“This Was My Choice” – The Daring Defection of Igor Gouzenko
On September 5th 1945, a young cypher clerk by the name of Igor Gouzenko walked out of the Soviet embassy in Ottawa with a series of top-secret documents. His actions that day would alter the course of history. The gripping revelation that the Soviets were stealing nuclear secrets from the west helped uncover a dazzling web of intrigue stretching into to the very confines of Canadian democracy.
This historical podcast / walking tour / travel guide seeks to trace back Gouzenko’s steps in Ottawa during his defection. It also seeks to explore the fascinating world of Cold War espionage as well as a battle over memory. Not only is the “Gouzenko Affair” a foundational event of the Cold War but it is perhaps one of the most significant events in Canadian history.
This episode features interviews with two individuals: Evy Wilson, the daughter of Igor and Svetlana Gouzenko and Andrew Kavchak a local author who lobbied for a historical plaque to honor his cold war hero.
Table of Contents
Podcast
Interactive Map
Chapters
(00:00) – Introduction
(01:43) – Setting the Scene
(05:16) – Welcome to the Podcast
(19:29) – The Walking Tour
(22:16) – The Gouzenko Residence (511 Summerset)
(60:20) – Soviet Embassy (285 Charlotte Street)
(64:44) – Ottawa Journal (234 Queen Street)
(67:21) – Justice Building (249 Wellington Avenue)
(69:12) – Return to the Gouzenko Residence and Dundonald park
(120:03) – Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council Langevin Block (80 Wellington)
(124:03) – Center Block (111 Wellington)
(129:29) – Conclusion
(142:47) – Epilogue
Resources and Bibliography
This podcast was created with Audacity.
The music and sound events are “free use” but belong to the following authors.
Music by u_mt1uz3t7f7 and Fidel Veda from Pixabay
Sound Effects by freesound_community, Alice_soundz, Trygve Larsen, Kalpesh Ajugia, Kylian C. from Pixabay and chieuk from Pixabay
Recommended Readings:
Gouzenko, Igor, This Was My Choice : Gouzenko’s Story, Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1948.
Kavchak, Andrew, Remembering Gouzenko: The Struggle to Honour a Cold War Hero, Amazon [Self Published], 2019.
Kellock, Roy Lindsay, and Robert Taschereau. The Report of the Royal Commission Appointed under Order in Council P.C. 411 of February 5, 1946, to Investigate the Facts Relations to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication, by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power, June 27, 1946. Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1946.
The Corby Case (Igor Gouzenko), 1945, No Archive [2017 Access to Information, CSIS], Ottawa, Canada.
Anderson, Jennifer. Propaganda and Persuasion: The Cold War and the Canadian-Soviet Friendship Society. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2017.
