Enemies At The Front, Comrades Of The Soil
In a small cemetery in Kitchener, Ontario, old enemies rest in Canadian soil. Woodland Cemetery is the final resting place of 187 German soldiers who died while interned in Canadian prisoner of war camps during the First and Second World Wars. Buried across Canada upon their deaths, these soldiers’ remains were moved to Woodland in 1970. Far from being treated with disdain, the German graves and their monument are well tended and respected: around Remembrance Day each year, wreathes are laid in memoriam. This gravesite represents in microcosm the fascinating and complex process of how our understanding of enemies progresses from wartime to the distant past. As living soldiers, the Germans buried in Woodland Cemetery first appeared as menacing but two-dimensional caricatures. During the First and Second World Wars, these Germans represented Canadians’ greatest threat, something so existentially hostile that we waged war against them. Their manifestation in the popular conscience was simplistic – but that was the point. Wartime necessitated making the enemy truly terrifying and an “alien” German society allowed these ideas to flourish in Canada. This perception, however, almost always changed when the enemy fell into our hands, with the sudden realization that our foes were far more similar to us than we wanted to admit. They were not supernatural monsters, only men fighting on a different side. If these men’s capture made them appear more human in our eyes, their deaths further evolved this view and they were seen as mortals. They lived like us, suffered like us, and died like us. We realized they died oceans away from family and loved ones. Far from being some modern Titan, we came to actually find a sad banality in their passing. As each conflict passes into history, our view of old adversaries continues to change. While our enemies were once considered a force of evil, through time we understand their motives better (even if we cannot condone them) and often see that our foes were just as human, just as frail, and just as fallible as ourselves. With time, we move closer to the understanding that the dead already have amongst themselves: Six feet underground there is no rank, no front line, no quarrel – no war. Enemies of the past become comrades of the soil and taking heed from their experiences allow us to learn this lesson in life, before we join their ranks. ▪▪▪ Two stories from the Memory Project Archives demonstrate how veterans see their old adversaries in a new light: James Maffre: http://www.thememoryproject.com/Stories/Veteran-Profile.aspx?itemid=4517 John Colton: http://www.thememoryproject.com/Stories/Veteran-Profile.aspx?itemid=3684
