GOING TO LISTEN TO HER RECOLLECTIONS AND CLAIMS. SHE WASN'T TRYING TO CHANGE MY MIND ABOUT THE GERMAN MILITARY CAMPAIGN, BUT SHE MADE ME UNDERSTAND MORE CLEARLY, THAN EVER BEFORE, WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE A CIVILIAN AND A CHILD, DURING THE ALLIED BOMBING OF HER COUNTRY. MOST OF US, BECAUSE OF THE NARROW HIGH SCHOOL STUDY OF WORLD WAR, HAVE BECOME HARDCORE SUPPORTERS OF THE IDEA, THERE WERE NO INNOCENTS IN GERMANY, DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR; WHICH OF COURSE, IS UTTER NONSENSE. THEY TOO WERE VICTIMS OF A MAD DICTATOR. WE TEND TO LOOK AND JUDGE GERMANS FROM THIS PERIOD, AS IF THEY WERE ALL NAZIS IN HITLER'S ARMY, WHICH WASN'T TRUE; BUT IT'S THE RESULT OF DECADES OF IMBEDDED GENERALIZATIONS, WHICH TAUGHT STUDENTS THE "ONE SIZE FITS ALL" (THAT'S ALL WE HAVE TIME FOR) COURSE OF STUDY. SO I DID LISTEN TO HER OWN STORIES OF WATCHING RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS BURNED ALIVE IN THE BOMBINGS; FOLKS WHO HAD NEVER PICKED UP A GUN, OR ENGAGED IN ANY BATTLE WITH ANY ONE, FOR ANY REASON. IT'S NOT ABOUT FORGIVENESS, BUT UNDERSTANDING. I ENJOYED OUR CHATS, AND SHE HAD AMAZING KNOWLEDGE OF GERMAN HISTORY, HAVING LINKS BACK TO THE 1500'S, THAT SHE KNEW ABOUT. SHE WAS PROUD OF HER HERITAGE, AND SHE SHARED QUITE A BIT WITH ME, LONG BEFORE I HAD SOMETHING TO SHARE WITH HER.....ABOUT MY OWN NEWFOUND ANCESTRY.
I TALKED TO HER, ONE AFTERNOON AT SOME LENGTH (SUZANNE TOLD ME IT WAS A TWO HOUR CONVERSATION), A YEAR AND A HALF BEFORE SHE DIED, AND I TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY TO ASK ABOUT THE AREA OF GERMANY, MY OWN FAMILY HAD EMIGRATED FROM, TO AMERICA, IN THE 1700'S. IT WAS ONLY A FEW MONTHS EARLIER, THAT SUZANNE, A FAMILY HISTORY SLEUTH, UNCOVERED THE FACT MY GRANDMOTHER, BLANCHE JACKSON, WAS FROM BOTH GERMAN AND DUTCH ANCESTRY, ON HER MOTHER'S SIDE. IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE, AFTER SHE TOLD ME THIS NEWS, AND HAVING JUST SHOWED ME THE FAMILY TREE SHE'D BEEN PENCILLING-IN, THE FIRST THING I THOUGHT ABOUT, WAS IF ANY OF MY KIN HAD BEEN IN THE GERMAN ARMY, IN EITHER WORLD WAR. I DIDN'T THINK ABOUT HOW CULTURALLY GREAT IT WOULD BE TO BE CONNECTED, BY GERMAN BLOOD, TO ALL THE HISTORY, ART, LITERATURE AND MUSIC OF THIS BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY. I THOUGHT ABOUT WAR, AND EVEN NOW, AS I'M WRITING THIS, IT STILL BOTHERS ME TO A DEGREE, WHY I KEEP GETTING STOPPED-UP WITH WAR, EVERY TIME I THINK ABOUT FAMILY HISTORY. I'M NOT ASHAMED, JUST A VICTIM OF LIFE-LONG NARROW THINKING, I SUPPOSE; AND THE REALITY, HAVING A FATHER WHO SERVED IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC, WITH THE R.C.N.V.R. HAS MADE THE BIAS MORE INTIMATE, AND EMOTIONALLY JAGGED. MY FATHER SUFFERED FROM POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, BY DEFINITION OF THE CONDITION, FROM WHAT HE SAW AND DID ONBOARD HIS SHIP, THE "COATICOOK," BUT PREFERRED TO DRINK INSTEAD OF TALK ABOUT IT. WAR HAS DEFINITELY IMPRINTED AS NEGATIVELY AS YOU WOULD EXPECT. WHAT INTERESTS ME NOW, IS WHY MY GRANDMOTHER'S GERMAN KIN, WERE NEVER RESEARCHED, AS WAS THE BRITISH ANCESTRY. THERE WAS A FAMILY TREE SKETCHED OUT AND INFILLED, BUT ONLY FOR THE JACKSON SIDE OF THE FAMILY. BUT IT IS THE DUTCH AND GERMAN SIDE, THAT IS MOST ALLURING, AS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR THEM, IF THEY HAD TAKEN THE TIME TO INVESTIGATE. AND WITH NO RELATIVE OF MY MOTHER'S FAMILY STILL ALIVE, THERE IS NO WAY OF FINDING OUT HOW THEY FELT.
AS THE STUDENT DIDN'T APOLOGIZE FOR PRESENTING THE PICTURE OF HER GRANDFATHER, AND THE CLASS ACCEPTED THE PORTRAIT WITHOUT PREJUDICE, I AM STILL NAVIGATING THE SENSITIVITY CURVE MYSELF; SO THAT IF I SHOULD SOON FIND OUT, THAT MEMBERS OF OUR FAMILY TREE DID PARTICIPATE IN WORLD WAR, AS PART OF THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE, THEY MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED RESPECTFULLY, ALONGSIDE FAMILY MEMBERS WHO FOUGHT WITH THE ALLIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. SEEING AS WE CAN'T CHANGE HISTORY, WE HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO LIVE WITH IT, AND BENEFIT FROM THE KNOWLEDGE!
THE PHOTOGRAPHS ABOVE, WERE ACQUIRED WHEN WE PURCHASED PORTIONS OF THE WOMAN'S ESTATE. I REMEMBER THE DAY WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT THE SHOP, AND WERE DISCOVERED AMONGST THE SMALL COLLECTION OF VINTAGE IMAGES, PLUS A HALF-FILLED PHOTO ALBUM. SUZANNE AND I JUST STARED AT THE PORTRAITS OF THE GERMAN OFFICERS, FROM WORLD WAR II, AND WONDERED, AT THAT MOMENT, WHAT WE WOULD DO WITH THEM; ESPECIALLY AS WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD A POLICY ABOUT NOT SELLING THESE KIND OF MILITARY RELICS. WE ARE SELECTIVE ABOUT WAR MATERIALS WE SELL, AND THAT'S WHY I RAN THE RECENT SERIES OF BLOGS ABOUT CAPTAIN SHIRLEY TUKE, OF THE BRITISH MILITARY, CIRCA WORLD WAR I. THESE ARE PERSONAL, FAMILY ITEMS, THAT WE BELIEVE SHOULD BE KEPT TOGETHER IN A COLLECTION. AS FOR THE GERMAN MILITARY PHOTOGRAPHS, WE DON'T LOOK UPON THEM NOW, WITH ANY SENSE OF UNEASE, OR FEAR OF CONDEMNATION, FOR EXHIBITING THEM UNDER, WHAT WE BELIEVE, TO BE THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES OF RECOGNITION. NOT FOR SENSATIONALIST PURPOSES. THEY ARE PART OF THE CHRONICLE OF WORLD HISTORY, AND AS MUCH AS THE NAZI SYMBOLS REMIND US OF THE HORRORS ASSOCIATED WITH JEWISH CAMPS, LIKE AUSCHWITZ, AND BERGEN-BELSEN, PLUS MANY MORE ASSOCIATED WITH THE HOLOCAUST, WE CAN'T ASSESS ALL THE EVILS OF THAT WAR, ON EVERY SOLDIER WHO JOINED HITLER'S FORCES. GERMAN CITIZENS WERE IMPOSED-UPON TO JOIN THE WAR EFFORT; AND MANY BECAME THE FACES IN THESE FAMILY PORTRAITS. GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION. SOME MIGHT WISH THAT ALL THESE REMEMBRANCES OF THE NAZI ERA BE TORN UP AND DISPOSED OF, REGARDLESS OF THE SUBJECT INDIVIDUAL'S ACTUAL ROLE IN THE TURMOIL OF WAR. THIS IS NOT THE SUGGESTION, THAT WE SHOULD, NOW 68 YEARS AFTER THE WAR, FORGIVE THE NAZI WAR MACHINE FOR THE SUFFERING IT INFLICTED UPON HUMANITY.
FOR ME, A LIFE LONG LOVER OF HISTORY, IT IS JUST PART OF THE JAGGED, UNFORTUNATE, INHUMANITY OF MANKIND'S WELL DOCUMENTED STRUGGLE AGAINST ITSELF, AS THE CHRONICLE OF LIFE AND TIMES. OF WHICH SOME OF US ARE CONNECTED MORE INTIMATELY, BY THE BLOOD OF OUR ANCESTORS. SOME READING THIS BLOG TODAY, WILL ALSO HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE, THEY HAVE SIMILAR PORTRAITS IN THEIR FAMILY ALBUMS, THAT THEY ARE SOMEWHAT ASHAMED OF, AND RELUCTANT TO SHARE WITH OTHERS. I THINK BACK TO THE COURAGEOUS YOUNG LADY, WHO VOLUNTARILY SHARED HER FAMILY ALBUM, WITH FELLOW STUDENTS, BECAUSE IT WAS A FACT OF HER LIFE, AND NOTHING COULD CHANGE THAT REALITY. SHE WASN'T ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS, AND HER CLASSMATES NEVER MADE IT AN ISSUE. IN SOME WAYS, I FIND THIS AN UPLIFTING STORY, BECAUSE IT IS STILL VERY MUCH AN OBSTACLE OF UNDERSTANDING; AND A CONNECTION, SOME PREFER TO IGNORE, AND BYPASS, WHEN THE ISSUE OF THE FAMILY TREE, AND ALL ITS BRANCHES, COME UP FOR DISCUSSION. ME INCLUDED. BUT FROM THIS STUDENT'S PRESENTATION, IT CERTAINLY HAS SHED MORE LIGHT ON THE ISSUE, FROM THE WAY I WAS A WHILE AGO; A VERY RELUCTANT INDIVIDUAL OF GERMAN DESCENT.
MORE COMING UP IN FUTURE BLOGS, HIGHLIGHTING GRAVENHURST'S YEARS, AS HOSTS TO GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR.
OLD BARBED WIRE FROM CALYDOR - MANY PASSERSBY TORE OFF A HUNK
FROM THE FALL OF 1989, SHORTLY AFTER WE ARRIVED IN GRAVENHURST, AND SETTLING INTO OUR NEW HOME, WE WERE HEAVILY INTO THE HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITY. WE KNEW A LOT ABOUT THE TOWN BEFORE WE MOVED, AND ONE OF THE PLACES OF FASCINATION, WAS THE CALYDOR PROPERTY. SO SMITTEN BY ITS HISTORY, THAT WE MADE SURE OUR HOUSE WAS LOCATED IN THE ZONE, PROBABLY THE MOST HISTORIC IN TOWN.......OVER AND ABOVE BETHUNE HOUSE. SORRY TO SAY THIS, BUT WHEN YOU WEIGH THE REALITY, WE WERE ACCOMMODATING HOSTS TO GERMAN PRISONERS, AND HIGH RANKING NAZIS, THROUGHOUT THE SECOND WORLD WAR, IT DOES TRUMP THE HOUSE WHERE NORMAN BETHUNE SPENT HIS FIRST FEW MOMENTS OF LIFE. AND REALLY, NOT MUCH MORE. IT IS WORTH NOTING, THAT BETHUNE, IN ADULTHOOD, DID SPEND TIME AT THE CALYDOR SANATORIUM, SUFFERING FROM TUBERCULOSIS. THE SANATORIUM WAS EVENTUALLY ACQUIRED BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE LATE 1930'S, AS A FUTURE INTERMENT CAMP, WHEN GERMANY BEGAN ITS MARCH ON EUROPE.
THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT VERY FEW HISTORIANS AND CITIZENS HAVE DEMANDED HISTORIC SITE RECOGNITION, BECAUSE IT IS STILL DEEMED, BY TOWN HALL, AS TOO CONTROVERSIAL, AND POLITICALLY INCORRECT.....WHICH COULD ONLY BE THOUGHT OF, IN THIS WAY, BY FOLKS WHO ARE UNAWARE OF MORE NEGATIVELY STORIED PLACES THAN THIS.....ACKNOWLEDGED AND RESPECTED, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. ALTHOUGH IT WAS COVERED BY A BOOK, ENTITLED "THE GILDED CAGE," SOME YEARS AGO, THERE HAS BEEN A PREFERENCE BY THE TOWN, OVER MANY DECADES, TO AVOID PLACING AN HISTORIC PLAQUE, OR PROMOTING IT ACTIVELY AS A PLACE, NOW A SUBDIVISION AND PUBLIC BEACH, WHERE WORLD HISTORY WAS MADE. WE HAVE HAD A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF GERMAN VISITORS ASK US ABOUT THE CAMP PROPERTY, WISHING TO VISIT. THEY SEEM PERPLEXED GENERALLY, THAT THERE ISN'T A PROPER HISTORIC PLAQUE, TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE HISTORY THAT OCCURRED ON THE PROPERTY.....WHICH IS THOROUGHLY AMAZING. ESCAPES, FUNERAL PROCESSIONS, IN FULL MILITARY DRESS, THROUGH OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, TO THE MICKLE CEMETERY, WHERE TWO BEAUTIFULLY CARVED OAK TABLETS, ONCE MARKED THE GRAVES OF THE SOLDIERS WHO DIED WHILE IN CUSTODY. THE BODIES WERE EXHUMED MANY YEARS AGO, AND THE GRAVES RELOCATED TO A GERMAN CEMETERY IN KITCHENER, ONTARIO.
IN ALL OF MUSKOKA, THIS IS CLEARLY THE MOST INTERNATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT HISTORIC SITE, EVEN BEYOND THE MUSEUM OF LITTLE NORWAY, AT THE MUSKOKA AIRPORT, BUT A FEW FOLKS, WITH NARROW FOCUS, HAVE BEEN BLOCKING FULL RECOGNITION OF THE PROPERTY'S TRUE DIMENSION IN LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL HISTORY. HAVING SPENT THOUSANDS OF HOURS WANDERING THROUGH THE PROPERTY, WE NOT ONLY HAVE A LOT OF ARTIFACTS, MOSTLY BROKEN GLASS AND POTTERY, AND THESE HUNKS OF RUSTED BARBED WIRE, BUT WE HAVE A BOOK LOAD OF MEMORIES OF THIS BEAUTIFUL PROPERTY ON THE SHORE OF MUSKOKA BAY. I WILL HAVE A SMALL COLLECTION OF THESE STORIES IN THE COMING DAYS......WHICH WILL HOPEFULLY CREATE SOME INTEREST, IN ONE DAY OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZING THE PROPERTY, AS AN INTERNATIONAL HERITAGE SITE. I THINK IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT TO OUR GERMAN-CANADIAN HERITAGE, AS MANY FORMER POWS DID RETURN TO CANADA TO LIVE, FOLLOWING THE WAR, AND SOME BACK TO GRAVENHURST AND MUSKOKA. IT IS NOT FAIR TO SAY, OR ALLUDE TODAY, TO CALYDOR AND THE GERMAN POW CAMP, AS BEING POLITICALLY INCORRECT.....AND NOT FOR PRIME TIME VIEWING. IT WAS A FACT OF LIFE.....AND AN AMAZING REALITY FOR ALL THE CITIZENS BACK THEN, WHO ALSO BECAME THE EYES AND EARS OF CAMP SECURITY. HERE IS A PIECE I WROTE AFTER A LENGTHY CHAT WITH SEVERAL GERMAN VISITORS, TO GRAVENHURST, LAST SUMMER, WHO ASKED US FOR DIRECTIONS TO TOUR THE PROPERTY. THERE WAS NO RESPONSE FROM THE TOWN, TO THE BLOG, AS PREDICTED, BUT THIS ISSUE WILL COME UP MANY TIMES IN THE FUTURE; AND I'M HOPEFUL THE SITE WILL BE PUBLICLY RECOGNIZED WITH SIGNAGE IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
POSSIBLY IT WILL COME AS A REQUEST FROM THE FAMILIES OF FORMER INMATES, WHO FEEL IT IS IMPORTANT, THAT THE SITE BE DOCUMENTED FOR ALL TO SEE.....AND BE UNDERSTOOD, AS IT WAS, IN THE DAYS OF WORLD WAR.
WHENEVER WE WENT OUT FOR A FAMILY WALK DOWN TO MUSKOKA BAY, THROUGH THE PROPERTY OF THE FORMER CALYDOR PRISONER OF WAR CAMP, WE'D STOP TO TEAR OFF A COUPLE OF LENGTHY CHUNKS OF BARBED WIRE, FORMERLY OF THE CAMP. THESE BALES WERE EVEN NOTED IN THE BOOK, "ESCAPE FROM CANADA," BY JOHN MELADY. FORMER POW'S FROM THAT PERIOD, AND THEIR FAMILIES, VISITING GRAVENHURST, HAVE ALSO BEEN KNOWN TO TEAR OFF BITS OF THE WIRE.......EVEN AS UNFORTUNATE REMINDERS, OF A TERRIBLE PERIOD IN WORLD HISTORY....THAT MANY OF OUR FAMILIES WERE INVOLVED.
THIS ISN'T A PROJECT TO CREATE ANOTHER TOURIST ATTRACTION. IT'S TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THE HERITAGE CHRONICLE OF OUR COMMUNITY.....AND IT IS SOMETHING REMARKABLE, THAT WE PLAYED SUCH AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE PROTECTION OF THE FREE WORLD......BY KEEPING THESE PRISONERS FROM RE-ENTERING THE FIGHT. THIS COULD WELL HAVE HAPPENED IF THERE HAD BEEN AN INVASION OF BRITAIN, RELEASING THOUSANDS OF PRISONERS BACK INTO THE INVADING ARMY. INSTEAD, THEY WERE SHIPPED ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, AND TO OUR COMMUNITY, UNTIL THE END OF THE WAR.
WE SHOULD BE PROUD OF THIS HERITAGE.....NOT TRYING TO AVOID IT!
GRAVENHURST'S CALYDOR PRISONER OF WAR CAMP SHOULD BE HIGHLIGHTED AS A TOWN HISTORIC SITE
WOULD GERMAN VISITORS BE INTERESTED TO SEE THE SITE OF FORMER PRISON CAMP?
AS A RESIDENT OF THE CALYDOR SUBDIVISION, WE ARE ON THE FRINGE OF THE FORMER NAZI PRISONER OF WAR CAMP, SITUATED A FULL BLOCK WEST, ON THE SHORE OF MUSKOKA BAY. WHEN WE FIRST MOVED HERE, BACK IN THE EARLY 1990'S, I USED TO OFFER ANYONE WHO WAS INTERESTED, A GUIDED TOUR OF THE WORLD WAR II CAMP, THE SUBJECT OF A RECENT BOOK WRITTEN BY GRAVENHURST HISTORIAN, CECIL PORTER, CALLED "THE GILDED CAGE."
MY INTRODUCTION TO THE CAMP CAME MANY YEARS BEFORE MR. PORTER'S BOOK WAS PUBLISHED, WHEN A REPORTER WORKING FOR US AT THE FORMER HERALD-GAZETTE, AND MUSKOKA SUN, IN BRACEBRIDGE, DECIDED TO DO A LENGTHY FEATURE COLUMN ON THE CAMP. SCOTT MCCLELLAN WORKED FOR ABOUT A MONTH, RESEARCHING THE NAZI PRISON CAMP, AND WHEN THE STORY WAS PUBLISHED, SOMETIME IN THE MID 1980'S, IT CAUSED QUITE A STIR. THERE WERE THOSE WHO WERE TRULY INTERESTED IN KNOWING MORE ABOUT THIS PREVIOUSLY UNDER-KNOWN CONTRIBUTION OF CANADA TO THE WAR EFFORT, AND THERE WERE THOSE WHO DIDN'T WANT THE STORY TO GET ANY INK WHATSOEVER. I NEVER FELT THIS WAY, AND I BEGAN DOING MY OWN RESEARCH OF THE CAMP, ONCE WE MOVED INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD. IN FACT, I PLANNED TO DO MY OWN BOOK ON THE CAMP BUT OUR ANTIQUE BUSINESS NEEDED MORE ATTENTION AND I SIMPLY ABANDONED THE IDEA. IT IS AN FOUR STAR INTERNATIONAL STORY, THAT SOMEHOW WAS BURIED FOR MANY YEARS, OUT OF MISGUIDED POLITICAL CORRECTNESS.
WHEN CECIL LET ME KNOW HE WAS WRITING THIS LONG OVER-DUE STORY, I WAS THRILLED BECAUSE IT IS A CRITICALLY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF GRAVENHURST HISTORY, THAT PUTS US ON THE WORLD STAGE OF HISTORIC SITES. CECIL PRESENTED ME WITH A COPY AND I READ IT COVER TO COVER ON THE FIRST NIGHT. IT WAS EVERYTHING I HAD WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP. THE ONLY THING MISSING? THERE ISN'T A PROPER HISTORIC PLAQUE, ON THE CALYDOR PROPERTY, AND WE'VE LARGELY AVOIDED PROMOTING IT, BECAUSE OF THE NEGATIVE REALITIES OF WAR-TIME IMPRISONMENT. WELL, I DON'T AGREE. WE SHOULD CELEBRATE THE HISTORY WE CONTRIBUTED TO, BY HELPING THE COMMONWEALTH, PARTICULARLY BRITAIN, BY HOUSING SOME OF THE MOST STALWART NAZIS……WHO WOULD HAVE POSED AN IMMEASURABLE THREAT TO THE SECURITY OF ENGLAND, IF A GERMAN INVASION HAD SET THEM LOOSE, WHICH WAS A MAJOR REASON FOR GETTING THEM OUT OF THE COUNTRY.
A SENSITIVE ISSUE? OF COURSE IT IS! BUT LIFE AND ITS HISTORY ARE FULL OF SENSITIVE STORIES THAT STILL HAVE TO BE TOLD
I spoke with a German visitor to our town this morning, and we talked for almost an hour, about local history, and particularly the former Calydor Prison Camp. I have talked to elderly German-Canadians, who have a general interest in the camp's heritage, and each one I've chatted with, had a basic knowledge of Calydor, and some of the inmates who were imprisoned there. And they were acquainted with those German citizens, who after the war, wished to come back to Canada, Muskoka specifically, where they had served part of the war years incarcerated. I always found this so amazing, as an historian, that they thought enough of our town and the region, to leave their homeland for good, and take up residence here….living amongst those who were once their armed guards.
I offered an apology, to this gentleman and his partner, that there was no historic plaque marking the site of the former camp, and that there was no brochure offering a walking tour of the new subdivision, that might be appreciated by those who may have even had family members at Calydor during the war. I asked him if German visitors today, would be offended to see a plaque, commemorating the years of Nazi incarceration, in Gravenhurst, and he answered that they wouldn't be upset by this type of identification, as there are similar World War II sites, with much more tragedy attached, than our small camp, patrolled by the Veteran's Guard, who never had to shoot a prisoner…..and for the most part, became friendly with most of the inmates. As to whether or not German tourists would visit such a site, if properly identified, he was noncommittal, but he did suggest that younger people from Germany, are less likely to attend such historic locations out of disinterest. But we had a good talk about life and times at the camp, and how the people first found out a POW facility was being located in their town……..when Gordon Sloan took that famous photograph, on the main street, of the parade of Nazi prisoners of all ranks, walking down the centre of Muskoka Road, under guard, journeying between the train station and the Calydor property which is quite a hike. He was quite interested in the two full-dress funerals held, and the parades from the camp to the Mickle Cemetery, and the two beautifully carved wooden grave markers, that adorned the plots. The German soldiers were exhumed in the late 1960's, and reburied in Kitchener, Ontario.
I think we have been overly sensitive in this town, ever since the war, about offending Germans who visit as tourists. Yet there have been many former prisoners of the camp, who have re-visited the place they were once under armed-guard, and they had, up until the reclamation of the property for a new subdivision, been leaving small and large written messages on the former concrete ruins of camp buildings. There are some who have reportedly broken off portions of barbed wire leftover from the prison years, that were coiled up near a path just across Lorne Street. While it was there, our boys used to break-off chunks once a week, and keep them in a wooden box, because we expected that at any time, the property owner would dispose of the barbed wire, not really knowing its significance. The barb wire even made it to print, in a paragraph of the Canadian POW camp history, "Escape from Canada," noting that former POW's did claim some of the wire as souvenirs, many years after the war.
This is an important location to be recognized. In fact, I believe it as important as the recognition of Dr. Norman Bethune, and it would be of even greater significance, if it had been acknowledged many decades before now, and given the respect it clearly deserves as a national heritage site. I think that most German visitors would acknowledge the same, that it is what it is! But I think to not recognize it, with a public plaque, or similar site identification, clearly points out, that as a town, we're kind of embarrassed the whole situation occurred in the first place. Why acknowledge the presence of a prisoner of war camp? The fact that the camp at Calydor, was a well run, and generally amicable arrangement for staff and prisoners; and was a credit to Canada and to the host community. Our town handled some of the most ardent, die-hard Nazi prisoners in Canada, and they handled the assignment capably, which should be recognized; not just by a book, but with public recognition, that this was an acreage on beautiful Muskoka Bay that made history every day it was in operation. Now think about this. Calydor began as a sanatorium for tubercular patients. It also treated some Canadian soldiers who had been injured by gas warfare in the trenches of France. Dr. Bethune was a patient at Calydor, before transferring to a sanatorium in New York. Then came the Nazi Prisoner of War Camp years, and then onto the Jewish Gateway Hotel, in its later years. Now its a nice, well treed subdivision, overlooking the sparkling water of a great Muskoka lake. There's a huge whack of history on that property, that does need to be properly addressed by this municipality, and Cecil Porter's book has led the way, to facing this perceived negative aspect of local history, with a proud outlook, about lessons learned……and obstacles overcome.
I don't expect the homeowners of the new waterfront subdivision, will appreciate tourists walking constantly through their subdivision, and I can understand this. I do believe however, most who have built on the site, know the history of the acreage, and have some reverence of what the land uses have meant to local history. There weren't many camps in Canada, and we had one of them. We had tunnels, we had escapes, and we had lots of drama. Yes you could make a movie about Calydor, and it would be interesting without a doubt.
I would have liked to take my German friend for a visit to the camp property, but alas we both ran out of free time to wander about the town. He seemed pleased a local citizen was willing to talk candidly about the circumstances of Calydor, without fear of upsetting him with details of camp life, armed guards and failed attempts at escapes. I think other German and European visitors might feel the same, and want to see where the camp was located, and learn more about its history, from tour guides interested in promoting local heritage. I believe, in fact, many folks would like to have this option, and know more about our small town's big role in the Second World War. I always enjoyed giving my tours, and many of those folks, after this, ran their own tours of the sprawling lakeside property. I think it's time to stop fearing that the public recognition of the Calydor Camp, will be detrimental or insulting to our German visitors, and show respect for the fact that even in the most desperate times of world crisis, friendships were being made here in Canada that would last a lifetime, and encourage many Germans to emigrate to our country and region, when given the post war climate of forgiveness.
I am certainly not suggesting that a museum be constructed and outfitted with memorabilia and articles from the period. I'm not recommending that a huge bill board be erected at the property to acknowledge Camp Calydor, or that a highway sign direct traffic up Lorne Street to see the place Nazis used to reside. I am most definitely suggesting, that a respectful and interpretative marker be considered, at various locations, to at the very least, let those interested in seeing the property, learn more about the years of its service to country and home. I think it should be the subject of special historical walking tours of the town, and can also be respectfully acknowledged in town promotional material, informing the public of our heritage attractions. We are avoiding a huge chunk of international heritage, and those who are part of the "let's leave it alone" group, are doing the community a disservice, at the same time, as they are trying to sanitize heritage on the mistaken hunch, a POW camp can't possibly offer anything positive, and advantageous, so therefore, it should be ignored. If it was a good enough bit of history to base a book, then it is worthy of full town recognition, that it is part of our history……and for our effort as a community, to help the war effort, it should be proudly acknowledged; credited to our ever-watchful citizens, at the time, who had to contend with the burden of Nazis in their midst, while they listened to the nightly war updates from Europe, on their crackling, static interrupted tube radios. From 1939 to 1946, our town played host to German Prisoners of War. It's fact. So let's get on with our own liberation from the fear of its public recognition, in case someone gets offended. It is wrong-minded to think that this part of our history is either negative, or best forgotten.
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