Historians have established the framework of Canada’s general political, economic, and military participation in the Second World War, but there has been little research into the ways that the national war effort affected individuals or local communities. This dissertation explores the wartime experience of ordinary Winnipeggers through their responses to recruiting, the treatment of minorities, war finance publicity, participation in voluntary community service, and the adjustments made necessary by family separation. It questions the prevailing narrative of the war as a unifying national experience, focusing on issues like civilian morale and the relationship between citizens and the state. In some ways, the depth of the patriotic consensus was remarkable in a city that was far removed from any real enemy threat. The population was highly polyethnic, with strong class divisions and a vibrant tradition of political protest. Both factors meant a greater number of potential fault lines. But the large number of ethnic groups in Winnipeg and the Left’s relative lack of political power also meant that there was no dominant minority to seriously challenge the interpretation of the war expressed by the city’s charter group. Social cohesion was enhanced in Winnipeg despite the absence of real danger for a number of reasons: the connection of ethnic communities to occupied or threatened homelands, like Poland or the United Kingdom; the effectiveness of both official and unofficial information management, such as Victory Loan publicity; and the strong identification people maintained with family and friends in the armed forces, war industries, or state institutions. The war effort affected people as individuals and as members of families and the wider community. Its impact was at times unjust and destructive yet most hardships were ultimately accepted as necessary for the war’s successful prosecution. / February 2009

Historians have established the framework of Canada’s general political, economic, and military participation in the Second World War, but there has been little research into the ways that the national war effort affected individuals or local communities. This dissertation explores the wartime experience of ordinary Winnipeggers through their responses to recruiting, the treatment of minorities, war finance publicity, participation in voluntary community service, and the adjustments made necessary by family separation. It questions the prevailing narrative of the war as a unifying national experience, focusing on issues like civilian morale and the relationship between citizens and the state. In some ways, the depth of the patriotic consensus was remarkable in a city that was far removed from any real enemy threat. The population was highly polyethnic, with strong class divisions and a vibrant tradition of political protest. Both factors meant a greater number of potential fault lines. But the large number of ethnic groups in Winnipeg and the Left’s relative lack of political power also meant that there was no dominant minority to seriously challenge the interpretation of the war expressed by the city’s charter group. Social cohesion was enhanced in Winnipeg despite the absence of real danger for a number of reasons: the connection of ethnic communities to occupied or threatened homelands, like Poland or the United Kingdom; the effectiveness of both official and unofficial information management, such as Victory Loan publicity; and the strong identification people maintained with family and friends in the armed forces, war industries, or state institutions. The war effort affected people as individuals and as members of families and the wider community. Its impact was at times unjust and destructive yet most hardships were ultimately accepted as necessary for the war’s successful prosecution.

Historians have established the framework of Canada’s general political, economic, and military participation in the Second World War, but there has been little research into the ways that the national war effort affected individuals or local communities. This dissertation explores the wartime experience of ordinary Winnipeggers through their responses to recruiting, the treatment of minorities, war finance publicity, participation in voluntary community service, and the adjustments made necessary by family separation. It questions the prevailing narrative of the war as a unifying national experience, focusing on issues like civilian morale and the relationship between citizens and the state. In some ways, the depth of the patriotic consensus was remarkable in a city that was far removed from any real enemy threat. The population was highly polyethnic, with strong class divisions and a vibrant tradition of political protest. Both factors meant a greater number of potential fault lines. But the large number of ethnic groups in Winnipeg and the Left’s relative lack of political power also meant that there was no dominant minority to seriously challenge the interpretation of the war expressed by the city’s charter group. Social cohesion was enhanced in Winnipeg despite the absence of real danger for a number of reasons: the connection of ethnic communities to occupied or threatened homelands, like Poland or the United Kingdom; the effectiveness of both official and unofficial information management, such as Victory Loan publicity; and the strong identification people maintained with family and friends in the armed forces, war industries, or state institutions. The war effort affected people as individuals and as members of families and the wider community. Its impact was at times unjust and destructive yet most hardships were ultimately accepted as necessary for the war’s successful prosecution.

No description available.

In the last decade historians have focused greater attention on the Canadian home front during the Second World War. This increased scrutiny has led to studies of not only the wars impact on the nation at large, but also on specific urban communities. A weakness in all of these urban accounts, however, is that patriotism is too often taken for granted. An examination of Saskatoon between 1939 and 1945 provides a case study for how patriotism was fostered in a community thousands of kilometers away from the battlefield. Of particular interest here were the ways in which Saskatoons collective imagination, stifled for nearly a decade by the Great Depression, nourished the citys patriotic zeal. Patriotism is considered from three main perspectives. The ways in which Saskatoon re-created at home the war over there are examined first. Instrumental to this endeavour were a deep and sympathetic interest in Englands weathering of the Nazi Blitz, a fear that the Germans might attack North America, and an idolization of the Canadian soldier, both abroad and in the citys own midst. Secondly, Saskatoons vicarious experience of the Second World War in turn energized the countless patriotic initiatives in the city. Saskatonians, from women to the smallest children, were encouraged to do their bit to contribute to the war effort on the home front. Finally, there was also a darker side to the patriotic imagination: a disturbing xenophobia dominated Saskatoon during the war years. People of German and Japanese ancestry, as well as those on the left of the political spectrum, were suspected of being fifth columnists. Using the Star-Phoenix newspaper as a mirror of the community, this thesis provides new insight into patriotism, Saskatoon, and the Second World War.

In the last decade historians have focused greater attention on the Canadian home front during the Second World War. This increased scrutiny has led to studies of not only the wars impact on the nation at large, but also on specific urban communities. A weakness in all of these urban accounts, however, is that patriotism is too often taken for granted. An examination of Saskatoon between 1939 and 1945 provides a case study for how patriotism was fostered in a community thousands of kilometers away from the battlefield. Of particular interest here were the ways in which Saskatoons collective imagination, stifled for nearly a decade by the Great Depression, nourished the citys patriotic zeal. Patriotism is considered from three main perspectives. The ways in which Saskatoon re-created at home the war over there are examined first. Instrumental to this endeavour were a deep and sympathetic interest in Englands weathering of the Nazi Blitz, a fear that the Germans might attack North America, and an idolization of the Canadian soldier, both abroad and in the citys own midst. Secondly, Saskatoons vicarious experience of the Second World War in turn energized the countless patriotic initiatives in the city. Saskatonians, from women to the smallest children, were encouraged to do their bit to contribute to the war effort on the home front. Finally, there was also a darker side to the patriotic imagination: a disturbing xenophobia dominated Saskatoon during the war years. People of German and Japanese ancestry, as well as those on the left of the political spectrum, were suspected of being fifth columnists. Using the Star-Phoenix newspaper as a mirror of the community, this thesis provides new insight into patriotism, Saskatoon, and the Second World War.

During the battles for East Prussia in the final year of the Second World War, the ruthless conduct of German troops resulted in vast material and personal damage. By focusing on the besieged ‘Festung Königsberg’ in the spring of 1945, this dissertation argues that the violence that transpired in Germany in 1945 can only be understood by devoting sustained attention to local actors and factors. By combining social history and military history approaches, the research restores agency to the German army, the Wehrmacht, as an active participant in the radicalisation of the German home front. This case study demonstrates that due to the fragmentation of Germany, the decisions and orders of Wehrmacht commanders had a disproportionately large impact at a local level. The radical nature of these decisions was the direct result of the commanders’ violent experiences during the preceding years, while the barbarised mindset of the rank-and-file encouraged the rigorous enforcement of military authority. The dissertation’s findings contribute to four themes within the historiography of the Second World War. First, it contributes to the recent debate surrounding the German Volksgemeinschaft by drawing attention to the limits of loyalty to the regime, and the actors and events that prompted this fidelity to shift. Secondly, by analysing a large number of unused archival sources, it provides the first in-depth urban history of everyday life in Königsberg during its 1945 siege. Thirdly, it challenges the conventional historiographical view in which fanatical Party officials were the main perpetrators of late-war violence by emphasising the significance of the Wehrmacht as a key actor. Even though large numbers of German troops operated in close proximity to German civilians, their conduct has hardly been considered as an explanation of the events of 1945. Lastly, this dissertation combines and transcends the different perspectives on German domestic and martial law, suggesting that the two were ever more closely intertwined as the war progressed, resulting in a shift of behavioural patterns. The focus on Königsberg and its immediate surroundings has allowed for a re-examination of late-war society, being the first to focus attention on the triadic relationship of Wehrmacht, Party, and civilian population.

No description available.

The history of the Great War has been dominated by accounts that view the War as an international conflict between nations and soldiers that contributed to the consolidation of Canadian cultural and political independence and identity. In many cases, the War has assumed a foundational—even mythic—status as integral to the building of a mature state and people. Since the 1970s, however, there has been an efflorescence of Canadian plays that have problematized traditional representations of the War. Many of these plays are set on the home front and explore the ways in which the War, in the form of disease, disaster, and intra-communal in-fighting and suspicion, invaded Canadian home space. What they suggest is that the War was not simply launched against an external enemy but that the War invaded Canadian communities and households. This dissertation examines five of these plays: Kevin Kerr’s Unity (1918), Guy Vanderhaeghe’s Dancock’s Dance, Trina Davies’ Shatter, Jean Provencher and Gilles Lachance’s Québec, Printemps 1918, and Wendy Lill’s The Fighting Days, all of which were written and published after 1970. Ultimately, it demonstrates that these plays, by relocating the War to Canadian terrain, undertake an important and radical critique; they suggest that the understanding of the War should not be restricted to overseas conflicts or Canadian national self-definition but that it should be expanded to encompass a diversity of people and experiences in domestic and international settings. At the same time, this thesis recognizes these plays as part of an emergent, bourgeoning Canadian dramatic genre, one which attests to Canadians’ continued preoccupation with the War past.

Lorsque la guerre de 1914-1918 éclate, les écoles nationales et conservatoires de musique français ne sont pas les institutions les plus désignées pour participer à l’effort de guerre. Cependant, à Paris ou à Calais, à Toulouse ou à Lille, pourtant en zone envahie, on poursuit l’enseignement de la musique. Cette étude montre comment cet enseignement français s’est mobilisé. La diversité des situations initiales fait varier les modalités de l’adaptation aux conditions de la guerre. Les enseignants et leurs élèves participent à l’édification d’une culture musicienne de guerre : il faut à la fois bannir la musique de l’ennemi et fortifier la sienne. La part prise par les écoles de musique dans les œuvres de guerre laisse voir de quelles manières on a adapté les impératifs de guerre à la situation locale. Les sacrifices consentis par la profession, qu’ils soient ceux des combattants ou ceux des personnels restés mobilisés sur le front domestique, ne trouvent pas, après l’armistice, et malgré une mobilisation collective, à être récompensés par les améliorations attendues. Néanmoins, la Grande Guerre a convaincu de l’utilité de la musique : elle forge le sentiment national, elle est aussi une arme de propagande. / When the First World War started, the French national schools and the French conservatoires of music were not the most likely institutions to participate in the war effort. Meanwhile, in Paris or in Calais, in Toulouse or in Lille (throughout occupation), the teaching of music continued. This study shows how the teaching of music in France got involved in the war effort. The diversity of the initial situations leads to many different ways of adapting to the conditions of war. Teachers and their students participated in the construction of a musical war culture: you had to banish the enemy's music whilst fortifying your own.The part played by the schools of music in the war-time works shows how the obligations of war were adapted to the local situation. The music teachers, whether they were soldiers or other mobilized personnel on the Home front, made huge conscious sacrifices that were not rewarded by the expected improvements, after the armistice and despite a collective mobilization. Nevertheless, the First World War convinced people of the utility of music as it reinforced the national pride and it was a tool for propaganda.