The years between 1948 and 1952 were significantly formative years of the Cold War. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization had been established, Mao Zedong had declared the establishment of the communist People’s Republic of China, the USSR had acquired nuclear capability, and the states of West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) and East Germany (German Democratic Republic) were formally established and  the winter of 1952 would bring with it the paranoia of McCarthyism.War had broken out over the political future of the Korean peninsula; pitting communists against capitalist states as the conflict  escalated to involve the China and the West.


The Summer Games, held in Helsinki, Finland, were the first in which the tensions of the Cold War were strongly evident. The Soviet Union sent athletes to the competitions yet refused to house them in the Olympic Village. Instead, Soviet athletes were housed in an isolated and guarded facility near the Soviet naval base at Porkkala. Soviet Olympians  traveled to and from events under escort and were kept wholly segregated from their peers. On both the east and west side of the Cold War divide, governements equated athletic successes and medal tallies with the superiority of their particular political system. American decathlete Bob Mathias is quoted as saying, “there were many more pressures on American athletes because of the Russians. . . . They were in a sense the real enemy. You just loved to beat 'em. You just had to beat 'em. . . . This feeling was strong down through the entire team.” This sentiment was echoed by Soviet officials and both sides sought to exploit the propaganda opportunities of the Olympic Games.


In 1949 Mao Zedong had declared the establishment of the People’s Republic of China; a communist state occupying mainland China. The nationalist Chinese, under the leadership of Chiang Kai Shek had gone into exile to the island of Formosa/Taiwan naming themselves the Republic of China. On July 20, the nationalist Chinese withdrew from the competitions on the grounds that the People’s Republic of China had been allowed to participate. The 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki may have been the first where Cold War conflicts truly shared the stage with international fellowship, but they certainly wouldn’t be the last.

We are pleased to present the first sampling of our Bunker Photography Series of photos. This series features the creative output of local professional photographers who have been invited to the bunker to attempt to visually capture the building, its contents and its atmosphere. Photographers are giving special permission to freely roam the Bunker and to choose how to interpret what they see. The end result of this program will yield the first exhibition and publication of artistic Bunker photography.

Daniel's work extends from Toronto - Ottawa - Montreal. His interest and ability to capture large architectural spaces, such as the Senate of Canada and bulky industrial machinery was welcomed to the Diefenbunker. His photos have given a new life to often photographed areas of the building. His professional work may be seen on his website found here:

By Matt Aubin  (Diefenbunker Interpreter)

The Vancouver 2010 Olympics games are rapidly approaching, and for every month of this Olympic year, the DiefenBlog will feature a short piece about how the global conflict of the Cold War played out at various Olympic venues.

Chapter 5 of the Olympic Charter states that “no kind of demonstration of political, religious, or racial propaganda is permitted in the Olympic areas.” The Olympics are intended to be a celebration of sport and international cooperation that trumps politics and nationalist agendas. Unfortunately, throughout the Cold War era the Olympic Games were occasionally used as a political and ideological "battleground".

The first Olympic Games to follow the Second World War were held in the winter of 1948, in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The host country had been neutral throughout WWII, and Germany and Japan were not invited to participate by the international community for WWII aggressions. The games were a simple affair, the world was still recovering from the depletion of physical and economic resources incurred during the war. By 1948 the USSR had yet to participate in any modern Olympic Games and although invited to St. Moritz, USSR opted not to send any athletes. They did however, send observers to assess how well Soviet participants might have fared.

The Summer Games in London, England of the same year would be the first Olympics to highlight the post-WWII East-West divide. The Games were a frugal event. There was no new construction for the games, and athletes were housed in former barracks and college dormitories. Germany and Japan were excluded from these games as well, and the Soviet Union again opted not to participate despite being invited to do so. The London Games would be the first to feature a political defection over Cold War lines. Czechoslovakia, after only months of communist takeover, did send a team to London. Czechoslovakian gymnast Marie Provaznikova refused to return to her homeland after winning a gold medal citing: "A lack of freedom."  Both the Winter and Summer Olympic Games of 1948 were undertaken with a spirit of renewal but given the potential uses of the Games as a stage for international propaganda, political undertones became obvious. The East-West divide of the Cold War would remain a defining characteristic of the Olympics 1948 until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

     Next month, as the Winter Games get underway in Vancouver, the DiefenBlog will feature a look at the 1952 winter Olympics, held in Oslo, Norway and the summer Games of Helsinki, Finland. The Helsinki Olympics were the first in which the Soviet Union fielded athletes.

The Capital Campaign has reached its goal of $1.65 million (CAD)! 

Jim Watson, on the day of his announcement to step down as an Ontario MPP. to officially enter the City of Ottawa mayoral race, stopped by the Diefenbunker, along with MP Gordon O'Connor to make the announcement of their respective levels of government's further commitment to the Diefenbunker museum.
The additional contributions of  $386,000 by the province of Ontario and $106,000 by the Federal Government mean that the museum has raised the necessary amount to cover the costs of the capacity expansion. The work to the museum, already underway, will be complete by the end of April 2010 and the new programs (including audio and self guided tours,  new interactive experiences and multilingual accessibility) will launch on June 28, 2010.