Description
When the Germans surrendered in Belgium, they left behind many personal effects as they withdrew from their locations. Joseph Anatole Côté recounts how he obtained photographs belonging to German soldiers.
Joseph Anatole Côté
Mr. Côté was born in Quebec City on October 7, 1917. He studied forestry engineering at Université Laval. When war broke out, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force to become a pilot. He started his training in Trois-Rivières, then went to Trenton. He was then sent to England and began his career as an airfield controller but was soon assigned as a pilot on several missions, particularly the famous Market Garden operation and another mission over Germany which led to 80 days of exile…
Transcript
PICTURES OF THE ENEMYWe went to the place where they had their films developed. They left in a hurry and didn’t have time to claim them. So we said to the clerk, “We’ll give you a buck for the Germans’ film . . . the Germans’ photos they won’t ever claim . . .” [laughter] There were some like that . . . WHAT KIND OF PICTURESPictures of aircraft, pictures of parades, pictures of . . . Sometimes it was . . . a burial of a soldier. . . Because the German regular army, they did the honours for officers. They gave them funerals. But the SS, it was more likely to be a bullet in the head than anything else . . .