Camp 44 – Grande Ligne – POWs in Canada

Date Opened: June 1943
Date Closed: April 1946
Capacity: 725
Type of POW: Combatant Officers

Description:

The arrival of thousands of German Prisoners of War captured in the North African campaign prompted a significant expansion of Canada’s Internment Operations. Combatant other ranks were transferred to the new camps in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat but, with Camp 20 (Gravenhurst) and Camp 30 (Bowmanville) at capacity, another internment camp was needed to house combatant officers. After reviewing suitable sites, the Directorate of Internment Operations settled on opening a new camp on the grounds of the Feller Institute in Grande Ligne, Quebec.

Founded in 1836, the Feller Institue (or Institut Feller) was a boarding school located some thirty-five kilometres southeast of Montreal. The school was run from a large four-story building but the property included a farm, church, and residences for staff – facilities well-suited for an internment camp.

Feller Institute prior to the war. The four-story building was used as the primary prisoners’ barracks while the brick building in front of the water tower housed the laundry, workshop, and hospital. BAnQ 0003740134.

The Department of National Defence took over the site in early 1943 and began converting the property into Camp 44. Like most internment camps, Camp 44 was surrounded by two layers of barbed wire fence and a warning wire. Guards manned six guard towers and a tall wood fence was erected along the highway to block the view of curious onlookers.

The first prisoners, 372 officers and ninety-two other ranks, arrived from Camp 40 (Farnham) in late June and were joined by another 100 officers and thirty other ranks transferred from the United Kingdom the following month.

Officers at Camp 44 (Grande Ligne) in front of the “White House”. From left to right: Franz Karl Stanzel, Helmut Röderer, Hans Wanka, Alfred Kindler, Gottfried Schumann, and Robert Meyer. All these officers had been interned together at British Camp 1 at Grizedale Hall, England. Author’s Collection.

The main four-story building housed 500 German officers. Senior officers enjoyed semi-private rooms, sharing with one or two others, while junior officers shared their rooms with four to six others. In addition to POW quarters, the building also included large kitchens in the basement, a mess hall, a recreation room and concert hall with stage, classrooms, offices, quartermasters stores, a dental clinic, as well as a library. Attached was a large gymnasium with basketball courts, parallel bars, and even a spectator’s gallery, as well as a small hospital, the camp’s Scout Centre, and detention cells.

Three private houses that previously housed the school’s faculty were repurposed to each accommodate six to eight senior officers, while a two-story barrack housed up to 160 other ranks – individuals assigned as stewards or those to help with the day-to-day running of the camp – and included its own dining hall and recreation room.

Following their arrival, the prisoners made some adjustments to the camp to better suit their needs. Of the three houses converted to officers’ residences, only one, the “White House,” was used to house senior officers. The other two became the “House of Art,” which held the barber, tailor, and shoemaker shops on the main floor and artists’ studios on the upper floor, and the “House of Music,” which was converted to practice rooms for the camp’s musicians.

Camp 44 “Grand Orchestra” led by Oblt. Hans Brandes (believed seated in the middle), in October 1943. Dr. Hans Ulrich Roll is in the seated second from left and Werner Diederichs is standing third from left.

The prisoners quickly put together a symphony orchestra led by Oblt. Hans Brandes and, over the coming months, this grew to include forty musicians, all but one of whom were amateurs. A twelve piece light music orchestra, two dance bands, and several chamber music ensembles were also assembled, all of whom put on regular performances or played in the officers’ mess.

Sport remained a popular pastime year-round, although the outdoor sports changed with the seasons. The camp had three separate sports fields, the largest of which was built by the prisoners and opened in June 1944. This sports field featured a 500 yard oval running track, a 100 yard track, a jumping pit, football grounds, and three tennis courts. Running, high-jump, long-jump, discus, handball, shot-put, tennis, and, of course, football (soccer), were played all summer while, in the winter, the prisoners built a hockey rink and turned the tennis courts into skating rinks for figure skating. With access to an indoor gymnasium, the prisoners were able to play basketball, gymnastics, badminton, boxing, and fencing year-round in addition to table tennis, chess, skat, bridge, and poker. The Commandant also permitted groups of up to 100 POWs to walk the grounds of the camp’ farm on a parole basis.

Apart from sports, education helped filled many prisoners’ days and, at its peak, over 400 POWs were engaged in some form of coursework. Subjects taught at Camp 44 included German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Swedish, Law, Economics, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Mechanics, Geology, Draughting, History, Geography, Music and Arts, and Agriculture. Visiting professors from McGill University also gave lectures on Canadian subjects and were always well-attended.

A view inside the officer’s mess at Camp 44 (Grande Ligne). ICRC V-P-HIST-03384-13A.

In addition to 4,000-volume library, the prisoners had access to daily newspapers like The New York Times, Montreal Gazette, la Presse, and Montreal Daily Star. Magazine subscriptions covered an array of subjects and included titles like Time, Look, Picture Post, Star Weekly, Colliers, New World, Reader’s Digest, Harper’s Magazine, Hunting and Fishing, House and Garden, Movies Star, Screen Guide, Architectural Forum, Fortune, Natural History, Popular Photography, Illustrated London News, Picture Post, War Illustrated, Daily Mail, and Farmers’ Magazine.

With several talented artists and craftsmen, there was significant interest in handicrafts and art. The prisoners held several exhibitions but interest in the subject tapered off in favour of taking courses to prepare for post-war civilian life.

“Die Farm” by “befi” (believed to be H.D. von Tiesenhausen) – Linocut print of the POW farm at Camp 44 (Grande Ligne). Author’s Collection.

Opportunities for work were always in demand and the Department of National Defence had taken this into consideration when selecting the Feller Institute for an internment camp for it came with a large farm. Camp staff permitted the prisoners to work the sixty-five acre property and, under the direction of professional agriculturalist and POW Werner Kahmann, the prisoners cultivated about half of the farmland, leaving the rest as pasture or bush. Some 20 POWs were assigned to daily chores while the majority of the prisoners worked as needed, with up to seventy POWs working on the fields each day and another 100 tending private garden plots. The prisoners planted potatoes, corn, oats, barley, turnips, and garden vegetables and also kept several cows, pigs, and chickens. Several POWs also tended bee colonies apparently sourced from a relation of American General George S. Patton and, as such, the bees were referred to as “Patton’s Panzerbees.”

Unidentified officers at Camp 44 (Grande Ligne) in October 1943. Note the pet dog in the background. Author’s Collection.

While the officers at Camp 44 enjoyed better living conditions than prisoners in several other camps, across the country, some of the prisoners did their best to remain active participants in the war. A pro-Nazi contingent took control within the camp, setting up its own intelligence group to monitor the activities of their fellow POWs, a propaganda and education committee, and a Gestapo-like section to enact punishment on those who didn’t fall in line as well. Rounding out the group was an escape committee that oversaw the planning and execution of all escape attempts.

While the identity of many pro-Nazis was known to camp staff, their fanaticism came to light after the camp’s Roman Catholic Priest informed camp staff that his life was in danger and the fanatical pro-Nazis had assembled a “Hari-Kari Club” intent on death and destruction. In the event of a German surrender, this club planned to murder the anti-Nazis in camp before rushing and overwhelming the guards at any cost. Once free of the camp, the members were to proceed to and sabotage nearby industrial areas, airports, and other important sites. Recognizing this would result in their own deaths, the members of this group simply wanted to cause as much mayhem as possible.

While the plot seemed fantastical, other informants confirmed the existence of the “Hari-Kari Club” and internment authorities sprang into action. Additional troops and machine guns were brought in to not only reinforce camp guards but to protect the nearby civilian population. Transferring the pro-Nazis to a more secure camp became a top priority, prompting the Department of National to begin preparing a new camp, Camp 135 at Wainwright, Alberta.

The subsequent transfer of pro-Nazi POWs from Grande Ligne to Camp 130 (Seebe) and Camp 135 (Wainwright) succeeded in preventing any trouble and did much to improve morale in camp. The remaining pro-Nazis found themselves with little influence over their fellow prisoners. With the help of the new anti-Nazi camp spokesman, General Johann von Ravenstein, anti-Nazis were finally able to speak freely and discuss matters with camp Intelligence Officers without fearing for their lives. Anti-Nazi lecturers worked with camp staff to develop and deliver courses to help de-Nazify and re-educate their comrades, prompting a significant number of POWs to apply to remain in Canada.

As Canada began transferring POWs to the United Kingdom, the prisoners at Grande Ligne were transferred to Camp 40 (Farnham) in April 1946. The camp closed shortly thereafter.

Following the prisoners’ departure, the army buildings were dismantled and the site was returned to the Feller Institute. The school remained operational for the next twenty years, closing in 1967. The main building, formerly the officers’ barracks, was destroyed in a fire in 1968 but several of the smaller buildings still stand, including the “White House” (now red) and the “Yellow House,” and are used as private residences.