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Edmonton Journal
2 days ago
- Edmonton Journal
Lurid Second World War propaganda leaflets were the tweets, memes of their day: Edmonton collector
Eighty years after the Second World War, Edmonton lawyer Jim Casey believes between 'fake news' tweets and political promises of shock and awe, the propaganda strategies used eight decades ago are still a thing. Article content Starting with one Nazi leaflet that fluttered down on his dad in the Saskatoon Light Infantry's quest to help Canada liberate the Netherlands, Casey has amassed 150 pieces of morale-busting enemy propaganda. Article content Article content Article content Article content 'Hitler believed that one of the causes of the loss of the Germans in the First World War was that the Allies had superior propaganda in wartime. So he became master propagandist in all ways, you know, which helped lead to the extermination of six million Jewish people,' Casey said. Article content 'The master propagandists of the world, the Germans thought it was effective, and the British thought it was effective. The Australians, the Japanese, they all did it, and a lot of it was effective.' Article content Article content Article content 'Wayward sweetheart' propaganda struck a nerve for men thousands of miles from home, living in fear of Dear John letters, Casey said. Article content 'They are very, very provocative in their drawings. And, you know, some of them would be sort of X-rated and they're trying to get people, firstly, young men, to pick it up, of course,' he said. Article content One targeting British soldiers shows drawings of American men stationed in England, seducing British women. Article content 'While you are away, the Yanks are lend-leasing your women, their pockets full of cash and no work to do. The boys from overseas are having the time of their lives in merry old England, etc., etc. So why are you here?' Article content Another shows a couple making out, and in an adjacent mirror, there's the Grim Reaper. The story continues on the back. Article content 'Why are you here? To live for her.' And then on the back, an image of a villainous Stalin: 'Or die for him.'
Calgary Herald
2 days ago
- Calgary Herald
Lurid Second World War propaganda leaflets were the tweets, memes of their day: Edmonton collector
Eighty years after the Second World War, Edmonton lawyer Jim Casey believes between 'fake news' tweets and political promises of shock and awe, the propaganda strategies used eight decades ago are still a thing. Article content Starting with one Nazi leaflet that fluttered down on his dad in the Saskatoon Light Infantry's quest to help Canada liberate the Netherlands, Casey has amassed 150 pieces of morale-busting enemy propaganda. Article content Article content Article content Typically airborne, but sometimes singed as they were lobbed over in shells, lurid leaflets were the disinformation posts and memes of their day. Article content Article content They taunted the exhausted soldiers, trying to get inside their heads — and render them ineffective. Article content Under the traumatic stressors of war, the troops were already battling fear, lack of comfort and rest, and the duress of seeing those around them killed. Article content 'The master propagandists of the world, the Germans thought it was effective, and the British thought it was effective. The Australians, the Japanese, they all did it, and a lot of it was effective.' Article content Article content Article content 'Wayward sweetheart' propaganda struck a nerve for men thousands of miles from home, living in fear of Dear John letters, Casey said. Article content 'They are very, very provocative in their drawings. And, you know, some of them would be sort of X-rated and they're trying to get people, firstly, young men, to pick it up, of course,' he said. Article content One targeting British soldiers shows drawings of American men stationed in England, seducing British women. Article content 'While you are away, the Yanks are lend-leasing your women, their pockets full of cash and no work to do. The boys from overseas are having the time of their lives in merry old England, etc., etc. So why are you here?' Article content Another shows a couple making out, and in an adjacent mirror, there's the Grim Reaper. The story continues on the back. Article content 'Why are you here? To live for her.' And then on the back, an image of a villainous Stalin: 'Or die for him.'
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Mother's wartime secrets come to light in new memoir
Sometimes families live on a precipice surrounded by dark and terrible secrets. The Uzarowski family was just such a family. The Golden Daughter is the intimate and powerful memoir of a daughter and her mother, the latter taken by the Nazis from her Ukrainian homeland in February 1943 and forced to work as a slave in Germany during the Second World War. The author of this emotional story is Nova Scotia-based Halina St. James, who was a journalist for the CBC and CTV covering revolutions, wars and other international assignments. She also worked as a communications performance coach and professional speaker. Neil Everton photo Halina St. James In the introduction, St. James tells us that '(m)ore than 5.7 million people were put to work as slaves in Germany by the Nazis… They were treated as subhuman, and many were worked to death.' She also relates that just like many who did not talk about their war experiences, her mother rarely mentioned hers — or the complicated relationships she had been caught up in. St. James reconstructs her late mother Maria's life like pieces of a puzzle, from mother's secret letters, other documents and archives as well as stories from other survivors and relatives. Her research is thorough. She travels to Europe and traces her mother's movements there, also travelling to different parts of Canada, uncovering the secrets that had impacted and so influenced her own life. She consults with historians, guides and translators along the way. Written in an easy, conversational manner, The Golden Daughter is hard to put down. Although the content is difficult, the simplicity of the language makes the story easily accessible. Most of the memoir is written in story form, with Maria as the main character. St. James added to the story those things she discovered from her research. The latter portion of the memoir is written in the author's voice, where she shares the discoveries found both during her travels and in her mother's letters. 'I was stunned,' St. James writes. 'The letters told of a time when the world went mad, and how a pampered child learned to survive in the face of cruelty, hardship and terror.' The title refers to St. James's mother, who had been absolutely adored by both of her loving Ukrainian parents in her hometown of Vinnytsia. St. James says Maria 'was their miracle child, born when Aniela and Sergei (Brik) were middle-aged and had lost all hope of having a child.' And so she became their 'golden daughter.' The Golden Daughter After her abduction at age 17, Maria courageously survived the war, married, gave birth to Halina and then became involved in two fraught relationships during which her husband, Frank Uzarowski, was betrayed. All of this was kept secret from Halina. According to St. James's website, in 2012 the writer suffered a stroke, robbing her of speech, and had to re-learn the alphabet in order to communicate, making the telling of her story even that much more remarkable. She was in her seventies, in 2022, when she went searching in earnest for her father, who disappeared when she was four. The Golden Daughter is a story of war, of mankind's cruelty, betrayal, deception and abandonment. But in the end it is also a heartfelt story of forgiveness, love and new beginnings. Cheryl Girard is an Interlake-based writer.
