German POW pictures from Canada

[Riley]

Greetings - You have a very nice selection of photographs & card. The Christmas card depicts the PoW barracks at Camp 133, Lethbridge, Alberta. Transfers between PoW camps in Canada was common.
The PoW made dugout canoes and used these during "time off from work" at logging camps. Known location where they were used are Whitewater Lake, Manitoba (where yours is shown), Algonquin Park, Ontario, and at Red Cliff Bay Bush Camp 52, (Sioux Narrows, Ontario).
The funeral procession with the grave marker (wood cross) in the lower center of the picture is attributed to the funeral of PoW ME047803 Max NEUGEBUER, who died on 16 MAR 44 while felling a tree - accidental death. Originally buried at the Riverside Cemetary, Dauphin, Manitoba. Since 1970, his remains rest at the German PoW Cemetary area in the Woodland Cemetary, Kitchener, Ontario.
The Church Service pictured also relates to the NEUGEBUER funeral, as do some of the other photographs.

- - Updated - -

Greetings - You have a very nice selection of photographs & card. The Christmas card depicts the PoW barracks at Camp 133, Lethbridge, Alberta. Transfers between PoW camps in Canada was common.
The PoW made dugout canoes and used these during "time off from work" at logging camps. Known location where they were used are Whitewater Lake, Manitoba (where yours is shown), Algonquin Park, Ontario, and at Red Cliff Bay Bush Camp 52, (Sioux Narrows, Ontario).
The funeral procession with the grave marker (wood cross) in the lower center of the picture is attributed to the funeral of PoW ME047803 Max NEUGEBUER, who died on 16 MAR 44 while felling a tree - accidental death. Originally buried at the Riverside Cemetary, Dauphin, Manitoba. Since 1970, his remains rest at the German PoW Cemetary area in the Woodland Cemetary, Kitchener, Ontario.
The Church Service pictured also relates to the NEUGEBUER funeral, as do some of the other photographs.

[greimers]

Fantastic photos and history, well done and thank you for sharing.

Regards, Grant.

[Riley]

Hello again;

PoW No. 32993, Soldat Georg BERCHTENBREITER arrived at Riding Mountain PoW Camp for cutting timber on 26 OCT 43, and was transferred to the Abitibi Bush Camp 30 at Magpie, ON., on 23 MAY 45.

[Bill T]

Very neat photos! I was also interested to see the Flag on the coffin. Alot of Canada's POW camps were actually pretty lenient when it came to regulations as compared to some others! I was told that Badges/Medals and Uniforms were allowed to be worn in alot of the camps as long as they were kept up, which suprised me. Thanks for sharing these

[Adam L]

Hello, I am very interested to find out how you were able to gather that information? As of yet I haven't been able to find any information in relation to my grandfathers POW time in Canada.

[Bill T]

Hi Adam,
PM sent.

To anyone who wants to know more about Canadian POWs/camps/artifacts/etc I reccomend the book in the link below. Bob, the author is a wealth of knowledge and a friendly guy as well.

Book (1993): German Prisoners of War in Canada and Their Artifacts, 1940-1948 - Canadian Escapades

[michaelo]

Hi Adam,
PM sent.

To anyone who wants to know more about Canadian POWs/camps/artifacts/etc I reccomend the book in the link below. Bob, the author is a wealth of knowledge and a friendly guy as well.

Book (1993): German Prisoners of War in Canada and Their Artifacts, 1940-1948 - Canadian Escapades

I will definitely second Bob as the best source of info on German PoWs in Canada! I believe member Riley is Bob as he posted the information that I had passed along to him.

I've been in touch with Adam but for those following this, I'll post a summary of what I've sent. Berchtenbrieter was most likely captured in late 1942 in North Africa, possibly at El Alamein. From there he was sent to Egypt, put on a ship, and transferred to North America or the UK. Either way, he would have ended up in Halifax or New York. From there he was loaded onto a train and likely sent to Camp 133 in Lethbridge, Alberta. In the summer of 1943, he was transferred to Camp 132 in Medicine Hat, where he volunteered for a labour project. As Riley mentioned, Berchtenbrieter was a PoW at Whitewater Lake, also known as the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project. He was one of 440 PoWs that arrived at the camp in October 1943. Located in the middle of Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, the camp was specifically built for the project. Surrounded by a minimum of ten kilometers of forest, it was decided that no fences or guard towers were needed. Berchtenbrieter was one of 400 PoWs assigned for the cutting and hauling of fuelwood to relieve a shortage suffered in Manitoba in the winter of 1942/3. The remaining forty prisoners were employed in the camp in various occupations. The camp operated until October 1945. Berchtenbrieter was one of 40 PoWs transferred from the Camp to another labour project, Camp 30, near Magpie, Ontario.

For anyone interested in learning more about the labour project in Riding Mountain, I've been posting about it here: Manitoba's Prisoners of War

For those wondering, PoW records in Canada are somewhat difficult to obtain. The vast majority of records are held at the Library and Archives Canada but none are available online. Records are organized by camp or labour project rather than by individuals. After the war, all individual files, except for some pay records, were destroyed. The pay records that did survive offer very little information but are still of some use. Unfortunately, Berchtenbrieter's record was misplaced or lost as I could not find a record of it when I was copying them.

[Riley]

I have collected PoW in Canada and the Veterans Guard in Canada for several years now, written books, etc., and have a well developed archive on the topic. If you have specific questions, send them along. I enjoy the research it may involve.

Riley

[Datrus]

Maybe a little off topic, but what on earth was German POW's doing in Canada? I read they where logging at some places, but were they transferred to Canada solely as slave labor?

Regards, Lars

[Walkwolf]

Many POW's were kept in camps in Canada and the US.
A good friends German father sat out the war as a
POW in Nebraska or somewhere.........