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Wilhelm Rahn was a 19-year-old German naval ensign when his U-boat was torpedoed by a British submarine off the coast of Corsica in 1943. Plucked from the water by the submarine's helmsman, he ended up in a POW camp in the Canadian backwoods, where he remained for the rest of the war.

His memoirs, written years later, describe life in Camp 33 near Petawawa, Ontario — including a failed escape attempt in which he posed as a wandering lumberjack — and show how he eventually disavowed the Nazi ideology.

In this episode of our Stories behind the History podcast, Rahn's grandson Sebastian Koester and historical researcher Bernard Wood discuss Rahn’s wartime experiences and what they reveal about life in a Second World War Canadian POW camp.

Read the transcript

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