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.

More episodes of Personally: Toy Soldier are available at: https://link.mgln.ai/YNejJk

How does it feel to find out you’ve lived another person’s life? Are the parents you thought you had no longer your parents? Those are the tough questions facing far too many children switched at birth — and they want accountability.

Another mother at another rural Newfoundland hospital has suspicions that the little girl she brought home isn’t her own. Over fifty years later, an online ancestry kit connects the dots and allows a mother and daughter to reunite.

It turns out this once in a lifetime mistake might not be so rare. A few months before Clarence and Craig were born at the Come By Chance hospital, a young mother named Muriel felt like the little baby boy she brought home from the hospital wasn’t her own.

As the Avery family mourns a devastating loss, Clarence Hynes resists their multiple appeals. But the cost of turning away becomes greater and greater for Clarence. The two families hurtle towards an inevitable truth.

Note: This episode references suicide, please take care when listening.

At the same time people were mistaking Clarence Hynes for an Avery, others were mistaking Clifford Avery, Craig’s older brother, for Clarence. In side by side photographs, the two men with their bushy mustaches looked eerily alike. So when Clifford and Craig finally take a DNA test, the results confirm long-standing suspicions. Clifford, overwhelmed by the revelations, reaches out to Clarence. 

Note: This episode references suicide, please take care when listening.

When baby Clarence Hynes was brought home from the hospital, someone casually asked if this small dark haired baby was really a Hynes? His parents ignored it, taught to let mysteries lie. And after they died early, Clarence put his head down and focused on being a good big brother and supporting his family. So when someone mistook him for an Avery brother, he shrugged it off: “Somebody always looks like somebody, right?” But the coincidences became too insistent to ignore.

At a worksite on Newfoundland’s coast, the staff take a break for birthday cake in honour of Craig Avery’s 52nd birthday. Coincidentally, another coworker Clarence Hynes is also turning 52 and was born in the same hospital in the same small town as Craig — Come By Chance. The serendipitous discovery starts a chain of events in motion that will ultimately change the course of their lives.

The island of Newfoundland keeps its secrets close, shrouds them in mystery. But sometimes the fog lifts, difficult truths emerge. When two men discover they were born in the same hospital on the same day, an unbelievable secret changes everything forever.

Hosted by Luke Quinton. Seven episodes releasing Tuesday, June 4, 2024.