Michael Wilms
Originally published, October 12, 2012 in the Winnipeg Free Press. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/2012/10/31/have-your-say-1394 Dear Mr Gorbachev, I doubt you will remember this story, but with the announcement of your death I wanted to make sure you knew what you meant to my family. You and I are connected, we are intertwined; our stories, our families and our …
It is funny how sometimes you can be instantly thrown back into time. My grandfather and I always talked about this - about how an image, sound, smell or taste could bring you to another decade. It was a tool we used quite often when we talked about his time growing up in Ukraine. Sometimes, …
On the banks of the Volga River in 1942 there was a message post. It acted like a community mailbox - sharing the whereabouts of Stalingrads’ citizens. People fleeing the Germans in the spring, summer and fall of 1942 used message boards to let loved ones know where they were. Often these departures were made …
I was going through my office two weeks ago — looking for the little information I had collected about my grandfather Wilms. Unlike, my maternal grandfather, whom I based my book The Grain Fields on, I didn't get a chance to speak to him about his time during the Second World War. He died of Alzheimers when …