Dutch - The Podcast

Host Tom Bijvoet finds out what his Canadian producer and co-presenter Mike Wixson has learned by sitting in on 24 episodes of Dutch the podcast. Plus a preview of their plans for next season.

In 1957 six Dutch immigrant workers lost their lives in one of Ontario’s worst workplace accidents ever. Their story has never been told. Until now. Film maker Eric Philpott tells us about his project to uncover the truth about this tragedy for his feature-length documentary film, ‘Dresden 1957’.

When Henry Baron came to the USA he was fourteen years old and hardly spoke any English. He had drop out of school after only a year in America to find work, because his immigrant family needed the money. Despite these obstacles he went on to become an English professor at Calvin University in Grand Rapids. We talk to Henry about immigrating as a teenager, Friesland, the books he translated from F...

Dutch the magazine columnist Stuart Billinghurst came to the Netherlands from England purely by chance. Twenty years later he is still there. He tells us how he stumbles through life in Holland.

When he was eighty years old, Boudewyn van Oort was told that he had suffered from PTSD. His early youth in a wartime Japanese internment camp in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) impacted his whole life. We hear about his memories of the camp, his difficult reintegration into society, and his late diagnosis. We also hear about the unique experiences of a group of forgotten young boys - who al...

At the age of 19, Peter Manshande was sent to Nazi Germany from his home North-Holland. There he worked as a forced labourer for two-and-half years, under increasingly hazardous circumstances. Peter saved the memories of that time and hid them in his old suitcase. His daughter and her husband, Elisabeth and Brad Seltzer, wrote down his story, which was recently published in a 320 page book by Moke...

It is 1950 and five-year-old Anna makes the long journey by ship from the Netherlands to Canada. We talk to author Julia Sinke and illustrator Abigayle Sinke about their children’s book that tells the emotion-filled story of a young girl’s immigration from her cozy Dutch house to a ramshackle wooden structure in the beet fields of Southern Alberta. https://booksbyjuliasinke.com/ https://www.dutcht...

Stamppot, liquorice, stroopwafels, cheese... We hear from a new generation of managers at Holland Shopping Centre about the enduring appeal of Dutch food for immigrants, their children and grandchildren. Sarah Slump and Rose Vandergriendt give us a peek behind the scenes at one of Canada’s largest Dutch stores.

Arthurs Boers’s first memory of his father is of him hurling a potted plant through a picture window in a fit of rage. He recounts the event in the first chapter of his admirably honest, emotionally charged memoir, Shattered. We talk to Arthur about growing up Dutch in Canada, building greenhouses, intergenerational trauma, and the PTSD suffered by veterans of Indonesia’s War of Independence. We a...

We talk to Irwin Oostindie and Vanessa Timmer of the Dutch Cultural Association of British Columbia. In a wide ranging conversation we cover the relevance of their heritage for second and third generation Dutch-Canadians, Dutch DJ-culture, what Canada and the Netherlands can learn from each other about reconciliation, the inaugural Dutch street market in downtown Vancouver and much more. VISIT www...

What began as a personal quest for Karen Hunter evolved into a pilgrimage to the Netherlands for children of Canadian veterans. The executive director of the Canadian Remembrance Torch tells us why more than 100 descendants of World War II veterans walked in their fathers’ footsteps, and how they were received by hundreds of passionate Dutch volunteers. We also discover how through her charity gra...

Ellen Burka escaped deportation to Nazi Death Camps Auschwitz and Sobibor because she was a figure skating star. She was sent to concentration camp Theresienstadt instead and survived the Holocaust. After the war she settled in Canada with her two daughters Petra and Astra and became an immensely successful skating coach. Ellen’s daughter Astra made a film about her mother’s life called ‘Skate to...

Cookies, coleslaw, donuts, pancakes, waffles, pretzels, and even Santa Claus can be traced back to the 17th century settlement of New Netherland. We explore the Dutch influence on American cooking with culinary historian and author Peter Rose. www.peterrose.com

Mike Wixson discovers why Tom Bijvoet came to Canada, and how he founded a publishing business producing books, magazines and podcasts for the Dutch in North America. https://www.dutchthemedia.com/

We talk to former Deputy Premier of Ontario, Elizabeth Witmer, about why the province pays tribute to its strong ties with the Netherlands for a whole month each year.

There are more bikes in the Netherlands than people. Why? Biking evangelist and reseller of pre-loved cycles, Bas de Beer of godutch.ca , explains.

Professor William Pol tells us why uses the Netherlands as a case study when he teaches his Canadian students about environmental planning.

While during Operation Market Garden the battle for the Rhine Bridge raged, Arnhem’s citizens sought refuge from the carnage where they could. We talk to Jenny van Dinter, who sheltered in her basement, mere minutes away from the river crossing that turned out to be a ‘Bridge too Far’.

As is so often the case, the whole is much more than the sum of its parts. We talk to cookbook author and entrepreneur Jeff Keasberry about Indo-Dutch culture and cuisine.

A gene mutation originating in the Netherlands can cause PLN Cardiomyopathy, a serious cardiac condition. We talk to special guest Dr. Dean Jansen, PLN patient and Secretary of the PLN Heart Foundation.

From the postwar Netherlands to Canada in 21 paintings. After her mother’s unexpected deathbed confession, an Ontario artist captures the immigration experience in astonishingly emotional artwork. With special guest Rosemary Sloot, painter and chronicler.

Why a small town on the Iowa prairie is the heart of Dutch-America. Tulip time, almond cookies and the Klompen Classic. With special guest Ann Frost, Executive Director of Visit Pella.

Outdoor speed skating and thick pea soup on an Ontario Lake - why the Dutch eat it up. With special guest Marco Smits, organizer of the Skate the Lake event and resident speed skating researcher for NBC.

Of Holland and the Netherlands, Dutch and Deutsch, and Low and High German.