From Dieppe to Juno: The 80th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid
August 2022 will mark 80 years since the Dieppe Raid – Operation Jubilee. In nine hours, a force of nearly 5,000 Canadians suffered over 800 killed, with two-thirds of the force dead, wounded, or captured. Canada’s darkest moment of the Second World War remains shrouded in controversy, mystery, and tragedy. For decades, the disaster dominated Canadians’ collective memory of the war.
The Juno Beach Centre is marking this major commemorative milestone with a new temporary exhibition, From Dieppe to Juno: The 80th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid. The exhibit brings together unique “voices of Dieppe” that allow visitors to discover the raid’s nuance and complexity. From Dieppe to Juno explores our shifting understanding of the raid, its links to Juno Beach on D-Day, and the liberation of Dieppe in September 1944.
Today’s guest, Marie Eve Vaillancourt, who led and curated this project, joins us to unpack this moving and tragic subject. She is joined by Alex Fitzgerald-Black, who co-wrote the exhibition alongside Marie Eve. This panel provides listeners with insight into the creation of the exhibit and the stories found within.
The main beach at Dieppe following the raid of August 19th, 1942. A disabled Churchill tank stands in the background along with German soldiers. Helmets discarded by surrendering Canadian and British troops litter the foreground on the inland side of barbed wire defences (German National Archives).
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Time Stamps
4:30 The Voices of Dieppe
8:40 Dieppe’s Contested History
13:00 Discussing Failure in a Place of Victory
17:25 From Dieppe to Juno Thematic Zones
42:20 Immersive Storytelling in the Dieppe Exhibition
48:20 What Visitors Can Expect
Guest Biographies
Marie Eve Vaillancourt is the Director of Exhibitions at the Juno Beach Centre. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from Carleton University and a Master of Education from the University of Caen in France. She has created exhibitions and programming at the Juno Beach Centre since 2011 and worked previously at Historica Canada’s The Memory Project, the Canadian Museum of History, and the Canadian War Museum.
Alex Fitzgerald-Black is the Executive Director at the Juno Beach Centre Association. He has hosted Juno Beach and Beyond for nearly four years. Alex holds a Master of Arts in military history (University of New Brunswick) and a Master of Arts in public history (Western University). He has co-written multiple exhibitions at the Juno Beach Centre, including most recently From Dieppe to Juno: The 80th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid.
Notes
The following links offer more information on the topics discussed in this episode:
Podcasts
The Dieppe Enigma with David O’Keefe
The Fight for History with Tim Cook
Rush to Danger with Ted Barris
Digital Exhibitions
Encyclopaedia
Canadian Army Units in the Dieppe Raid
The Liberation of Coastal Ports
Credits
Juno Beach & Beyond is hosted and edited by Alex Fitzgerald-Black, the Juno Beach Centre Association’s Executive Director.
Mackenzie King’s speech to British Parliament from the British Pathé YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SlEvclY5LE&t=48s
Artillery firing sounds from the CBC News: The National YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsCSQ4uWR1Y
Female veteran’s voice (Eileen Green, née Short) Courtesy of The Memory Project, Historica Canada: http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/383:eileen-green-nee-short/
Winston Churchill’s “Finest Hour” speech from Jonathan Thomas’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB5wZtV1MWM
Spitfire sound effect from Jason Kirby’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgZI4tAoMN0
Dramatic Interlude by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Dispatches from Juno shares all the news, events, and stories from the Juno Beach Centre in France and Canada. Interested in contributing a story to the blog? Email the editor at jbca@junobeach.org.
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