Second World War
‘I didn’t know what it was to be afraid’: WWII veterans share their most vivid memories
Last year, veterans at Remembrance Day ceremonies across the country told Maclean’s about their experiences at war
When Canada liberated a nation from tyranny
J.L. Granatstein: ‘The Dutch remember. They teach their children about the war in their schools. On Christmas Eve every year the children of Holten go to the Canadian cemetery to light a candle on each grave to make the point that freedom had—and still has—a price.’
What Mackenzie King’s diaries reveal about the day Franklin Delano Roosevelt died
Neville Thompson: Churchill and Roosevelt not only respected King as a ‘highly-skilled and dependable head of a vital country but enjoyed his company and confided frankly in him. They had no idea that he was recording it all in his diary.’
How Mackenzie King convinced Canada to go to war in 1939
Canada made an independent decision to fight the Nazis, one taken with scarcely a voice raised against it in Parliament
As Nazi symbols echo, remember who we fought on D-Day
War historian David J. Bercuson reflects on the personal sacrifices made by millions of Canadians in the fight against the Nazis and their ideology
Why Canada’s casualties were so high in Normandy
The Normandy campaign, from D-Day until late August 1944, saw almost 5,000 Canadian soldiers perish. But that offensive, launched 75 years ago, jumpstarted the liberation of Western Europe.
These mysterious wartime letters nearly ended up in the trash—until fate intervened
A big stack of wartime letters was headed for the dumpster at a Salvation Army north of Toronto. But now the touching correspondence has reached its rightful homes.
Law, not war: A Nuremberg trial prosecutor on why we need the ICC
Opinion: Ben Ferencz was 27 when he prosecuted Nazi death-squad leaders. He’s nearly 100 now—and knows we mustn’t lose faith in the rule of law
The little-known WWII works of one of Canada’s most famous artists
They hang in schools across the country, and often unnoticed: The ‘For King and Country’ scrolls by the Group of Seven artist A.J. Casson
The winner of Canada Reads says Japanese internment haunts us still
Mark Sakamoto says his grandparents’ forgiveness of the wrongs done to them in the Second World War helped him overcome the struggles in his own life
The unknown story of how 300,000 Jews were saved in WWII
In secret talks, would-be saviours duped Himmler into thinking he should stop the extermination of Jews
Vindicating ‘Ham’ Roberts, 75 years after Dieppe
Seventy-five years ago, Gen. ‘Ham’ Roberts led the doomed Dieppe raid—and lived out his days in infamy. But there’s more to the story.