James Bacque was born and educated at Upper Canada College and Trinity College in Toronto. He has worked in literature and history since he published his first novel The Lonely Ones, in 1969. Other Losses and Crimes and Mercies, both accounts of the astonishing history of the Allied massacres in postwar Germany, have been sold world-wide. His work has been the subject of a book, an academic conference, and many articles and TV documentaries in Canada, the UK, the USA, France and Germany. Bacque has won several literary prizes and awards, including the Bismarck Medal. His new title, Spirit Builders, chronicles the work of Frontiers Foundation in Canada.
In the first hour, James describes the testimonies he uncovered while researching Other Losses: an Investigation into the Mass Deaths of German Prisoners at the Hands of the Americans and the French after World War Two, a book that caused an international scandal when it was first published in 1989. James gives an overview of the largely suppressed stories of the horrific fates suffered by around 11 million German military men and their families who were taken as prisoners by the Allied Forces. We discuss the issue of soldiers being classified as “disarmed enemy forces” that prevented proper inspections of the work camps by the Red Cross and a resulting cover-up of the famine, exposure to harsh elements, and death that occurred. James explains how the Morgenthau Plan was signed off by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill in a plan of vengeance that destroyed occupied German industry and left the country starving and penniless. As these unthinkable events were unfolding, the suppression of truth on threats of worth and livelihood succeeded in sweeping history under the rug – a masquerade that continues to this day. We consider how falsehoods based in “The Good War” have created an unshakable demonization of Germany, and James talks about the overwhelming support and recognition, as well as the stubborn rejection and ridicule, he has received for dismantling this deceitful narrative.
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