Personally: Toy Soldier
As a child, Alex Kurzem faced a choice: be killed or join the killers.
In the midst of the Second World War, he was separated from his family and taken in by a group of soldiers as one of their own. He was made a member of Hitler’s army – a toy soldier with his own rifle and miniature SS uniform.
But what the soldiers didn’t know and what no one would know for decades: he was a Jewish boy masquerading as a Nazi to save his life.
Alex lives with this false identity for so long, he no longer remembers who he was before – forgetting his parents’ faces, his birthday, his own name. But before he dies, Alex is determined to find the identity and family stolen from him during the Holocaust.
This is the story Alex would tell the world decades later, but doubts quickly took hold and wouldn’t let go. Could a story so unbelievable be true? Or is this a con to profit from the Holocaust? Eighty years on, is it possible to uncover who Alex really is?
Host Dan Goldberg unravels the true story.
Get lost in someone else’s life. From a mysterious childhood spent on the run, to a courageous escape from domestic violence, each season of Personally invites you to explore the human experience in all its complexity, one story — or season — at a time.
Hear episodes early and ad-free on CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
Season 1 | Run, Hide, Repeat: a story of a childhood spent on the run.
Season 2 | Welcome to Paradise: a courageous escape from domestic violence.
Season 3 | Short Sighted: an attempt to explain what vision loss feels like by exploring how it sounds.
Season 4 | Sorry About The Kid: an emotional, deeply personal meditation on the loss of a sibling.
Episodes
Episode 5: ‘L’chaim – To Life’
As Alex’s newfound family grapples with who he really was and what side of the war he was fighting for, COVID sets in. Will Alex ever get a real reunion?
17/03/25•26m 42s
Episode 4: A Complicated Miracle
Alex finally takes a DNA test, hoping to prove his identity – once and for all. What will it find? Who will it find? The results surprise everyone, even Alex.
10/03/25•40m 25s
Episode 3: The Money Angle
Alex’s story goes viral (as viral as it can in the early 2000s), but doubts and accusations swirl around him – dividing his family and community. Alex is called a liar and a conman trying to profit from the Holocaust, yet he refuses to do the one thing that would prove he’s telling the truth.
03/03/25•33m 4s
Episode 2: Born a Second Time
Uldis is now Alex – living an ordinary, happy life in Australia, but the horrors of his past have resurfaced. Fifty years after his name was stolen from him, can he find it again? A letter from Minsk might hold the answers.
24/02/25•32m 37s
Episode 1: The Hidden Suitcase
Uldis Kurzemnieks believed he would take his lie to the grave – his life had depended on it. For decades, he told the same story of how he survived the Second World War as a boy, but his niece always believed there was more to the story. Now, she’s learning the whole truth – piece by shocking piece.
17/02/25•32m 41s
Introducing Toy Soldier
As a child, Alex Kurzem faced a choice: be killed or join the killers. After escaping the massacre that killed his family during the Holocaust, he’s found by the enemy and taken in as one of their own – becoming a Jewish boy masquerading as a Nazi soldier. He’d live with this false identity for so long, he no longer remembered who he was before.This is the story Alex would tell the world decades later, but could a story so unbelievable be true? Host Dan Goldberg finds out.
13/02/25•3m 6s
Personally Introduces: On Drugs
On Drugs looks through the lenses of history, pop culture and personal experience to understand how drugs have shaped our world. Because even if it’s just caffeine or ibuprofen, there’s a good chance you’re on drugs right now. More episodes of On Drugs are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/4DtGUQ
07/02/25•41m 15s
Sorry About The Kid | Ep 4: Macho Man Ninja
“Isn’t this the a-hole who killed Paul McKinnon? Shut up and die!” A distracting obsession. An unexpected letter. And a controversial method of regaining lost memories. Plus, a final message from Paul.
05/02/25•34m 0s
Sorry About The Kid | Ep 3: Ghost
“Were you waiting for me to just say goodbye?” Alex and his grief counsellor, Yvonne, dive into one memory of Paul that Alex never forgot and try to trigger others. Plus, Alex’s parents discover that some of their own memories are not what they seem.
29/01/25•29m 39s
Sorry About The Kid | Ep 1: Where’s Paul?
Alex worshipped his older brother, Paul. But when Paul was killed by a speeding police car at age 14, Alex almost immediately started to forget him. First his voice. Then his laugh. Then pretty much everything else. But what if those memories could be retrieved? Through a series of intimate conversations with family and friends about Paul’s final moments alive, Alex begins to explore why Paul’s death has become the only thing he remembers.
15/01/25•29m 27s
Sorry About The Kid | Ep 2: Paulbearers
A funeral. A strange smell. A story that just doesn’t add up. In the days after Paul’s death, grief consumes Alex’s family. His mom is catatonic. His dad is furious. Both are focused on one thing: demanding the police take responsibility for what they’ve done. Meanwhile, Alex’s memories of Paul are already slipping away. Now, he confronts the roots of that memory loss with a grief counselor who has her own connection to Paul — she saw him die.
15/01/25•34m 10s
Introducing Sorry About The Kid
How do you forget your favourite person in the world? Alex remembers everything about the day a speeding police car killed his brother. But his brother, alive? Those memories are lost – and he wants them back. Sorry About the Kid is an emotional, deeply personal meditation on the losses that define us. Hosted by Alex McKinnon. Produced with Mira Burt-Wintonick (WireTap, Love Me).
08/01/25•2m 10s
Short Sighted | E5: How to surf when you're going blind
Graham faces his fears and travels to Vancouver to learn how to surf from blind screenwriter Ryan Knighton.Special thanks to Ryan Knighton.
17/12/24•14m 27s
Short Sighted | E4: How to be photographer when you can’t see
After an unsuccessful eye surgery, Graham feels estranged from his camera. Blind photojournalist Samantha Hurley offers a different perspective before she leaves to photograph the 2024 Paralympic games in Paris.Special thanks to Sam Hurley.For more about Sam Hurley’s work visit https://samanthahurley.myportfolio.com/ New episodes will be released weekly on Tuesdays. Don't want to wait? Binge the whole season right now via CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
10/12/24•13m 54s
Short Sighted | E3: How to dance for people who don’t see
Graham talks to blind artist Devon Healey, who makes dance shows for people who don’t see and explores the world of audio description.Special thanks to Justin Miller, Tarragon Theatre, Outside The March Theatre company and Vanessa Smythe. For more on Devon Healy’s “Rainbow on Mars” visit https://outsidethemarch.ca.New episodes will be released weekly on Tuesdays. Don't want to wait? Binge the whole season right now via CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
03/12/24•15m 6s
Short Sighted | E2: How to tell people you're losing vision
Because there are no visual identifiers for Graham’s condition, people don’t think he’s losing his sight. They think he’s an asshole. Graham talks to his friends about why they think he has problems in social situations.Special thanks to Dan Barra-Berger, Yvonne Felix, Steven Aquino, Steven Scott, and Erica Peck. New episodes will be released weekly on Tuesdays. Don't want to wait? Binge the whole season right now via CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
26/11/24•13m 40s
Short Sighted | E1: How to be a TV host when you can't see?
Writer and journalist Graham Isador has a degenerative eye disease. It’s started to impact his day-to-day and his work prospects. He’s been looking for the best way to talk about it.New episodes will be released weekly on Tuesdays. Don't want to wait? Binge the whole season right now via CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
19/11/24•16m 7s
Introducing Short Sighted
Graham Isador is losing his vision. Through Short Sighted's mini episodes, he situates listeners in the everyday experience of a blind or low vision person for an intimate and irreverent look at accessibility and its personal impacts.A five-part series from CBC’s Personally. New episodes will be released weekly on Tuesdays, starting Nov. 19. Don't want to wait? Binge the whole season via CBC Stories Premium on Apple Podcasts.
12/11/24•1m 9s
Welcome to Paradise | EP 6: The Visitation
Anna Maria makes a trip to find out more about Pat's past and confirms something she’d suspected. If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources here. Find transcripts of the series here.
18/09/24•32m 52s
Welcome to Paradise | EP 5: The Message
As Anna Maria prepares to contact Pat, she makes a startling discovery. If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources here. Find transcripts of this series here.
11/09/24•31m 21s
Welcome to Paradise | EP 4: The Long Tail
Getting out is only half the battle. After separating from her abusive husband, Anna Maria faces the most dangerous period of the relationship… and long-term emotional fallout that follows her for years. If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources here. Find transcripts of the series here.
04/09/24•29m 9s
Welcome to Paradise | EP 3: L is for Love
Anna Maria is living a double life. In public she and Pat seem like the perfect couple. At home, he’s becoming increasingly violent. If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources here. Find transcripts of the series here.
28/08/24•33m 22s
Welcome to Paradise | EP 2: See What You Made Me Do
Pat seems charming, funny and worldly – the perfect husband. But shortly after their wedding, Anna Maria discovers the man she’s married is an entirely different person behind closed doors. If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources here. Find transcripts of this series here.
21/08/24•29m 51s
Welcome to Paradise | EP 1: One of Those People You Hear About
Ready to reveal her longest-held secret, Anna Maria Tremonti talks to her therapist about a trauma from 40 years ago that’s the source of shame and self-loathing. She’s reported on gender-based violence many times as a journalist, including from war zones – but this time, she’s telling her own story. If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources here. Click here for transcripts of this series.
14/08/24•30m 4s
Introducing Welcome to Paradise
As one of Canada’s most respected journalists, Anna Maria Tremonti has a reputation for being fearless. She’s reported from some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. But there’s one story she’s never made public: when she was 23 years old, she married a man who beat her. Their marriage only lasted one year but the consequences of that abuse lasted a lifetime. Now she's telling her own story. This is Welcome to Paradise.If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources at cbc.ca/WTPresources.
07/08/24•2m 18s
Run, Hide, Repeat | EP 5: Stan's World
Pauline sets out to understand Stan’s mind and motives. She meets up with his son, John, who has some very strange stories of his own. And Pauline finally comes across a potential answer – something that could explain all of Stan's actions. But will it be enough to forgive him? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766
12/12/22•52m 9s
Run, Hide, Repeat | EP 4: Saving Mom
Pauline is struggling with doubts — the details of her family’s secret seem outrageous. But why would Stan and her mother lie to her? Pauline sets up a sting to find out once and for all if Stan and Ruth are telling the truth. And what she discovers changes her relationship with Ruth forever. Pauline, desperate to reconcile what Ruth has done to her, turns to understanding her mom’s troubled past. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766
05/12/22•41m 38s
Run, Hide, Repeat | EP 3: The Weird World
Based on her mother and Stan’s stunning revelations, Pauline and her brother Ted start sifting through their childhood memories and matching them to the once unexplained events. Stan and Ruth, now openly a couple, are going deep undercover — and they want Pauline to join them. Pauline must choose between joining her mother in the unknown and leaving behind everyone else she loves in the world she knows. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766
28/11/22•54m 43s
Run, Hide, Repeat | EP 2: On The Run
Now a teenager living in Saint John, the secrecy and unexplained moves wear Pauline down. Eventually she graduates and starts a career in journalism thinking she can start to live a normal life. That changes in February 1988 when her mother Ruth says she’s finally ready to tell Pauline everything. Sitting alongside Stan, Ruth’s secret shocks Pauline. Pauline realizes her life is in danger — and she will never look at her past the same way. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766
21/11/22•36m 8s
Run, Hide, Repeat | EP 1: Don't Tell
It’s 1971 and Ruth Dakin is going through a messy divorce and fears for the future of her young children, Pauline and Ted. She meets Stan Sears, a United Church Minister, a man who offered comfort and safe harbour. But the encounter would change her life – and the lives of her children – forever. Soon, odd, unexplained things start to happen and the young family is suddenly on the run, uprooted from their cozy home in North Vancouver to Winnipeg and then eventually to New Brunswick. The children are told not to tell anyone, and there are no goodbyes — not even to their father. Also on the move? Stan and his wife Sybil. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/run-hide-repeat-transcripts-listen-1.6682766
14/11/22•32m 38s
Introducing Run, Hide, Repeat
Best-selling author and journalist Pauline Dakin takes you on an immersive journey into a childhood spent on the run, one where unexplained moves and disturbing events took place under a shroud of secrecy. When Pauline was finally told what her family was running from, she was left with more questions than answers.
27/10/22•2m 50s
