Today, I received a selection of records and photographs belonging to a former POW, Leutnant Bernhard Brockmeier. With today being the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landings and knowing little about the contents of the records or Brockmeier’s wartime career, I was quite surprised at what I found. Seventy-two years ago today, on June 6,Continue reading “A D-Day Prisoner”
Tag Archives: World War II
Happy Mother’s Day!
Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and all the others out there! Sometime during his internment in Canada, PoW Albert Ammer wrote one of Bruno Schönlank’s poem in the empty pages of his copy of Ein Kleines Buch, a PoW-produced book describing life at Camp 132 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Mutterhände Meiner Mutter Hände sindContinue reading “Happy Mother’s Day!”
Vimy Day, 1945
A Needle in a Beetstack
Some time ago I acquired a series of forty-five photos documenting a PoW’s time in Canada. As is so often the case, the photos are unnamed and the provenance was unknown. Three group photos of PoWs at Camp 133 at Lethbridge lead me to believe that the original owner of the group was the manContinue reading “A Needle in a Beetstack”
Searching for an Artist – PoW Richard Schlicker
Richard Schlicker was among the thousands of German soldiers captured in North Africa and subsequently shipped to Canada in 1942. First arriving at Camp 133 at Ozada, Alberta, Schlicker was later transferred to Camp 133 at Lethbridge, Alberta. With the exception of working on some Albertan farms in 1945, he spent the remainder of theContinue reading “Searching for an Artist – PoW Richard Schlicker”
A Request and a Response – June 1940
On June 7, 1940, High Commissioner for Canada in Great Britain, Vincent Massey, dispatched a telegram to the Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs that would ultimately have a drastic impact on Canadian internment operations in the years to come. At this time, Great Britain was holding 15,000 internees, both civilians and combatants, butContinue reading “A Request and a Response – June 1940”
Intelligence Roundup – Cake, a Flower Pot, and “The Last Wood-Cutter”
Stumbling across this in my search for intelligence reports regarding the VE-Day announcement in Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge, I wanted to share. Unsure of how PoWs would react to news of the German surrender, intelligence personnel at Medicine Hat’s Camp 132 asked a group of PoWs their thoughts as they were being transferred to aContinue reading “Intelligence Roundup – Cake, a Flower Pot, and “The Last Wood-Cutter””
VE Day – May 8, 1945
Today marks the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. At Camp 133 in Lethbridge, Alberta, the Camp Spokesman, Assistant Spokesman, and Interpreter were paraded in the Commandant’s office to inform them of the news. Shortly after, the PoWs were assembled in the camp and read the proclamation. The CommandantContinue reading “VE Day – May 8, 1945”
“Men of Vimy”
“They were the men of the Canadian Veterans’ Guards. Old soldiers who had not faded away but who have returned to serve with their sons.” An appropriate video considering the 98th anniversary of Vimy Ridge on April 9. The Canadian Army Newsreels series was produced by the Canadian Army Film Unit during the warContinue reading ““Men of Vimy””
Mapping PoWs in Canada
Few Canadians realize just how close the Second World War came to home, that from 1939 to 1947, Canada held over 34,000 prisoners of war. While many spent their days in one of twenty-eight internment camps, almost half of them were employed on a labour project by the end of the war. With some freeContinue reading “Mapping PoWs in Canada”
POWs in Canada 