Mona Parsons
Video: http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=14740
Radio: http://www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=14811
Mona Parsons was born in 1901 in Nova Scotia. She moved to New York City in 1929 to pursue an acting career. There she met a Dutch millionaire. They got married in 1937 and moved to Holland. When the Nazis invaded Holland in 1940, the couple became part of the resistance and helped Allied airmen who had been shot down get back to Britain.
An informer gave them away in 1941, and Parsons was condemned to death. She appealed her sentence and had it commuted to life in prison. Parsons was interned in Vechta prison where she met a young woman. In 1945, Vechta prison was heavily bombed, and Parsons and her friend escaped from the prison. For two weeks, the women travelled across Germany, posing as German sisters. At the Dutch border, the pair became separated. Parsons continued on her own and eventually found a Canadian unit, the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. There, she met Harry Foster, a friend from Wolfville.
She was reunited with her husband, who had also been imprisoned. But he never recovered from his treatment in jail, and died in 1956. In 1957, she moved back to Nova Scotia, and married Harry Foster
in 1959. He died in 1964, and Mona died in 1976. Parsons received a commendation for her war effort from British Air Marshal Lord Tedder and US president Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Whose point of view is this selection told from? What message does this selection send?
(from the point of view of Canada, Canadian people; Canadians were in WWII and some were very brave; Mona Parsons was a very brave Canadian during WWII)
Do you have enough background knowledge about World War II to understand this selection? What questions do you ask yourself as you read this text?
(I know some things from watching movies, TV shows, and talking about it in class; why was Mona Parsons in Holland if she was Canadian; what was it like when Canadians liberated Holland; how did the resistance get the airmen back to Britain)
Histor!ca Minutes are short films (a minute long) that capture a moment in Canadian history. Their purpose is to celebrate Canadian history, to inform us, and get us interested in it. Why is it important to keep that in mind as you read or view a Histor!ca Minute?
(the point of view would be biased toward Canada/Canadian involvement and
will present only their point of view; because they are so short, they may not tell all of the story)
Discussing the Selection
Reread the transcript and make jot notes about the facts they learned about Mona Parsons and what happened to her.
Summarize the story of Mona Parsons as told in the transcript and retell it in the order it happened.
(she was in the resistance in Holland and helped airmen who had been shot down get back to Britain; she was caught and sentenced to death; she escaped and was found by Canadian soldiers who had liberated Holland; one of the soldiers was Harry Foster, someone she knew from Canada; after the war, she married him in Nova Scotia)
What have you learned about World War II from this selection that you didn’t know before?
If Mona Parsons became a motivational speaker, what might her speeches be about? (standing up in the face of fear and doing what’s right)
Do you think Histor!ca Minutes are a good idea? Why or why not?
(yes, because it might make the viewer become interested in our history and want to learn more)
Listening to Histor!ca Minutes Radio
Listen to the story of Mona Parsons as told on Histor!ca Minutes Radio. Compare the radio segment and the transcript. How are the pieces the same? different?
Did you learn anything new from the radio broadcast? What?
Which one do you prefer and why?