Oral History of Huronia
Jamie Hunter explained that, with funding from the Federal Government and Rotary, the museum is working with gr. 10 students from MSS and Askennonia to link students with a resident who has a story. The students research the events, prepare questions and interview the subject while Brian video tapes it.
Brian said the first reaction of most who are approached is 'why me?' But everyone has a story and when they start it always turns out to be interesting. The students, who are often typed as lazy and disinterested, are keen and get involved and prove to be very capable. Therefore this program highlights all ages and works to cross generational lines. Brian showed selections from two of the films they have made.
The first was with Lydia Ehmcke who is a German and whose family were in the path of the Russian troops. She was working and had managed to get some sort of pass. Her father came home from the front and told her to go at the first opportunity before returning to the front. She and her mother and two of her younger siblings got on the last truck out of their town and made it to Danzig and she was the last person to board the last ship out of the port there. There were thousands on the docks who didn't make it out.
The ship was torpedoed but the crew kept it afloat till they reached Copenhagen on the same day the Russians took Danzig. She never saw her father or two of her brothers again. In 1997 word came from the Red Cross, who had been given access to some Soviet era files, that her father had been sent to Siberia and had died in 1946.
The four of them spent two and a half years in camps in Denmark, first in a refugee camp and then at an air force base with barracks. They were never alone, the food was poor - cabbage and bread - but she formed some friendships she keeps to this day.
The other subject was Marie Jessup who is from Britain and whose father was fighting in Europe. She was one of many children who were sent to Canada as 'guest children' to get them away from the bombing. She arrived through Pier 21 and travelled to Toronto before being placed in a foster home. Her foster father was quite conservative and she didn't get to go out much. In 1944 she went back to Britain on a merchant ship - the trip took 16 days because they were evading submarines. At that point in the war the Germans were using the V rockets - one type she called a doodlebug. One time she managed to catch the train before the one she planned to take and she arrived safely while the one behind was blown up. She spent some time in London and experienced clos calls with these rockets there as well. U
Unfortunately Brian had to cut her segment short for time reasons but if any member knows of someone with a story to tell and a willingness to tell it to some inquiring young people, please get in touch with Jamie or Brian or Judy Contin at Askennonia.