Personally: Toy Soldier

4.1 (315)
DOCUMENTARY
WEEKLY SERIES

Get early access to this show and listen ad-free

$1.99/mo or $19.99/yr after trial

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.

See All Season 5 (6)

For years, players have been too afraid to talk about it. But now, the truth about a broom that almost destroyed curling is finally coming out. Over the course of six episodes, semi-professional curler and fully professional comedian John Cullen (Blocked Party) is exposing the unbelievable, never-before-told scandal that rocked the sport of curling. Yes, curling.

4.7 (164)

COMEDY
Who gets to compete? Since the beginning of women’s sports, there has been a struggle over who qualifies for the women’s category. Tested follows the unfolding story of elite female runners who have been told they can no longer race as women, because of their biology. As the Olympics approach, they face hard choices: take drugs to lower their natural testosterone levels, give up their sport entirely, or fight. To understand how we got here, Host Rose Eveleth (they/them) traces the surprising, 100-year history of sex testing.

4.5 (230)

SPORTS
There’s a story going around, that punk-pop sensation Avril Lavigne ISN’T who you think she is. That she was replaced at the start of her career by a look-a-like. It’s an internet conspiracy theory which has been eating comedian Joanne McNally ALIVE, and she’s going to do something about it. Joanne immerses herself in a mind-bending world of fake celebrity deaths, doppelgangers, conspiracies in an effort to understand how this rumour started, and if there’s any truth to it. Produced by What’s The Story Sounds – for BBC Sounds and CBC. Welcome to Split Screen, an examination of the utterly captivating, sometimes unsettling world of entertainment and pop culture. From reality TV gone awry, to the cult of celebrity, each season of Split Screen takes listeners on an evocative journey inside the world of showbiz. Ex-contestants, producers, and cultural critics uncover complicated truths behind TV’s carefully curated facades, and question what our entertainment reveals about us. Split Screen: sometimes reality is twisted. Season 1 | Kid Nation: The true story behind one of reality TV’s most controversial experiments. Season 2 | Thrill Seekers: A multi-million dollar media experiment. Would you fall for it?

4.1 (124)

DOCUMENTARY
If you’ve ever been to Newfoundland, you know it’s a place where fog can envelop you so deeply, you don’t know where you’re going or where you came from. When two men, born in the same rural Newfoundland hospital on the same day, discover an unbelievable 52-year-old secret, it changes the way they see themselves forever. But this isn’t the end of the story. Because it turns out these men are not alone. A series of other close calls and near misses have begun to emerge, and not only at Come by Chance hospital. Come By Chance is a story about what it means to belong in a family — and how a twist of fate can upend the life you thought you knew. Hosted by Luke Quinton. Seven episodes releasing Tuesday, June 4, 2024.

4.6 (138)

SOCIETY & CULTURE
Real people. Real problems. Real talk. Normally, therapy sessions are totally confidential — but this podcast opens the doors. Hillary McBride and her clients want to help demystify mental health. No actors. No auditions. No artifice. This is what people really sound like when they talk about traumatic births, turbulent divorces, eating disorders and tough childhoods.

4.7 (748)

SOCIETY & CULTURE
Of all the young revolutionaries in Syria during the Arab Spring, Amina is different. An out lesbian in a country where homosexuality is illegal, she bravely documents her life on the blog Gay Girl in Damascus. Her candid posts attract readers from around the world, and soon she has a wide, ardent following. But then a post appears saying Amina has been abducted. Her fans mobilize, desperate to track down and save their fearless heroine. What they find shocks them. Journalist Samira Mohyeddin investigates what actually happened to the infamous Gay Girl in Damascus in this 6-part series. The result is a twisted yarn that spans the globe and challenges our thinking on love, politics and identity in cyberspace. Listeners can access every episode for free weekly on Wednesdays (6 episodes total). If you want early, ad-free access, visit apple.co/cbcstories.

4.4 (105)

DOCUMENTARY

View Subscription FAQs

Pauline Dakin

Host

4.1

out of 5

315 Ratings

Janith

06/20/2024

pearlygirl10000

Janith the person telling the story is the victim
Just cant

Jan 9

Teon77

Narrator personality problems
Season 1 was gripping

Jan 7

arrmd

I listened to season 1 while packing for a move. It was riveting. I may listen again to make sure I caught everything.
Short sighted

Jan 5

Lisa Anne 55

I look forward to listening to this series. Although my eyesight is pretty good my younger daughter has kerataconis. My husband is also developing retinitis pigmentosis. I have no idea how to process this knowledge

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.