Introducing: Toy Soldier

As a child, Alex Kurzem faced a choice: be killed or join the killers. 

After escaping the massacre that killed his family during the Holocaust, he’s found by the enemy and taken in as one of their own – becoming a Jewish boy masquerading as a Nazi soldier. He’d live with this false identity for so long, he no longer remembered who he was before.

This is the story Alex would tell the world decades later, but could a story so unbelievable be true? Host Dan Goldberg finds out.

When Ian Coss decided to get married, every living member of his family who had ever been married had also gotten divorced: parents, grandparents, and all his aunts and uncles on both sides — some of them twice. Today, he has questions: What is the value of a lifetime commitment? Are we doomed to recycle the patterns of behaviour we get from our ancestors? Are we all just better off alone? Forever is a Long Time is a five-episode series that weaves reflection and original music through Ian’s conversations with his wife and divorced family members — a look at love with people who have made mistakes.

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. This is what it sounds like to be human.

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.

Season 5 | Toy Soldier: The unbelievable story of a Jewish boy amongst Nazis.

Season 6 | Forever is a Long Time: Every living member of Ian Coss' family who has been married has gotten divorced. Can his marriage end differently?

• No. of episodes: 35
• Latest episode: 2025-06-23
• Society & Culture Documentary

Where can you listen?