The Cold War

 Each time Canadian veterans of the Second World War have returned to the Netherlands, they have been welcomed with love by the Dutch as heroes. Now there are so few of them left.

The end of the war in Europe was euphoric for those who served and those at home.

Demobilization and the return home took a year or more for some, and required programs by the government to get those who served to adjust back to civilian life.

There were new challenges for the country, including protecting the vastness of the Canadian north.

And new tensions were brewing- the Cold War, a half century of simmering hostilities and proxy wars.

One of the causes of the Cold War was here in Ottawa, where Soviet clerk Igor Gouzenko uncovered evidence at the embassy that the Soviets were spying on their western allies. He and his family went into protective custody and began a new life in Canada when he defected, and whenever he would appear in public, he was always masked.

He turned to writing, and his books are displayed here.

The Cold War would break out into a hot war on the Korean Peninsula. Canadians would be part of the Korean War.

New Conflicts

 The enduring friendship between Canada and the Netherlands, drawn out of the liberation of the country at the end of the Second World War, is one of the most positive things to have come from that war. In the decades that followed, Canadian veterans have been welcomed back in the Netherlands as heroes.

During the War, Canada had provided refuge for the crown princess Juliana and her daughters, and one of them was born here in Ottawa. Afterwards, Dutch war brides and Dutch immigrants came to Canada and established new lives. The Tulip Festival itself is a legacy of the war and a symbol of the bonds of two countries.

After years of war, V-E Day was momentous.

We step into the next gallery, which examines the Cold War and beyond. 

One of the trigger points of the Cold War happened here in Ottawa. Igor Gouzenko, a clerk at the Soviet embassy, defected with his family, with evidence that the Soviets were spying on their western allies even before the Second World War had ended.

The family would live their lives in Canada under protection, and whenever Gouzenko would appear in public, he was masked. Some of his time would be spent writing- first his memoirs, and then a novel that became acclaimed.

A sample of the documents he provided to Canadian authorities. The Gouzenko Affair would be instrumental in setting off the Cold War.

And there were times when the Cold War went hot- such as early on, with war waged on the Korean peninsula. Canadians would see action in the Korean War.

A New Conflict

 The end of the war, with the strong bonds that formed between the Canadians and the Dutch, would have a generational effect, with many of the Dutch immigrating to Canada after the war.

The end of the war in Europe was a time of jubilation for the Allies.

But there was more yet to be done. Canada had put much of its emphasis in the European theatre, but had been involved in the Pacific theatre as well throughout the war.

The surrender of Japan came down to the use of two atomic bombs by the United States to settle the matter.

A piece of a tile from Hiroshima is a chilling but effective artifact.

And what would come after the victory in the Second World War?

The Cold War.

One of the incidents that started it was the Gouzenko Affair. Igor Gouzenko was a Soviet clerk at the embassy here in Ottawa, who stole documents proving the Soviets were spying on their western allies and brought them to the attention of the Canadian authorities. The small, nondescript apartment building where he and his family had been living at the time is one I pass nearly every day, with plaques in the park across the street explaining its significance in history. Gouzenko would live out his life under protection, writing books, and when he appeared in public, he would always be masked.

Odds And Ends

 I have some odds and ends from various occasions in the last few weeks. In the second half of December I went out to Nepean on errands. This sculpture caught my eye, outside the entrance of a building that serves as headquarters for Scouts Canada.

On another December evening I took this shot of Abbotsford House in the Glebe. Originally a 19th century farmhouse, today it is a senior's centre, with a retirement home to one side and a nursing home to the other.

Late in December I went out to Orleans, the furthest east of the city's urban areas, and once a city in its own right before amalgamation. St. Joseph d'Orleans is a Catholic parish church.

And on another late December day downtown, I photographed this, which some of you may remember from its previous location. 12 Points In A Classical Balance is a 1982 sculpture by Chung Hung of British Columbia. This large sculpture resided for many years in the Garden of the Provinces and Territories, which lies below its current location in parkland that has a view towards the Ottawa River. It was moved up here a couple of years back as part of a measure to build a new memorial down in the Garden.

My last photograph taken in 2021. I was at Lansdowne Park on a snowy evening and wrote this in the snow on a retaining wall by the stadium.

An early January day was a snowy one when I took this photograph of the Supreme Court.

And across the street from the Court is St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

During my series on the War Museum I made mention of the Gouzenko Affair and how it was one of the triggers of the Cold War. The defection of cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko from the Soviet embassy here with proof that the Soviets were spying on their Western allies is commemorated in Dundonald Park in Centretown, where two plaques stand across from the building where he lived at the time with his wife and first child. I had to brush the snow off the first of them when I took these two shots in late January.