As part of their efforts to help POWs interned in Canada, the War Prisoners’ Aid of the YMCA printed and distributed thousands of Christmas cards each year for POWs and internees in the country. Calls for art submissions were issued to internment camps and POW artists submitted sketches, paintings, and linocuts in the chance ofContinue reading “Christmas in Canada, 1941”
Tag Archives: PoW Mail
Request for Help: Transcribing a Letter
Update (May 15, 2020): A big thank you to Andreas who was able to decipher the handwriting and provide me with a transcription of the letter. Thank you to everyone else who offered their help, I really appreciate it! I’ve added the transcription and rough translation after the images. I am hoping someone will beContinue reading “Request for Help: Transcribing a Letter”
Snapshot from Neys
While picture postcards of German prisoners of war in Canada are not particularly uncommon, examples from certain camps can prove more difficult to find (for more on PoW picture postcards, see my earlier post here). In my experience, images from Camp 100 at Neys, Ontario are among those harder to find. I was therefore quiteContinue reading “Snapshot from Neys”
Happy New Year 1946
Wishing a Happy New Year to all my readers! In 1945, PoW Willi Nötel gave this Happy New Year card to his fellow PoW and friend Erich Neumann in Camp 132 at Medicine Hat, Alberta. Both the double-sided card and envelope are hand-made, presumably by Nötel, and note he even replicated the postal cancellation onContinue reading “Happy New Year 1946”
A Secret Message
In the summer, I ran the first of a series of posts about prisoner of war mail (see here) and I briefly mentioned the censorship of PoW mail. Incoming and outgoing mail was censored by Canadian military and civilian officials to prevent PoWs from leaking sensitive information about Canadian wartime operations, their locations, and informationContinue reading “A Secret Message”
Can Anyone ID this Luftwaffe Pilot?
This is a bit of a longshot, but does anyone happen to recognize the individual second from the left? He looks extremely familiar but I have been unable to place him. The picture was taken at Camp 44 at Grande Ligne, Quebec, likely in the Summer of 1943. Apart from the fact that he isContinue reading “Can Anyone ID this Luftwaffe Pilot?”
Picture Postcards – Part III of PoW Mail
Continuing with the topic of Prisoner of War mail, today’s post deals with the picture postcard, a popular form of communication between PoWs and their friends and family back home. Picture postcards are exactly what they sound like: postcards with a picture on them. As I’ve mentioned before, these photos not only allowed PoWs toContinue reading “Picture Postcards – Part III of PoW Mail”
Prisoner of War Mail and the YMCA – Part II of PoW Mail
Updated translations August 5, 2014 and November 29, 2016 – Thanks to Günther and Joel for their help! In my last post I introduced the basics of Prisoner of War mail in Canada during the Second World War. Today, I’m going to continue this by showing another type of postcard. In the early years ofContinue reading “Prisoner of War Mail and the YMCA – Part II of PoW Mail”
Kriegsgefangenenpost (Prisoner of War Mail) – Part I
After an unintended hiatus, here is the first of a series of posts about prisoner of war mail. Now you may be thinking this isn’t the most exciting subject or the most exhilarating objects (and I don’t blame you) but there is more to it than it may appear! I have shown a few PoWContinue reading “Kriegsgefangenenpost (Prisoner of War Mail) – Part I”
Postcard from a Future Escapee – Heinz Gummert
Picture postcards were quite popular with PoWs as it offered them a chance to show their families how they were doing as they waited out the end of the war in Canada. As these photographs were taken by photographers approved by the Canadian military, they also served an important propaganda by demonstrating that the prisonersContinue reading “Postcard from a Future Escapee – Heinz Gummert”
POWs in Canada 