The Long Wait: Canada’s NATO Forces in Germany

“Up it went, a great wall of fire about a mile in diameter, changing colors as it kept shooting upward, from deep purple to orange, expanding, growing bigger, rising as it was expanding, an elemental force freed from its bonds after being chained for billions of years."
-William L. Laurence, New York Times, August 26, 1945, Account of the Trinity Test on 16 July 1945

            On August 6th,1945 the world was irreversibly changed. The American bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki not only signified the end of the Second World War, but also marked mankind’s uncomfortable step into the age of nuclear warfare. The American monopoly on nuclear weapons ended in 1949 when Russia detonated its first nuclear device, and soon the Cold War was well underway. 
The Long Wait is a series of photographs that explores Canada’s military past during the Cold War. The images were taken at the twelve Canadian NATO bases in Germany, which operated between 1956 and 1993. These bases are in two areas: ten are situated in the Ruhr Valley, which lies in the North of Germany between Dortmund and Kassel, and the other two bases, which were air-force bases, are located in the South near Baden Baden. These sites represent the front lines of Canada’s fight against communism in the Cold War, a fight that was as much about ideology as it was about power—a struggle that became a divide between East and West, capitalism and communism, Atheism and Christianity, and in some peoples’ minds, the struggle of good versus evil.

A Brief History

After the Second World War, Germany was divided into four occupied zones. The United States, France and the United Kingdom administered over West Germany, while the Soviet Union administered over East Germany. The city of Berlin was also divided between East and West. It quickly became clear that the Soviet Union wanted to maintain control over East Germany while the other countries allowed West Germany to be self-regulated. The Soviet Union became increasingly aggressive, eventually closing the borders to West Berlin, cutting off the supply line into this part of the city. The Berlin Blockade, started in 1948, was the first major dispute in the Cold War. On April 4th 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in order to deter Soviet expansion into Western Europe. With control over Germany being one of the main sources of conflict, the NATO allies, including Canada, were soon sending troops to West Germany. At the height of its NATO operation, Canada had over 10,000 troops stationed there. The German NATO mission lasted from 1953 until 1993, and was Canada’s longest and largest peacetime military operation. Canada’s role in the NATO mission, with the threat of a Soviet invasion into West Germany, was to engage the Soviet army, forcing them to become bottlenecked; the NATO forces could then destroy the majority of the advancing forces using nuclear weapons. The Canadian Forces were on alert throughout the mission, and families of the soldiers often practiced evacuation drills.
Canada’s investment in this fight against communism was substantial. The Canadian NATO bases were more than just places for soldiers to live and work. For forty years, thousands of Canadian families made their homes in and around these sites. The bases provided all that the soldiers and their families needed, including stores where they could use Canadian money, Catholic and Protestant churches, theatres, swimming pools, ice rinks, gymnasiums, and bowling alleys, in addition to other forms of recreation. Schools were built for the children of the Canadian soldiers in the surrounding towns and villages. The investment in equipment was also incomparable to any other ‘peacetime’ operation.  Canada’s NATO force was a mechanized brigade that had tanks, planes, a fleet of fighter-jets, armored personnel carriers, canons, and a small stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons—a reality which is often forgotten in the rhetoric surrounding Canada’s role as a peacekeeping nation.

Present Day Uses

            After the decommissioning of the bases in 1993, the land was returned to the German government. These sites have gone through major transformations, however a majority of the Canadian architecture still remains.  Two of the sites, Fort McLeod and Fort York, are the best preserved of all the bases. Fort McLeod is now a refugee camp for immigrants seeking refugee status in Germany. The former barracks provide homes for them as they apply to stay in the country. The German army used Fort York until recently, but is now a site for explosives testing as well as for firefighter and police training. Fort Beausejour, Fort Prince of Wales and Fort Chambly are all industrial parks with various manufacturing and commercial spaces. On Fort Chambly, some of the barracks have also been turned into residential housing. Fort Anne has been converted into a golf course.  Fort Victoria and Fort St. Louis were both abandoned and are being taken over by vegetation as the buildings slowly decay. Fort Henry is now a farm and the livestock have made a home out of many of the buildings. Fort Qu’Appelle has the least resemblance of its former self and is currently residential housing. Baden Soellingen and Lahr, the two air-force bases, are still active airports, although Baden Soellingen is also the home of a BMW motorcycle test track.

Project

            The Long Wait is a photographic record of Canada’s German NATO military bases. The Cold War was an event that was marred by secrecy, deception and confusion. By using documentary strategies, these photographs attempt to create a visual index of the bases in their present states as objectively as possible. The images reveal the interiors and exteriors of buildings, pointing to their previous uses and to their isolated, rural settings. The images not only describe the locations in great detail, but they also allude to the geo-political climate that created these historically-charged sites. Furthermore, the photographs allow us to see the effects that time and economics have played on these sites. Some have maintained their utility better than others based on their proximity to urban centres and potential commercial uses. These spaces, in their current states of utilization and corrosion, are a fading reminder of what Canada invested to dissuade Soviet aggression.
Beyond a historical exploration, this body of work has contemporary relevance in drawing similarities between the Cold War and the present War on Terror. From the rhetoric of good versus evil, to religious fervor, to the suspicion of one’s neighbours, both conflicts have caused the erosion of civil liberties throughout the world with increased investments in the military; Canada’s current military spending is now at its highest level since the Korean War in 1952. As more and more countries work at creating nuclear weapons, the potential for a new Cold War is possible. For forty years Canadian troops waited for a nuclear conflict to begin, but somehow, perhaps by luck alone, nuclear war was avoided.
The Long Wait is tied to a history marked by nuclear threat and ideological positioning. Traveling to each of the bases and photographically documenting them is an effort to understand a conflict that was as far-reaching as it was incomprehensible. The photographs offer a means of remembering a military operation that affected thousands of Canadians—an operation where victory was determined by an unrealized attack.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $37.8 million in the arts in Quebec.