Cover graphic by Alexe Normandin.

All music is public domain. Source links forthcoming.

Episode Transcript:

[Music plays]

Our past isn't just black and white pictures and dates in the history book. The past is colorful and cinematic, musical and moving, dreadful and wonderful, just like today.

Welcome to What They Can Teach Us: The Podcast. My name is Frank Brueckner and I created this series to provide additional context to the website “What They Can Teach Us”, which was developed from interviews with four women who immigrated from Germany to Canada in the early 1950s. The website and podcasts were initiated and are supported by the Chair in German-Canadian Studies at the University of Winnipeg.

In these podcasts you will learn what life was like in the late 1940s and early 1950s when Barbara, Lisa, Alma and Anneliese, like so many of our parents and grandparents, left Germany and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to begin their lives anew in Canada.

This is part 1: What They Were Listening To. Let's dive right in.

This episode started with a bang, literally. What you heard was a collage of actual sounds from World War II, ending with the last line of an old German folk song from the 1800s, recorded in 1932 by the Comedian Harmonists.

It says, ich möchte am liebsten sterben/dann wäre es auf einmal still, which roughly translates to, I would rather be dead, only then it would finally be quiet. Although the song is about a broken heart, the sentiment expressed in those last words might have been exactly what many people felt during this horrible war. And then the war ended, and it was quiet indeed. Well, not really.

Nazi Germany was beaten and conquered, and the music of the liberation in western Europe was swing. After 12 years of a brutal dictatorship that imprisoned people, or worse, for listening to what the Nazis called degenerate music, Germans enjoyed the new freedom to listen to whatever they wanted to.

And along with the American, British, French and Canadian occupying forces came military radio stations, broadcasting the hit tunes from back home.

[Music plays]

As swing became less fashionable, music changed, but the topics remained the same. Love, longing, and even everyday themes such as this song from 1951 about packing your swim trunks and going for a swim in Berlin's Lake Wannsee, sung by an eight-year-old girl from Berlin.

[Music plays]

After years of deprivations and restrictions, Germans weren't satisfied with a vacation at home. They were longing to travel to sunny southern Europe, particularly Italy and Spain, this time as peaceful vacationers. A good number of songs show this yearning.

[Music plays]

Others felt the urge to leave Germany and Europe behind altogether and start life anew far, far away. Thousands left for Canada, Australia and the United States, some as war brides on the arms of Allied soldiers, others chasing the dreams of streets paved with gold.

But despite their hopes for a new beginning, many carried the sorrow of saying farewell. No song describes this feeling better than Marlene Dietrich's interpretation of the old German folk song, “Muss i denn.”

[Music plays]

This ongoing series will add new podcasts in irregular intervals, so stay tuned for What They Can Teach Us: The Podcast and check back regularly for new episodes.

All audio is public domain. Source links forthcoming.

Cover graphic by Alexe Normandin.

Episode Transcript:

The past. Black and white photos. Stiff looking people. And important dates in a history book. Dead. Long ago. Boring. Or was it?

Nothing could be further from the truth. The past was as colorful and cinematic, musical and moving, dreadful and wonderful as our life is today.

Welcome to What They Can Teach Us: The Podcast. A series of short podcasts of varying lengths providing additional context to the website “What They Can Teach Us”. You will learn what life was like in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Barbara, Lisa, Alma and Anneliese, like so many of our parents and grandparents, immigrated from Germany to Canada.

They listened and danced to the pop music of their day, the mid-century equivalent to modern day's R&B and rock music.

[Soundtrack]

They left behind a food culture which was very different from Canadian food culture. Oxenmaulsalat. Spargel mit Kartoffeln und Butter. Blutwurst. Schäufele. Handkäs mit Musik.

They came from a country with a highly developed film industry to one that was still in its early stages.

[Movie dialogue in German]

And, of course, they were interested in fashion. Yes, people in those black and white pictures were actually wearing colorful clothes.

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Each podcast focuses on one specific topic. That means you can listen to the podcasts in no particular order or without having to follow a storyline.

These podcasts might inspire you to investigate your own family's history: where they came from and when, and what they experienced. Moving from one country and culture to another is a big adventure and often requires a lot of courage and strength.

Humankind has always been on the move. And the regular arrival of newcomers in our global communities opens new horizons, offers new philosophies and fresh perspectives on our familiar way of life. We experience new spices and smells, as well as new music, film, fashion and food.

In a nutshell, immigration enriches us culturally and makes a country and a society strong and resilient.

This ongoing series will add new podcasts in irregular intervals, so stay tuned for What They Can Teach Us: The Podcast. And check back regularly for new episodes.