DRESDEN 1957
On August 14, 1957, six immigrant workers were buried alive when the excavation they were working in collapsed. Despite the warnings of the engineer, and smaller cave-ins that foreshadowed the catastrophe, no safety measures had been taken.
It was Ontario’s worst workplace tragedy, but today the story is unknown.
Our documentary, Dresden 1957 will reconstruct this devastating event through the eyes of the people who experienced it. We’re making this film to honour the victims, their families, and the challenging immigrant experience; to raise awareness of workplace safety issues that continue to cost lives and devastate families in our time, and save a piece of our shared history.
Join us in bringing this story to light. Your support will ensure that the lessons of our past are not lost and that those who gave their lives are not forgotten.
Cinematographer Pawel Kasprzak filming near Dresden, Ontario
THE DAY IT HAPPENED
The pit was 35 feet deep. The men had worked all day, preparing the foundations for a new pumping station for the town of Dresden. At 7pm, just as they were almost finished, the east wall of the excavation collapsed. It took 38 hours to recover all of the bodies.
Photo by Keith Philpott, taken at 5pm on August 14, 1957. This is the last known photo of the men alive.
THE LIVES LOST
These men and their families were part of a huge wave of post-war Dutch migration to Canada. Like so many immigrants then and now, they were escaping a war-ravaged country in hopes of a better future.
The Oldewening family on board Groote Beer in 1953. (Jan Oldewening is wearing a baseball cap in the photo above.)
Keith Philpott's original site drawing for the pumping station.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
Keith Philpott, was the site engineer for the Dresden waterworks construction in 1957. In 2020 we discovered his diary, photos, and drawings, shedding new light on the disaster.
These documents, combined with painstaking research and the testimony of dozens of witnesses, have allowed us to reconstruct what happened. At last the whole story can be told.
HELP US TELL THIS STORY
Dresden 1957 is bigger than one terrible disaster. This is our story: It’s about coming to Canada; it’s about the building of modern Ontario; it’s about how immigrants aren’t always treated the same as locals. It's also about what's best in us, when we step up to help others in desperate need. Most of all, it’s about looking in the mirror, because we can't learn from our past if we don't even know it.
Preparing to remove one of the bodies. Photo from the London Free Press archives.
SO IT'S NEVER AGAIN FORGOTTEN
We’re making Dresden 1957 because tragedies like these should not be forgotten. We’re doing it to honor the memory of those who died, those who tried to save them, and those whose lives were changed forever.
We’re making this film because we believe that stories like this matter.
JOIN US
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