A five-part podcast based on one of Mint’s award-winning feature documentaries has won the 2026 BANFF Rockie Award for Best Podcast.
Toy Soldier was based on ‘Hitler’s Jewish Soldier?’ (SBS, 2024), which told the staggering story of Melbourne pensioner Alex Kurzem who, as a child during WWII, faced a hideous choice: be killed or join the killers. He survived the Holocaust by joining a Latvian SS battalion, hid his secret in Melbourne for 50 years before searching for his real identity.
The documentary won the 2025 BANFF Rockie Award for best documentary (history & biography).
The podcast, commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, was up against four other finalists, including Audible Originals, RTE and iHeart Podcasts.
Toy Soldier was produced and narrated by Dan Goldberg. It was written by Ilina Ghosh and Dan Goldberg, mixed and sound designed by Julia Whitmann. Executive producers were Chris Oke and Cesil Fernandes with Arif Noorani as director of CBC podcasts.
Toy Soldier is part of CBC’s ‘Personally’ series and can be found on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6vT2CQdO8VnSFvoB3yrg8w
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/personally-toy-soldier/id1651894021
CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1340-run-hide-repeat
