{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/h98z893327/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Interview with William (Bill) Baergen"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/128/original/UA_Logo_WHT_RGB_%281%29.png?1725471982","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003ca href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\"\u003eAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)\u003c/a\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Kule Folklore Centre (Creator)","Baergen, William (Bill) (Interviewee)","Thiessen, Angela (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2004-08-09 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["3 audio files; wav; 01:28:31","audio/x-wav"]}},{"label":{"en":["Identifier"]},"value":{"en":["xs55md11t (avalonid)","LC081 (other)","2004-091-4690 (local)","2004-091-4691 (local)","2004-091-4692 (local)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["oral histories (topical)","discrimination (topical)","hate groups (topical)","religion (topical)","tradition (topical)","education (topical)","Stettler, Alberta, Canada (spatial)","Irma, Alberta, Canada (spatial)","Rossland, British Columbia, Canada (spatial)","Vauxhall, Alberta, Canada (spatial)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Interview"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date First Ingested"]},"value":{"en":["2020-01-14"]}},{"label":{"en":["Note"]},"value":{"en":["Interviewee: Baergen, William (Bill) (creation/production)","Interviewer: Thiessen, Angela (creation/production)"]}}],"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003ca href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\"\u003eAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)\u003c/a\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["University of Alberta Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["University of Alberta Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/128/original/UA_Logo_WHT_RGB_%281%29.png?1725471982","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/132/853/small/audio-default.png?1640614377","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 3 - 2004-091-4690.wav"]},"duration":1805.58367,"width":640,"height":40,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/132/853/small/audio-default.png?1640614377","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-ualberta.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/132/853/original/2004-091-4690.wav?1660931579","type":"Audio","format":"audio/wav","duration":1805.58367,"width":640,"height":40},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Part 1 [Index]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"History of the Ku Klux Klan in Alberta, ethnic conflicts in the 1930s","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=0.0,232.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"William Baergen states that his Mennonite upbringing had made a great impression on him, that's the reason he is in a human rights commission. He has always rejected elitism and superiority complexes of all kinds. He has written a book on the Ku Klux Klan in central Alberta. Based on his book, there are workshops hold in Albertan schools on how to combat hate groups through education. He talks about John James Maloney, the lead of the Ku Klux Klan in Alberta in the early 1930s. Baergen explains that the Ku Klux Klan was a hate group that was against any kind minority. He shows some historical pictures printed in his book and underlines that the history of the Ku Klux Klan isn't taught at Alberta schools. A fellow from Oxford University who read his book called the history of the Ku Klux Klan in Alberta a \"suppressed history\". There is no question that they were racially motivated. The Ku Klux Klan tried to stop the formation of a Catholic school district. In 1932, several farm building were torched. One of the first victims was a Mennonite Family in Irma, Alberta. However, that incident can't be connected to the Ku Klux Klan or the Orange Men (Orange Order) who were connected to the Ku Klux Klan.\nBaergen also talks about conflicts between rural and urban dwellers that erupted in the 1930s. These conflicts were even more about non-Germans versus Germans. Baergen's brother Ernie was beat up severely in one of these riots. As a result, his family has striven to rise above these sorts of conflicts.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=0.0,232.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ethnic conflict","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"hate crimes","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"hate groups","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"riots","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=0.0,232.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Catholic Church","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Germans","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Ku Klux Klan","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonites","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Orange Order","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=0.0,232.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Family background, his human rights activism, his books","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=232.0,661.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls that siblings except for his oldest brother Ernie were born in Irma, Alberta. His parents immigrated to Canada from Ukraine in 1925. He briefly outlines the history of the Russian Mennonites. He shows a picture of his brother Ernie who suffered during the riots. Later, his brother would become a medical doctor and had a distinguished career in Saskatchewan until he retired in the early 1990s. His brother Bob taught at the Red River community college in Winnipeg, Manitoba.\nBaergen himself holds a PhD, as do several of his close family members. He thinks that his family were \"overachievers\" because of what they went through in the 1930s. He repeats that he is on the Human Rights Commission, and whenever the chief commissioner leaves town, he is the chief commissioner. Until 1991, he served as a superintendent, and he realized that there was a cross burning by the Ku Klux Klan the year before. He states that he is sympathetic to minorities. He has written hundreds of letters on different incidents.\nBaergen is strongly against private schools and has written a dissertation entitled \"Public support of private secondary schools in Alberta. An analysis of relevant policy issues\". His argument was that tax payers' money shouldn't be spent on private schools that wouldn't allow anybody in but \"select their kids\".\nHe also wrote a book on the history of the Tofield Mennonite church. In that book he points out that in June 20th, 1940, both rural Mennonite churches in the area of Vauxhall, Alberta, were burned.\nBaergen lived in Irma, Alberta, with his family from 1935 (when he was born) until 1944, and then moved to Vauxhall. He states that he became more sensitive towards human rights when the Germans were shunned during WW II. Today, he also fights for the rights of the Blacks.\nHe recalls a story when a Jewish man, the owner of a fancy clothing store in Montreal, came to the Slave Lake area where many Natives (\"Indians\") were living. The man criticized the Indigenous people there for their humble outfit, and Baerger states that he hates such an attitude.\nBaergen talks about an edited volume with many individual family stories of Mennonites. They do not state that they were discriminated against. He also tackled the issue of conscientious objectors. He suggests to the interviewer that she can take his book and sent it back to him.\nBaergen continues to praise other books he (co-)edited.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=232.0,661.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"conscientious objectors","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"hate crimes","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"indigenous peoples","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=232.0,661.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"\"Indians\"","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonites","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=232.0,661.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Experiences of discrimination and human rights activism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=661.0,880.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen is asks how his identity is connected to his human rights activism. He recalls going shopping with his mother as a child, and he felt embarrassed when his mother spoke German in public. Even prior to WW II, he had the feeling that there is something wrong with him: \"People don't like you and you are not sure why\". In school, he skipped a grade as he was an intelligent and well-dressed child. From an early age, he developed a sensorium about injustice. He cites another example of human rights activism: maternity leave. Women are discriminated because they are pregnant, and they loose their job. It's unfair because someone takes advantage of the vulnerable in the society.\nThere was also another incident: A woman working as a cook in a hotel in Vegreville had cancer, and her employer claimed that she resigned voluntarily. Baergen stood up in defence of this woman and organized a hearing with the employer.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=661.0,880.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"discrimination","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"human rights movements","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"maternity leave","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=661.0,880.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Conscientious objection, Mennonites in WW II","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=880.0,1126.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen explains that one of his uncles was a conscientious objector and he wrote a section on him in one of his books. As Baergen's father was a farmer, he wasn't forced to go to war, and they never discussed the issue of conscientious objection in their family. People doubted the conscientious objectors' motivation and saw them as cowards. He is wondering why there aren't more conscientious objectors. He thinks that the NDP (New Democratic Party) is quite pacifist. He has worked for that party in BC for many years.\nAsked about the effect of conscientious objection for the Mennonite community during the war, Baergen states that it made them withdraw from the rest of society even more than before.\nThe interviewer suggests that the Mennonites were also accused of not going to war because of their German background. Baergen states that he wasn't old enough to be aware of that but he later heard that the Mennonites were suspected to be sympathetic to the Nazi cause. He thinks that some of them were indeed.\nBaergen assumes that the war affected the Mennonites in a way that they wanted to prove to the Canadian society that they weren't Nazis but useful citizens. He states that Mennonites have a very strong work ethnic. He quotes ministers Martens: Someone responsible for a flood relief program said \"Give me one Mennonite or five others\". ","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=880.0,1126.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"conscientious objectors","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=880.0,1126.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonites","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"New Democratic Party (NPD)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=880.0,1126.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Education","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=1126.0,1227.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls that he went to school in the town of Irma, Alberta, three miles away from their farm. He and some of his siblings skipped grades. Then they moved to Rossland, Alberta (near Vauxhall), and there was a one-room country school 14 miles from town. He took only grade 4 and 5 and a part of grade 6 there. Then, they were transported by bus to Vauxhall. He never felt that his schooling was inadequate in any way. ","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=1126.0,1227.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"education","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=1126.0,1227.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Family background, Mennonite immigration to Canada, parents' experiences in Ukraine","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=1227.0,1805.58367"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen's parents were both born in Ukraine. (When asked in which villages, he shows a picture of his parents and looks for some papers). Baergen's father's home was Friedensdorf. He corrects himself: His father was born in Landskrone, Russia, his mother in Bergthal. His wife Donna Green was born in Whitewater, Alberta.\nHis father came to Canada in 1926, his mother in 1925. He explains that there were Mennonite organizers who facilitated migration to Canada. (He again goes through some papers). Baergen states that the CPR advanced the Mennonite transportation on credit. That was called \"Reiseschuld\" (travel debt). Most Mennonites, Hutterites and Dukhobors came from \"non-preferred\" countries. It was prime minister MacKenzie King who knew the Mennonites from Waterloo, and he repeals the order in council that had banned Mennonites, Hutterites and Dukhobors form \"non-preferred\" countries. Mennonite delegations ensured that they weren't communists. Just before MacKenzie King died he was told that the majority of the Mennonites had paid off their \"Reiseschuld\".\nBaergen's mother sometimes complained on the tough living conditions in Canada, as the land on their farm was quite rocky. At the beginning, they had problems with irrigation. His parents always talked about the nice farms they had had in Ukraine, in little villages where they knew everybody. In Canada, they felt isolated. But they also talked about \"bloody Russians\" (the Whites and Reds). Friends and neighbours had been shot, women raped. His parents felt hatred towards the Russians, and wouldn't have gone back. They missed the life they had left behind but had no choice, and they realized that.\nBaergen thinks that his parents and other immigrants who came from other countries had a much broader view of life than those who had lived on the farm or in a small town for all of their lives.\nBaergen helped found the Central Alberta Historical Society. His speech given in 1995 was based on the manuscript of his book on the Ku Klux Klan. Subsequently, he was president of the society for three years. They publish a book every years, for instance the memoirs of a Red Deer man who had been a POW in Nazi Germany. He calls history his \"undying love\".\nAsked about stories told by his parents about life in Russia, Baergen recalls that he heard that the barn with the animals was part of the house. He asks the interviewer if she knows a book called \"Russländer\" where Mennonite life in Russia is described. His parents also talked about orchards and a nicer climate because it was closer to the Black Sea. ","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=1227.0,1805.58367"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853/index/52241/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"CPR","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonites","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132853#t=1227.0,1805.58367"}]}]},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 3 - 2004-091-4691.wav"]},"duration":1827.87483,"width":640,"height":40,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/132/854/small/audio-default.png?1640614504","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-ualberta.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/132/854/original/2004-091-4691.wav?1660931602","type":"Audio","format":"audio/wav","duration":1827.87483,"width":640,"height":40},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Part 2 [Index]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Language use","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=22.0,397.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls that he spoke German at home. Once, when he went home from school and said \"Hello dad\" in English, he got slapped with a leather glove because he was supposed to speak German in order to preserve the culture. He thinks the close link between language and culture is not unusual, it's the same in Quebec or in Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, where they want to remove the English language signs.\nThe reason why Baergen's parents wanted to preserve their language and culture was very much related to their religion. He doesn't really know why people want to preserve their culture. He has a son who is a principal in Quebec and who had married a French girl, they have three children. They learn both English and French but their mother was afraid that they wouldn't learn enough French.\nBaergen is asked about the language used in church. It was German but it gradually changed to English after 1950.\nIn grade 10, he took German correspondence courses. In grade 12, he was sent to a private school in Rosthern, Saskatchwan, where German was taught.\nBaergen can't remember how he learned English but thinks that he just spoke English because he was in an English school. He doesn't remember not being able to speak English, e. g. when he played with the children of the Archibald family, their neighbours.\nBaergen's parents both learned English quite well. His mother raised chickens and sold them in town, so she had to communicate. His parents married in Sedalia, Alberta. The government helped them to move out from there because it was so dry. His parents thought that there would be a Mennonite settlement at Irma, Alberta. There were a couple of families but not too many. Their neighbours were largely English as were the children he played with.\nBaergen was the third child. He had two older brothers and a younger sister. \n","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=22.0,397.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"languages","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=22.0,397.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Religious practices, becoming an atheist, Christmas and Easter traditions","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=397.0,905.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls that they always had a religious service at somebody's house on Christmas Eve. When they moved to Vauxhall, there was always a Christmas Eve concert in the church. A choir was singing, children received candy bags, and Santa Claus came. They opened their gifts on Christmas Day in the morning.\nBaergen states that his family was quite religious whereas he is an atheist now. He expresses concern about the possibility of religious wars, especially between Christians and Muslims. It seems to him that the Hindus and Buddhists aren't that belligerent as are the Muslims.\nBaergen's brother who is a medical doctor is still quite religious. He is to attend his 50th wedding anniversary soon. His brother is in poor health. Baergen's sister is quite active in the United Church. Baergen himself also used to be active in the United Church for a while. The most religious person in Baergen's family is his other brother who studied Christian education at the Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg. Baergen's uncle was the president of that college for a long time.\nReligion was an integral part of family life. Baergen's father would read devotions every morning, and they prayed in the evening.\nThe interviewer asks if there is an incidence that made Baergen become an atheist (she states that he doesn't have to answer that question if it would be too personal). Baergen explains that he and four others were expelled for a week from school in Rosthern, Saskatchewan, as he was considered a communist then. All five had been given room arrest before, and for some reason he had left the room. He thought \"O Gosh, this is Christianity\". In the 1950s, when he was at university, he worked for the CPR as a porter in summertime and read a lot of philosophy, he subscribed to a journal of philosophy. He preferred to use and to trust to his reason. He learned to be honest: If somebody else has and accident, the first reaction is \"Thank Gosh, it wasn't me\".\nOnce, he argued with a minister (he no longer does that) about children that die in earthquakes. He can't believe that innocent children die for a better cause. He also can't believe that someone is paying for his sins that way. If the devil is stronger that God, than one should believe in the devil. He can't grasp it rationally or logically.\nBaergen thinks that there is a force we don't understand but not a force that is interested in him. If he breaks a law of nature, he is dead. He cites and example: People say that it is a miracle that miners survived for eight days beneath the surface. For him, it's not a miracle but a law of nature, i. e. they had enough oxygen and food. For him, a miracle means breaking a natural law, and he never saw a natural law broken.\nHe states that we can't understand the superior power that may exist.\nBaergen says one should rather use one's mind than rely to faith which doesn't make any sense for him.\nThe interviewer asks again about Christmas traditions in Baergen's family. He recalls that he knew several German songs like \"Kling, Glöckchen kling\" or \"Leise rieselt der Schnee\". He loved German Christmas carols. He thinks that Martin Luther started the tradition of candles on the Christmas Tree but most people had candles on their tree then even though the trees sometimes got on fire.\nAt Easter, they had a \"paska\" but that's more a Ukrainian (or Polish) than a German tradition.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=397.0,905.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"atheism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Christianity","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Christmas","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Islam","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=397.0,905.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"CPR","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonite Bible College, Winnipeg","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"paska (Easter cake)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"United Church","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=397.0,905.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Celebrations, wedding traditions, funerals","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=905.0,1270.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls that birthdays weren't \"a big deal\", unlike today when the birthdays of his grandchildren in Quebec are celebrated. In his childhood, they didn't have the money for any birthday parties, they barely survived. (A phone is ringing. Baergen asks jokingly if the interviewer's boyfriend is calling. That's the second time in the interview he makes that joke. The interviewer laughs politely).\nBaergen describes how weddings were held. There used to be a party at the community hall, and so-called round games were played. There weren't dances in such because the Mennonites didn't believe in dancing. They raised the bride groom on a chair and sang a song about him. Then there is the throwing of the veil.\nAsked about funerals, Baergen can't recall any peculiarities of Mennonite funerals. The body was always displayed in an open casket. Nowadays, they don't force you to see the body anymore. There weren't any cremations then. He has pictures of his late grandmother lying in a coffin. There was a eulogy and, people watch the casket being lowered down into the grave. Funerals used to be \"much for graphic\", nothing was hidden but done up-front.\nThere was one boy his age. Around 1950, when they were in grade 10, they had softball games at the local school yard on Saturday night. It was a Mennonite practice. One particular night, he just didn't feel like going although he loved playing ball in general. The boy got killed that night, and he would have been sitting right beside him in the back of the truck. His sister was in the cab together with three or four other people. Another boy was badly injured. Baergen remembers the funeral of that boy to whom he had had a very close relationship. This was the first death he experienced that really hit him. Asked about what kind of accidence it was, Baergen explained that his friend was thrown out of the back of the truck when the truck passed a bridge. The people in the cab weren't harmed. The driver was the deceased's brother, and he screamed \"I have killed my brother\".","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=905.0,1270.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"dance","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"funerals","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"weddings","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=905.0,1270.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonites","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=905.0,1270.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Holidays, a history project on one-room country schools in Alberta","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1270.0,1484.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen doesn't think that his family celebrated any holiday particularly tied to German or Russian Mennonite identity. They celebrated Halloween like anyone else. Nobody seemed to bother too much about Canada Day. On New Years Eve, they got a bowl of candy.\nBaergen talks about several other days that were celebrated or not celebrated. Arbour Day was celebrated in the one-room country school in Alberta. Bargen's current project is to list all one-room country schools in Alberta. There were about 5,000 of them. He describes his project in detail.\nMother's Day is honoured.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1270.0,1484.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Halloween","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"holidays","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mother's Day","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"school buildings","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1270.0,1484.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Family background, High and Low German","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1484.0,1573.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls that his grandfather came to Canada with all his children in 1925/1926. The same was with his mother's family. His parents didn't exchange letters with any relatives back there. Today, some of Baergen's relatives live in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and BC. His parents would always write in German, even in \"gotische Schrift\" (Gothic script) sometimes. Baergen thinks that his parents never wrote in Low German, he isn't even sure if you can write Low German, most writing is in High German. The interviewer explains that there is a Low German script but it is very difficult to read, there are many consonants and few vowels.\n","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1484.0,1573.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"letters (correspondence)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1484.0,1573.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Germans","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonites","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1484.0,1573.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Entertainment, his father's eplilepsy","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1573.0,1827.87483"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls that in 1948 in Vauxhall, they had a bumper crop, and he, his father and his brother built a brand-new barn together. They even went to the Brooks Air Show (in Brooks, Alberta). They didn't do that before because it was too expensive and considered a waste of time because they were supposed to be working.\nThe church sometimes organized Sunday school picnics with home-made ice cream and sack races. It took place usually in June.\nThere were two Christmas concerts: one at school, one in the church.\nIn 1948, they went to Tofield, Alberta, to visit his grandfather and uncles. It was a long trip from Vauxhall, Alberta, over 300 miles.\nBaergen's father had a mandolin, and they had also a guitar. Saturday night, several Mennonite families would come over, and they played music and sang together. His sister learned to play the piano very well and played it also in church. They ate sunflower seeds and watermelons at those Saturday night gatherings. There weren't any dances. They didn't drink but his father would drink \"Alpenkräuter\" (schnapps) occasionally. As his father was an epileptic, he thought that the \"Alpenkräuter\" schnapps would cure his epilepsy. In 1954, Baergen's father suffered an epileptic seizure when driving the car, and his mother sitting next to him broke her arm. After that, his father lost his driving licence.\nBaergen says that his family joked a lot about the \"Alpenkräuter\" but he isn't even sure if there was any alcohol in it.\nOn Saturday night, the whole floor inside the house was covered with sunflower seeds. The had board floors or linoleum floors.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1573.0,1827.87483"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854/index/52240/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"accidents","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"barns","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"church picnics","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"crops","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"grandparents","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"guitar","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"music","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"schnapps","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132854#t=1573.0,1827.87483"}]}]},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 3 of 3 - 2004-091-4692.wav"]},"duration":1679.2439,"width":640,"height":40,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/132/855/small/audio-default.png?1640614617","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/content/3/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-ualberta.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/132/855/original/2004-091-4692.wav?1660931621","type":"Audio","format":"audio/wav","duration":1679.2439,"width":640,"height":40},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Part 3 [Index]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Social relations, friends","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=20.0,476.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The area of Irma, Alberta, was predominantly English. There were also some Norwegians but he didn't associate them with any particular nationality. Baergen didn't feel any segregation between the Mennonites and other groups. For instance, his father built a little crib for his sister, and he stored it at a neighbour's place until Christmas. They often visited the Archibald family. They had three girls, and the Baergens had three boys, and they joked that they would marry each other. There were some Mennonite families like the Schlenders whose barn was burnt and the Nachtigall family that was related to them. His grandfather and his uncle also lived there.\nHowever, Baergen felt somehow different than the others in school. When he was in grade 5 in Rossland school, he had a little aspirin box in class room and clicked it (obviously, he shows the interviewer how). His teacher asked for the box and said: \"If you do that again, I'll think you are a Nazi.\" He was ten years then and had never heard the word Nazi before. Later he reflected on that and understood how racist that was: \"You would never get away with it today\".\nAsked about post-WW II immigration, Baergen states that his parents helped some of them and were sympathetic to them. (He recalls two names which sound Ukrainian.) One girl even stayed at their house for some time. She was a good pianist and went to school with him, walking a mile to the bus stop.\nA lot of Japanese came to Vauxhall, too, for the raw crop in 1942/43, after they had been thrown out of BC by the government. He had some very good Japanese friends. He only heard positive things about the Japanese.\nAsked again about post-WW II immigrants, Baergen states that most of them came from Germany but some also from Russia, however, he is not sure.\nBaergen isn't certain whether he had a best friend when he was in grade 3. His best friend in grade 4, 5 and 6 was Abe Reimer. He was a Mennonite Brethren but he forgave him for that. (That's a joke alluding to the fact that there were different groups of Mennonites). Another friend was Urban Martens whose father was a Mennonite minister. The Klassens were also good friends. He mentions some other names, including Japanese boys. Baergen earned his first bicycle working for Japanese farmers in 1948, another great event in that year.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=20.0,476.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"bicycles","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"friends","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"neighbors","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"racism","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=20.0,476.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Germans","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Japanese","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonite Brethren Church","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonites","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Norwegians","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"WW II","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=20.0,476.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Activities, sports","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=476.0,556.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls the activities at school. They used to play scrub baseball. The whole group of students were friends, there wasn't so much individual friendship. The Japanese boys were good baseball players. They went to different towns to play softball, he described that in detail. They also hunted birds together, using shotguns.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=476.0,556.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ball games","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"baseball","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"basketball","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"shotguns","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"softball","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=476.0,556.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"scrub (baseball)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=476.0,556.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Singing and acting, other activities","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=556.0,723.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen states that singing in the church choir had an important influence on his life. Singing is an essential part of his life. He also likes acting. He played Louis Riel and recited his address to the jury when he was about to be hanged. He has done that for about 20 times. For that, he even was declared an honorary Métis. This fall, he is supposed to play that role at the Legislature in Edmonton. They recite the essence of Riel's speech (10 minutes), whereas Riel spoke for one and a half hour in Regina, Saskatchewan (in 1885).\nHe describes other experiences with singing and acting. Baergen thinks that his love for singing has something to do with his Mennonite background.\nBaergen also is an avid tennis player. He learned it at the Mennonite school in Rosthern, Saskatchewan.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=556.0,723.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"acting","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"church choirs","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"singing","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=556.0,723.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Métis","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Riel Rebellion","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=556.0,723.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Moving in 1944, a stay in hospital in 1943","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=723.0,882.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen states that moving to the Vauxhall area in 1944 was an exciting experience for him. They lived on a farm on the river. When they stopped at his uncle's place who was driving (his father was moving the cattle and machinery on the train), they bought a glass of ginger ale which they never had before.\nBefore moving, they sold a lot of wood they had cut. They drove the wood with horses downtown and sold it, that was an interesting experience for him. In 1943, Baergen had his appendix removed. He thought it was because he was riding the box wagon too long. The stay in hospital wasn't an unpleasant experience. He also had his tonsils removed.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=723.0,882.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"hospitals","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=723.0,882.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Reading, education","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=882.0,992.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen recalls that he read all his grade books. His parents read the bible and religious books. His mother was a great reader, she loved history. They wrote and read many letters. He can't remember that his parents ever read fiction. Baerger has written more than anyone else in his family, although he has  written \"quite a bit of junk\". His family was education-oriented. Some time he didn't believe in that. His father had wanted to be a school teacher and eventually worked as a Sunday school teacher. His father was a good teacher, and both his parents were very intelligent. His parents also read English, and Baergen thinks that that was the reason they learned it so well.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=882.0,992.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"education","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"languages","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"letters (correspondence)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"reading","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Sunday schools","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=882.0,992.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Epilepsy of his father, relationship of parents","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=992.0,1365.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"When Baergen thinks about his father, his epileptic fits came first to his mind. His father would scream, yell and thresh around. Baergen recalls in particular one incident when his father was out feeding the horses. His father was lying on the ground next to tree stumps and threshing about. He was impressed that the horses didn't touch his father. His father's illness was the reason Baergen didn't want to take other children overnight. During his fits, Baergen's father would always say to his mother \"Hast du mich lieb?\" (Do you love me?) His father would have his seizures every couple of months. His father would sometimes also loose consciousness for a few minutes. At the end of his life, his epileptic episodes stopped because he got proper medication.\nBaergen calls his father's attitude towards religion \"quite German authoritarian\" but he wasn't impressed by that. That made him reject religion as much as anything. His father was nevertheless a kind man, and they had fun together when they were out haying. His father would tell jokes. Baergen thinks that his father's personality had much to do with his illness. At times, he shot at horses and missed them (that wasn't during an epileptic episode). There was tension in their home between Baergen's mother and father. Towards the end, they threw a wedding ring into the toilet but it didn't go down and his father took it out of the water. His parents weren't happy together, and he sensed that. As a result, Baergen joked about a lot of things in order to lighten up. His older brother, however, is very serious. His sister also loves to joke. The three boys in the family got along with their sister always very well, they spoiled her. Baergen would use her when he liked to go downtown for a basketball game: When his sister asked for the car, they would get it.\nBaergen sometimes regarded his father as a hypocrite but he thinks that his difficult character was because of his epilepsy. Some Mennonites thought that his father was possessed by the devil. When his father went to doctors in Saskatoon, they said that nothing was wrong with him physically or mentally, and his father couldn't believe it. Baergen thinks that the power of Mennonite teaching kept his father down for many years and made him think of himself as possessed by the devil.\nBaergen explains that Canada banned certain types of people from immigration, and one group were the epileptics. If his father was still alive, he would asked him how he got to Canada. Baergen knows that his father had one attack when he was still in Russia. Baergen knew that his father was kicked in the head by a horse when he had been about 19, and that's how his illness started. He came to Canada about a year later. In the immigration laws, epileptics were ranked with imbeciles. He thinks his father lied in order to come to Canada which he would forgive him (he laughs). Baergen states that it was the church's belief at that time that epileptics were possessed by the devil. ","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=992.0,1365.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"chronic illness","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"devils","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"family life","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"siblings","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"superstitions","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=992.0,1365.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"epilepsy","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mennonites","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Keywords"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=992.0,1365.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Mental problems of mother","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=1365.0,1580.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Baergen remembers his mother as a very caring person. She had mental problems sometimes, and was in a mental hospital in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, for a while. His mother had a sort of depression from time to time. He is not sure if they would put his mother in a mental hospital today. His mother never acted insane but looked after her children and worked hard, she had a big garden and raised chickens and sold them. His mother also sewed clothing for her children. Baergen wasn't too close to either of his parents, he thinks he is not that type of person. He didn't cry at his parents funerals whereas his siblings did. He respected his parents in a lot of ways.\nIt was Baergen's oldest brother who put his mother into the mental home, and his mother was very upset when she found out who it had been. His brother was a doctor at that time. When his brother retired from the medical profession, a big party in a hotel was hold. His brother was against medicare and always against the government but among the doctors, he and his wife were great heroes because they had led their colleges through a strike. Their mother was quite old then and a sort of incontinent, and Baergen's brother didn't invite her to that event. Baergen disapproved that. He thinks that his brother wasn't too close to their mother either although their parents always worshiped his brother because he was the oldest boy and a medical doctor.\nBaergen calls his family not dysfunctional but somehow disjointed - quite intellectual but not emotionally bound up together.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=1365.0,1580.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"clothing","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"depression (mental illness)","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"mental illness","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"psychiatric hospitals","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"sewing","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"siblings","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}},{"type":"TextualBody","value":"strikes","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Subjects"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=1365.0,1580.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Happy moments","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Title"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=1580.0,1679.2439"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855/index/52239/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"supplementing","body":[{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Asked about the happiest memory of his lifetime, Baergen can't identify that. Maybe it was when he got his PhD in 1982, or in 1967, when he sang on the CBS. He recalls other happy moments, e. g. when he became a member of the school board or when he became the acting chief commissioner of the human rights board of Alberta. He mentions other occasions, including the birth of his first son.","format":"text/plain","label":{"en":["Synopsis"]}}],"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1776/collection_resources/58644/file/132855#t=1580.0,1679.2439"}]}]}]}