German-Canadian Studies

Left Behind and Forgotten: The History of German-Canadian Families and Internment During the Second World War

On 12 September 1939, an exhausted 44-year-old Mathilde Maria Schneider began to write another letter to her missing husband:

It is so horrible for me that I do not know, where you are, how you are and when you will come back. I did not get any information today of your where abouts. I am just waiting and waiting and thinking that I love you so very dearly. They must release you, they can’t keep you. We need you so badly. Life is nothing without you and everything with you. But I will not complain. I must be strong and cheerful for the sake of my children. My duty is to keep our home nice and our family happy. Do not worry about me and the children. I know it is harder for you than for us. But Fritz there will be one day when we will be together again. I pray that it will be very soon.¹

Mathilde Schneider’s letter to her husband on 12 September 1939. Thilde’s letters are the only known publicly preserved correspondence of the wife of a German-Canadian internee. (Credit: Zac Code, sourced from The University of Winnipeg Archives).

The previous day, Mathilde had spent the entire day in Winnipeg investigating her husband’s disappearance after being informed that he had been transferred to an undisclosed location. Her 42-year-old husband, Frederick Karl Schneider, had been taken to Winnipeg by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police a week earlier under the Defence of Canada Regulations for what was supposedly to be only a routine questioning. After being detained for a week at the Winnipeg Immigration Building, Frederick was placed on a train in the early morning of 11 September 1939 bound for the Kananaskis Internment Camp, located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Known to one another as Thilde and Fritz, both had been born in Germany before immigrating to Canada in 1926. Throughout the 1930s, they were prominent members of their community. Fritz’s internment in 1939 set in motion a chain of events that not only imposed significant physical, emotional, and financial hardships for the family but ultimately led to their exile from Manitoba.

The Second World War remains a delicate and complex period in the history of German-Canadians. Although this period in the historiography was once regarded as “controversial,” the passage of time has dulled many of its more volatile aspects.² During the war, approximately 847 German men were interned under the Defence of Canada Regulations. Many of those branded by the Canadian government as pro-Nazi sympathizers or potential saboteurs were, in fact, German Canadians who had established their lives in Canada long before Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. These men disappeared virtually overnight into remote internment camps, while their families were deliberately left behind and largely forgotten by the Canadian wartime government. As a result, many families experienced severe economic, physical, and emotional hardship even as they were expected to continue to comply with the Defence of Canada Regulations. In contrast, postwar government accounts have tended to portray the implementation of wartime internment policies as efficiently managed and well-organized affair.

Translation: “Names and addresses of the captured comrades, Camp Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada.” This is the only known list that documents the names of the German interned during the Second World War. The author is unknown, but it was compiled at Kananaskis. (Credit: Zac Code, sourced from LAC)

If we fast forward through some of the historiography to the 1990s, German-Canadian historian Lothar Zimmermann sought to shift German-Canadian historiography away from an emphasis on the governmental structures behind internment and toward the individuals directly affected by it. Zimmermann argued for greater attention to the “human element” and concluded his 1993 article by expressing hope “that the stories of other former internees will be preserved and this aspect of German-Canadian and immigrant history secured. Time is running out.”³ Unfortunately, time did run out, and many of those affected by Canada’s wartime internment policies passed away without the opportunity to record or share their experiences. My recently completed master’s thesis seeks to recover some of those overlooked experiences by examining the lives of internees and their families through the surviving archival record.⁴

This thesis presents three case studies of Winnipeg German-Canadian families affected by internment policies under the Defence of Canada Regulations (DOCR) during the Second World War. The experiences of the Schneider, Martin, and Holtmann families demonstrate that internment extended well beyond the confinement of the husband to shape the lives of the entire family. The primary aim of this research is to identify and interpret the narratives of the wives and children of German-Canadian internees, whose experiences have thus far been neglected in the historiography. The central question that guided this research was: What were the experiences of German-Canadian wives and children while their husbands were confined to remote internment camps? Drawing on previously unexamined letter collections and the business correspondence from the Office of the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of how internment policies shaped the lives of internee family members beyond the physical confines of the camps. It also provides a clear account of how these policies were developed and introduces the government offices responsible for their implementation. At its core, this thesis defines the experiences of individuals who were not confined within physical camps, but whose lives were nevertheless profoundly shaped by the same policies, a condition conceptualized here as domestic internment. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that internment policies directed at able-bodied men had significant consequences for their families, particularly for wives. Overall, it contributes a more comprehensive account of the experiences of German-Canadian families during the Second World War.

Although my thesis only scratches the surface of German-Canadians narratives during the Second World War, it presents several overlooked and crucial perspectives. Many more German-Canadian stories remain dormant in archival collections, particularly in provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. It is my hope that continued research in the records of the Office of the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property will recover additional experiences of German Canadians and others who were affected by the internment policies of Canada’s wartime government.

Zac Code is a recent graduate of the Joint Master’s Program at the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg. His master’s thesis, “Left behind and forgotten: the history of German-Canadian families and internment during the Second World War,” has been graciously awarded the W. L. Morton Gold Medal and Prize in History, which honours outstanding achievement in historical research and thesis distinction. He will be pursuing a PhD that explores Canada’s wartime economic policies and continued work on the Office of the Custodian of Enemy Alien Property. Previous work includes his honours thesis that examined the historiography of Heinrich Himmler and “Interned ‘in the Interest of Public Safety.’” Zac’s research interests lie within a variety of time periods, but his primarily focus is on Canada and Germany during 20th century. Feel free to contact him with inquiries related to the Second World War and Internment in Canada: codez@myumanitoba.ca

Thilde Schneider to Fritz Schneider, 12 September 1939, File 13, Box 1, CA UWA 23.20, Schneider/Snyder Family Sous-Fonds. Little Britain Collection, University of Winnipeg Archives, Winnipeg, Manitoba. ↩︎
Angelika Sauer, ed., “Research Projects,” German-Canadian Studies Newsletter 1, No.2, (September 1996), 6. https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/german-canadian/docs/newsletters/newsletter-1.2.pdf ↩︎
Lothar Zimmermann, ed., German-Canadian studies in the nineties, results & projects: Symposium 1992: Achtes Symposium Deutschkanadische Studien…, 28. May, 1992, Vol. 8, (Toronto: German-Canadian Historical Association, 1993), 27. ↩︎
[1] Zachariah Code, “Left Behind and Forgotten: The History of German-Canadian Families and Internment During the Second World War,” Master’s thesis, The University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg, 2026. https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/items/6abdbec7-1d48-4129-8397-0a86e126f0ed ↩︎

The Arthur and Dan Propp Fonds is Now Open to the Public

German-Canadian Studies is excited to announce that the Arthur and Dan Propp Fonds (26.05) has been fully organized, described, and made accessible to the public! This collection was donated to the German-Canadian Archives at the University of Winnipeg Archives by Dan Propp in April 2026. We are deeply grateful for his generous donation.

The fonds documents the history of a German-Jewish family originally from East Prussia who immigrated to Canada. It’s a rich and personal record that adds an important thread to our understanding of immigration journeys, family stories, and Jewish identity. Turning a fonds from “boxes of papers” into a collection ready for researchers takes significant work: arranging materials, writing descriptions, and creating a finding aid that helps researchers navigate the collection.

*From left to right: Arthur, Elle, and Henry in the garden in Gibsons, B.C., Canada.*
*Photograph by Dan Propp 1960’s*

Arthur Propp and Dan Propp were father and son. Arthur was born in 1890 in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia), the principal city of East Prussia. After completing his schooling, he apprenticed at a woodworking mill and later became a lumber merchant. He was arrested by the Nazis after Kristallnacht. Following his imprisonment, he managed to escape from Berlin by air in 1939 and sailed to Bermuda in 1940, eventually settling in Bolivia. His first wife, Else Laaser, was murdered in Auschwitz in 1943. In a new country, Arthur rebuilt his life and married Elsa Kopetski. Their son, Dan Propp, was born in 1944. After six years, the Propp family immigrated to Gibsons, British Columbia, Canada. Arthur passed away on December 31, 1965, at St. Mary’s Hospital in B.C. after battling skin cancer. Later in life, he wrote numerous manuscripts in German describing his experiences and the history he witnessed.

*Postcard photograph by Dan Propp, likely taken in Grade 11.*

In 1950, Dan Propp come to Canada with his parents. He attended photography school in Los Angeles during the 1960s and worked as a photographer in Canada. He later dedicated 23 years to teaching in the Surrey school system. In 1972, he married Rita Barrel, a native of Pennsylvania. They had two children, Adam and Jennifer.

*Correspondence written in 1954 by Arthur Propp*

The Arthur and Dan Propp Fonds contains a variety of materials, including correspondence, eight photographs, three musical CDs, financial records, manuscripts, and official certificates. In addition to four self-published books, Dan preserved his father’s legacy by sharing his German-language memoirs in Von Königsberg nach Kanada (2017), followed by its English translation, Where the Straight Path Leads. The financial papers consist of letters, financial records, and restitution documents concerning Propp’s property compensation proceedings following persecution under the Nazi regime.

Whether you are tracing Jewish family history, studying German-Canadian heritage, or simply curious about the stories East Prussian immigrants carried with them to Canada, the Propp Fonds has much to offer. Visit the MAIN website to explore the finding aid, or contact GCS Project Assistant Juan Li at ju.li@uwinnipeg.ca to arrange a visit and view the physical materials in person!

-Juan Li, The University of Winnipeg

New Publication on History of German Sabotage in Canada

Dr. Grant W. Grams, Historian at Athabasca University. (Photo provided by G. Grams)

Dr. Grant W. Grams is a historian and educator specializing in German history, European migration, and Canadian social history, with particular emphasis on developments in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Dr. Grams joined Athabasca University in 2009, where he continues to serve as a historian and academic expert within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

While researching German sabotage in Canada during the First World War (WWI), I encountered material that pointed toward similar activity during the Second World War (WWII), with the name Wolfgang Alexander Hauffe appearing repeatedly. After completing the WWI article in 2005, I published a second article in 2012 examining German sabotage activity in Canada during WW II. The 2026 article is a direct follow‑up to that 2012 study, which appeared in the Journal of Military and Strategic Studies.

Seabiscuit, a truck converted into an armoured car by C.M. & S. during WW II (Image: Cat. No. 0335. Photo courtesy of the Trail Historical Society)

The 2012 article examined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) internal evaluations, intelligence summaries, and threat assessments. These confidential reports circulated within government and informed decisions regarding surveillance, arrests, internment, and counter‑sabotage measures. Although the RCMP publicly denied that sabotage had occurred, other publications indicate several subversive actions had occurred. The 2012 article argued that internal enemies did exist—the threat was real, though limited. One notable example was the 1939 plot in Trail, British Columbia, which received brief national press attention but was largely forgotten because the attempt ultimately failed. Despite scholarly interest in the RCMP’s wartime role, subversive activities and national security threats including attempted sabotage have largely disappeared from Canadian historical memory.

Trail, Cominco. Electrical Transport System. 1946 (Image **Item I-28337** courtesy of the BC Archives)

The 2026 article examines the case of Wolfgang Alexander Hauffe and three accomplices, who intended to damage facilities belonging to the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company (CMSC) in December 1939. At the time, CMSC was producing metals essential to the Allied war effort and later became involved in the production of heavy water for the Manhattan Project. Additional material related to this incident is held in the British Columbia Archives in Victoria, which may shed further light on the plot and its broader implications. I encourage other scholars to continue this line of investigation, particularly through the archival materials in Victoria, which may yield further insight.

-Grant W. Grams, Athabasca University

Roots to Paper: My thesis on German-Canadian newcomers to Ontario

Some say a measure of success is creating something no one else did. History allows us to do this beautifully. It allowed me to create a thesis that stemmed from my Canadian roots and included my German branches. After five years of hard work, moments where I thought I couldn’t do it, and monumental successes, my comparative thesis on German-Canadian newcomers to northern and southern Ontario after the Second World War is now complete.

Antje and her roommate Doris Ojeebah on the balcony at Queen Mary Hospital for Children (Photo courtesy of Doris Ojeebah and Antje, provided by C. Clingen)

After such a feat – the research, the interviews, the writing, and the editing – it all comes to a sudden halt when it’s over. It’s like coping from a breakup from a healthy relationship, but it’s just time to move on and grow. It’s expected yet shocking at the same time, but you are eager for the next journey.

As I reminisce, I realize I learned more than just the history of German immigrants to Ontario postwar. Interviewing Germans who had recreated their ethnic identities in Canada was also a source of inspiration for my own life and search for purpose. German-Canadians to northern and southern Ontario did what felt right for them as individuals in terms of integrating.

Horst, Erika, and Rudiger Malig at Gros Cap, 1959. (Photo courtesy of Chris Malig, provided by C. Clingen)

They retained important traditions from their German culture while adding aspects of Canadian culture. Often, traditional German Christmases and German clubs were most prevalent for interviewees. Most celebrated on 24 December and attended dances and parties at their local club. While the interviewees settled into Canadian society, they were also able to keep aspects of their identities, which ultimately aided in their acculturation.

I think we can all learn something from these German immigrants. While some of us may linger in unhappiness and search for identity, German-Canadians teach us that identities come in many combinations and can all see success. German-Canadians went with the flow in terms of their new ethnic identities, and in doing so, they remind us to do what feels right and celebrate your culture, as it is deeply rooted in your identity and always will be.

Chelsea Clingen, recent PhD graduate, Laurentian University (Photo courtesy of C. Clingen)

Chelsea Clingen is a recent PhD graduate from Laurentian University. During the completion of her degree in Human Studies & Interdisciplinarity, her focus was combining methodologies from history, sociology, and acculturation psychology to document and analyze the experiences of German-Canadian immigrants to northern and southern Ontario after the Second World War. Now, she is a STEM Presenter with Science North and continues her research on German-Canadian experiences in Canada. Chelsea is also an avid ringette coach and player, and has her own small business creating custom woodburned art (Crafts By ChelsC).

The Saskatchewan German Council (SGC) – Keeping German Culture Alive in Saskatchewan

From language and food to music, art, and community traditions, German culture remains an important part of Saskatchewan’s identity. With roughly one in three Saskatchewan residents tracing at least part of their ancestry to German roots, German heritage continues to influence communities across the province. The Saskatchewan German Council (SGC) helps keep these traditions alive by creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to learn about, experience, and celebrate German culture.

*Historian Dr. Bill Waiser at the Park Prisoners Book Reading & Talk in Saskatoon.*
*Photograph by Thomas Kolbach 2025.*

Founded in 1984, the SGC is a registered, volunteer-based, non-profit umbrella organization representing nearly 30 member groups across the province. Its mission is to promote German language, customs, traditions, culture, and interests while creating connections within the German-Canadian community and beyond.

The SGC recognizes that cultural heritage is about more than preserving traditions – it is about building bridges between generations and communities. Saskatchewan’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths, and German culture contributes an important chapter to that shared story. Through language, music, dance, food, history, and community engagement, the SGC helps ensure that German heritage remains relevant and accessible in modern Saskatchewan.

Rather than operating as a single cultural organization, the SGC serves as a connector and supporter of a diverse network of member groups. These include cultural associations, German and Austrian dance groups, music ensembles, language schools, historical societies, and culinary groups active in communities throughout Saskatchewan. By providing funding opportunities, networking, promotional support, and educational resources, the Council helps strengthen the capacity of these organizations and expand their reach.

*Celebrating Canadian Multiculturalism Day 2025 with a Family Fun Day in Saskatoon. Left to right: Neil Stubbs, Kandis Capulet, and Elmer Tootoosis.*
*Photograph by Gabriele Waidelich-Harrison 2025.*

One of the SGC’s most important roles is bringing people together. Through initiatives such as the annual Treffpunkt and Round Table gatherings, member organizations can share ideas, learn from one another, and build lasting relationships. The Council also recognizes the many volunteers who make cultural programming possible through its annual Special Volunteer Award Ceremony, celebrating the dedication and commitment of individuals who help German culture flourish in Saskatchewan.

*Culture in the Kitchen event “Apple Strudel & Author Spotlight” in Saskatoon.*
*Photograph by Gabriele Waidelich-Harrison 2025.*

Beyond supporting member organizations, the SGC offers a wide variety of programs and events open to everyone. Public lecture talks, German-English author readings, art tours and art-making activities, and the popular Culture in the Kitchen multicultural cooking series provide opportunities for people of all backgrounds to explore German culture. Families can enjoy events such as Family Fun Day, while online initiatives, including the Advent Calendar, Immigration Story Collection, and the German Culture Alive podcast series, make cultural experiences accessible across the province.

Collaboration is also central to the SGC’s work. By partnering with other cultural and community organizations, the Council helps promote inclusion, foster intercultural understanding, and contribute to Saskatchewan’s vibrant multicultural society.

The SGC looks to the future with a clear vision: a Saskatchewan where German culture is vibrant, visible, and thriving for generations to come. Whether you have German roots or are simply curious to learn more, the SGC welcomes you to explore, participate, and celebrate.

Ready to experience German culture for yourself? Visit the Saskatchewan German Council online, follow its social media channels, and join an upcoming event to see how German heritage continues to thrive on the Prairies.

Gabriele Waidelich-Harrison (Executive Director)–Saskatchewan German Council Inc.

Meeting Resi Dux: Preserving a Life Story Through Archives

Working with the German-Canadian Studies (GCS) Archives Project has given me the chance to meet members of German-Canadian community and hear their personal stories. One of them is Theresia “Resi” Dux, who has been actively involved with the German Society of Winnipeg (GSW) for sixty-four years. She has participated in numerous major German cultural activities and programs over several decades. In October 2025, She generously donated part of her personal collection to the German-Canadian Archives at the University of Winnipeg Archives.

I am pleased to share that the Resi Dux Fonds has now been completed and is available to the public through Manitoba Archival Information Network (MAIN) online, a searchable digital database that helps users discover and explore archival materials across Manitoba’s archival institutions. Building on this work, GCS Program Assistant Angela Carlson and I had the privilege of interviewing Resi in June. Through the two-hour conversation, we gained a deep appreciation for her life and her lasting contributions to the GSW.

At the OHC interview, clockwise from top left: Juan, Angela, Luichi (Resi’s partner) and Resi.
Photograph by Kent Davies 2026.

Resi Dux is a singer and yodeler known for her long-standing involvement in traditional German music and performance. Born in 1933 in a German religious ethnic enclave in Romania, she was the youngest in her family, with four sisters and two brothers. In 1939, her family relocated to Poland, and after five years, they fled by train to Germany, eventually settling in Stuttgart.

By 1958, Resi and her family had immigrated to Winnipeg. Chosen as Centennial Queen for Winnipeg’s Wine Festival in 1967, she made her first television appearance. Two years later, she organized Winnipeg’s first beer garden on the Red River and began a successful twelve-year engagement performing at the Brauhaus, a Bavarian-style pub. In 1978, Resi debuted at Oktoberfest at the Convention Centre. She also showed her talent at the Old Heidelberg Castle in Florida and at a Chicago nightclub. Beyond taking the stage, she was extensively involved in organizational work and leadership within the GSW until 2023.

The Resi Dux Fonds consists of 2 vinyl LPs, newspapers, 32 letters and postcards, 761 photographs (prints and negatives), publications, manuscripts, as well as a range of administrative, financial, and operational records. Prior to their donation, these materials were retained in Resi’s home. The fonds is divided into three series: Independent Performance Work, Personal, and GSW. It highlights her dual role as both a popular stage performer and a dedicated cultural organizer, underscoring her enduring commitment and outstanding service to the German-Canadian community.

One collection especially caught my attention–a photo album titled “Stage, Folklorama 1995 First year, Spring Play, Mardi Gras 25, Western 1995”. Resi is pictured at German festival events wearing various performance costumes, including princess outfits, evening gowns, and traditional folk attire. The Album documents stage performances and community celebrations, capturing the energy and enthusiasm of German-Canadian cultural life.

Meeting Resi Dux reminded us that history is not only found in books or official records, but also in people’s homes, workplaces, handwritten notes, voices, traditional gatherings, community building, and, most importantly, the stories people are willing to share.

Through the German-Canadian Archives, these stories will continue to live on and inspire future generations. Would you like to learn more about the Resi Dux Fonds or other collections in the German-Canadian Archive? Visit the MAIN website or contact GCS Juan Li at ju.li@uwinnipeg.ca!

-Juan Li, The University of Winnipeg

Oral History Handbooks – Recent Publications for Your Collection

GCS is marking the recent release of three oral history handbooks, one of which was co-edited by its chair, Alexander Freund. These handbooks will help acquaint new and experienced oral historians alike with the latest trends and best practices in the field.

Handbook in Global Oral History, eds. Mark Cave and Selma Leydesdorff. Brill Publishing. 2026.

“The Handbook of Global Oral History inspires the reader to be more open in their conception of what oral history is and how it is applied within a variety of disciplines to unlock meaning in human experience. The book brings together scholars from around the world in the areas ranging from memory studies, Indigenous history and journalism to anthropology, trauma, and archival studies. Their essays provide fresh theoretical insights to the field of oral history, and broaden current notions of how oral history fieldwork can be applied and how archived interviews can be interpreted.”¹

This handbook features a chapter co-written by Alexander Freund, and former GCS staff members Sofia Bach and Claudia Dueck. Entitled “Collaborative Conundrum: Opportunities and Challenges of Joint Interpretation of Archived Oral Histories,” the chapter explores whether a collaborative approach to “secondary analysis” of archived oral history is a useful strategy for oral historians.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Oral History, eds. Alexander Freund, Erin Jessee and Alistair Thomson. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2026.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Oral History cover

“The Bloomsbury Handbook of Oral History is a comprehensive examination of oral history which addresses a wide range of practitioners, from beginning students to graduate students and established scholars, community and freelance practitioners in the field, and those from other fields and disciplines interested in oral history. The purpose of the book is to provide a broad range of readers with: An advanced introduction into and overview of the field; Cutting-edge reflections on core themes in the field; and Global comparative perspectives on oral history theory and practice.”²

Alongside the introduction and epilogue written by Alexander Freund and co-editors Erin Jessee and Alistair Thomson, Freund also wrote, “Monitoring the Self: Oral History in an Age of Autobiography and Surveillance.” This chapter considers how the construction of the self in oral history is influenced by internal and external processes also present in autobiography and surveillance.

Handbuch Oral History, eds. Linde Apel and Stefan Müller. Brill Publishing. 2026.

“What is Oral History? How and why do you conduct interviews? How do you deal with the memories of those who witnessed the past in a historically nuanced way? This book introduces students and interested parties at memory institutions to key terms, projects and institutions – and provides foundational knowledge for navigating oral sources, from interview preparation to archiving. It contains practical instructions, outlines methodological and ethical research debates, and delivers current information about oral history practices in other countries. ³ [Translated by Angela Carlson, from the original German]

This German-language publication provides insight into the practice of oral history in Germany. It touches on the history of oral history itself, and covers other important aspects, like methodology and archiving. Readers can also find out more about Oral History and Photography from Freund’s brief entry on the subject.

Whether you are an aspiring or expert oral historian, or just have a keen interest in learning more about the subject, these handbooks are well worth the read!

-Angela Carlson, The University of Winnipeg

“What They Can Teach Us” showcased at 11th China International Exhibition of Oral History

In 2023, the Chair in German-Canadian Studies released its web-based oral history resource, “What They Can Teach Us.” The site features unedited audio and trilingual transcript excerpts from four interviews with German women who came to Canada in the 1950s. Already, its impact is being noted and celebrated across the globe!

“What They Can Teach Us” poster at 11^th China International Exhibition of Oral History. Photo provided by the organizing committee.

The materials from “What They Can Teach Us” were showcased at the 11^th China International Exhibition of Oral History in November of 2025, alongside more than 300 other oral history projects from around the world. A poster promoting the project was included in the main exhibit and also featured on the conference website and other channels by the organizing committee.

Thank you to the curators of this exhibition for promoting “What They Can Teach Us” and for carrying the stories of Lisa, Alma, Barbara and Anneliese to new shores!

–Angela Carlson, The University of Winnipeg

Everyday Diplomacy: Migration, Memory, and Family in German-Canadian History

On June 5–6, 2026, I participated in the symposium 75 Years Canada-Germany Diplomatic Relations at the University of Ottawa. The event brought together diplomats, historians, policy experts, scholars, and practitioners to reflect on the past, present, and future of Canada-Germany relations.

Left to right: Habib Massoud (Global Affairs Canada), Prof. Manuel Meune and Prof. Alexander Freund.
Photo by Myka Burke, German Embassy Ottawa 2026

I was part of the opening panel on the “History of Canada-Germany Relations.” My presentation was titled “Everyday Diplomacy: Migration, Memory, and Family in German-Canadian History.”

The phrase “everyday diplomacy” was my way of suggesting a different focus. Anniversaries of diplomatic relations naturally draw attention to embassies, treaties, trade, security, official visits, and state representatives. All of that matters. But German-Canadian relations have mostly been made in less formal places: in homes, churches, workplaces, schools, ethnic associations, neighbourhoods, and family talk around the kitchen table. Migrants’ everyday diplomacy required daily negotiations over language, belonging, memory, silence, identity, and intergenerational change.

My talk focused especially on German migration to Canada after 1945. Many postwar German immigrants came looking for work, stability, family reunification, and a new beginning. They brought with them memories of war, bombing, flight, loss, defeat, displacement, and, in many cases, difficult silences about the Nazi past and the Holocaust.

Those memories did not simply disappear in Canada. They were reshaped here, sometimes quite emotionally, in encounters with Canadian veterans, Jewish refugees and survivors, immigrants from formerly occupied countries, and a Canadian society that had experienced the war as a member of the Allies.

This is why oral history and personal archives matter so much to my work. Official records can tell us a great deal about policies, institutions, and diplomatic decisions. They are much less able to show how people made homes, raised children, explained themselves, avoided certain subjects, preserved family stories, or passed on silences. Interviews, letters, photographs, memoirs, and family papers allow us to see these more intimate histories.

The presentation also gave me the opportunity to speak about the public work of the Chair in German-Canadian Studies, including the German-Canadian Archives at the University of Winnipeg. Recent projects, including our work on German immigrant fathers and their Canadian-born sons, have made clear to me once again that migration history is also family history. Children inherit not only language, traditions, and documents. They also inherit expectations, emotional habits, memories, burdens, and unresolved questions.

My contribution to the symposium was therefore an invitation to place migrant lives alongside official diplomatic histories. Seventy-five years of Canada-Germany relations are not only a history of governments. They are also a history of everyday diplomacy: personal encounters, community-building, memory work, family stories, and intergenerational negotiation.

-Alexander Freund, The University of Winnipeg

AI and Transcription Work

This post is an English translation of a blogpost originally published in German. Readers can access the German version here.

Lea Friesen Giessbrecht, Project Assistant at the Department of German-Canadian Studies at the University of Winnipeg

Careful, human listening and review of each interview is essential in order to identify and correct errors in AI-generated transcripts.
Photo by Lea Friesen Giessbrecht 2026.

The article “Transcription in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” by Tobias Kilgus and Peter Kompiel examines the role of artificial intelligence in the field of oral history. This topic is of great importance to my work, as I use AI not only for transcription but also for translation, writing summaries, timestamping, and indexing the interviews. Artificial intelligence has therefore become not just a tool I use occasionally, but an integral part of my workflow, saving me not just hours but weeks of work.

A useful starting point for reflections on AI in oral history is the “transcription bottleneck” described in the article. While interviews can be recorded quickly and in large quantities, their manual transcription remains time-consuming and resource-intensive. AI tools such as TurboScribe and Whisper significantly reduce this effort by generating transcripts within seconds that would take many hours to produce manually. This shifts the focus of the work from creating the transcripts to proofreading them. In my experience, this shift is largely beneficial, as revising an existing transcript requires significantly less time than creating a new one from scratch.

In addition to increasing efficiency, AI contributes to greater consistency in terminology, phrasing, and structure, particularly for tasks such as summarization and indexing. This consistency is especially valuable for larger projects. At the same time, the extent of these benefits depends on the quality of the initial output. I have found that AI models like ChatGPT do not always perform with the same level of reliability. Often, ChatGPT generates an accurate interview index after a single prompt, but on other days it ignores specific instructions and produces incoherent results. This can slow down the process, yet the overall time saved remains significant. As for transcription: if a transcript contains many errors, extensive corrections are necessary. However, such errors usually result from poor audio quality or unclear speech, which is also difficult for human transcription. Here, human judgment is important to decide when the use of AI makes sense and when it does not.

These limitations of AI become particularly apparent when interviews contain frequent code-switching or non-standard language. As the article notes, automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems such as Whisper and TurboScribe tend to standardize speech by smoothing out dialects, correcting grammatical irregularities, and omitting nonverbal utterances and filler words (in my experience, however, TurboScribe retains all filler words). While this improves readability, it can obscure linguistic features that might be important for oral history. This problem is particularly relevant in the context of the “New Beginnings After the Collapse” interviews, the project I am currently working on, in which speakers frequently use dialects or switch between German, English, and other languages. This often results in hybrid or non-standard word forms that are not recorded in dictionaries. This is important not only for transcription but also for translation, as the intended meaning must be preserved. One example (among many) is the use of the English word “gift” by an interviewee within a German sentence. While a bilingual listener understands the meaning from the context, an ASR system will likely misinterpret the term as the German Gift, meaning “poison”. Such cases clearly demonstrate the limitations of systems that have been trained primarily on standardized language data and therefore have only limited ability to recognize code switching.

This leads to a central question of the article, namely, what constitutes an “accurate” transcription. In practice, accuracy is not a clear-cut category but depends on the purpose of the transcription. Since transcripts usually serve as a supplement to the audio recording, it is often not necessary to record every phonetic detail. Clearly recognizable dialect words such as “gell” or “Semmel” have cultural significance and should be retained. Cases where the dialect is very similar to the standard language—such as when a South German speaker says “des” instead of “das” or a North German speaker says “jegangen” instead of “gegangen”—are more difficult to assess. A strictly phonetic transcription can make the text harder to read here without offering much added value. A selective approach therefore seems sensible: dialect should be retained when it is meaningful and adapted when it unnecessarily impairs readability. These decisions require critical thinking and human judgment that AI cannot replace.

As mentioned in the article, the difficulties ASR systems face with non-standard forms likely reflect the limitations of their training data. If this data consists mainly of standardized language, the AI may only be able to recognize few non-standard forms. Manually corrected transcripts could serve as valuable training material here, especially if they contain linguistic diversity. This could improve the systems’ performance in the long term while also helping to highlight linguistic diversity. At the same time, however, ethical and legal questions arise, as interviewees generally do not explicitly consent to their data being used for training AI systems. This can be problematic, particularly with regard to data protection and transparency. The question of responsibility—whether it lies with developers or users—also remains open. These uncertainties are also evident in practical decisions regarding data use. At the Chair of German-Canadian Studies, for example, we have decided not to release our input data for training ChatGPT. At the same time, such material would be particularly helpful for improving AI systems. This illustrates the tension between data protection and technological progress.

Potential technical solutions further complicate the situation. Another type of AI infrastructure is local AI, where the AI model runs directly on one’s own device or server rather than on a company’s cloud-based infrastructure. Although local AI systems such as Jan.ai can offer advantages in terms of data protection, since all inputs are processed locally, they are often difficult to implement in practice. My attempt to use a local AI solution (Jan.ai) failed due to my laptop’s limited processing power. Hardware limitations pose a major hurdle here. Anonymization is a partial alternative—for example, by removing names and personal data—but it does not work in all cases. While this is possible for summaries and translations, it is significantly more difficult to implement for transcription, as the data cannot be easily removed from the audio file. There is therefore still a need for research and practical solutions.

In conclusion, AI is a very helpful tool that does not replace transcription work but fundamentally changes it. It accelerates many processes and ensures greater consistency, but it still requires careful human oversight. Human review will remain necessary in the future as well, since oral history requires not only technical accuracy but also an understanding of context and cultural sensitivity. At the same time, ethical and data protection issues remain unresolved and require further investigation. Finally, it is important to emphasize that the work of oral history must absolutely remain human. The line between human work and AI work must not become so blurred that this deeply human discipline ends up being distorted through the eyes of a machine.

–Lea Friesen Giessbrecht, University of Winnipeg

Kilgus, T., & Kompiel, P. (2025). Das Transkript im Zeitalter der Künstlichen Intelligenz: Automatische Spracherkennung in der Oral History. BIOS, 38(1–2). https://doi.org/10.3224/bios.v38i1-2.0.