There were 40 known prisoner-of-war camps across Canada during World War II, although this number also includes internment camps that held Canadians of German and Japanese descent. [1] Several reliable sources indicate that there were only 25 or 26 camps holding exclusively prisoners from foreign countries, nearly all from Germany. [2] [3] [4]
The camps were identified by letters at first, then by numbers. [5] In addition to the main camps there were branch camps and labour camps. The prisoners were given various tasks; many worked in the forests as logging crews or on nearby farms; they were paid a nominal amount for their labour. Approximately 11,000 were thus employed by 1945. [3]
The largest number of military prisoners of war was recorded as 33,798 by several sources. [6] [7] [8] In addition to POWs, some civilian internees were held in the camps and some estimates include such prisoners. [7] [9]
All POWs were protected by the conditions of the Geneva Convention. There are claims that conditions in the Canadian camps tended to be better than average, and many times better than the conditions of the barracks that Canadian troops were kept in. [2] They were guarded by the Veterans Guard of Canada, mostly men who had been soldiers during WW I. [7] It is believed by some that the lenient treatment foiled many escape attempts before they even started. It is told that a group of German prisoners returned to Ozada camp after escaping because of encountering a grizzly bear. [10] Starting in 1945, all POWs were released and returned to their home countries. [7] None were allowed to remain in Canada, but some later returned as immigrants. [3]
Camp | Place | Province | Relative Location | Specific Location | Period |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 | Chatham | Ontario | 260 km southwest of Toronto | 1944 1945-1946 | |
10 | Fingal | Ontario | 40 km south of London | 1945-1946 | |
20 (C) | Gravenhurst | Ontario | 170 km north of Toronto | 1940-1946 | |
21 (F) | Espanola | Ontario | 330 km NNW of Toronto | 1940-1943 | |
22 (M) | Mimico | Ontario | 15 km west of Toronto | 1940-1944 | |
23 (Q) | Monteith (near Iroquois Falls) | Ontario | 700 km north of Toronto | 1940-1946 | |
30 | Bowmanville | Ontario | 65 km ENE of Toronto | 1941-1945 | |
31 (F) | Kingston | Ontario | 145 km SSW of Ottawa | 1940-1943 | |
32 (H) | Hull | Quebec | 10 km north of Ottawa | 1941-1947 | |
33 (F) | Petawawa | Ontario | 130 km WNW of Ottawa | 1942-1946 | |
40 (A) | Farnham | Quebec | 50 km ESE of Montreal | 825 Rue Principale O, Farnham, QC [11] | 1940-1941 1942-1943 1944-1946 |
42 (N) | Newington (Sherbrooke) | Quebec | 130 km east of Montreal | 990 Rue Bowen S, Sherbrooke, QC [12] | 1942-1946 |
43 | Ile Ste Helene, Montreal | Quebec | 1940-1943 | ||
44 | Feller College / Grande Ligne | Quebec | 56 km southeast of Montreal | 1943-1946 | |
45 | Sorel | Quebec | 65 km NNE of Montreal | 1945-1946 | |
70 (B) | Fredericton (Ripples) | New Brunswick | 20 km east of Fredericton | 1941-1945 | |
100 (W) | Neys | Ontario | 1100 km northwest of Toronto | 1944-1943 1944-1946 | |
101 (X) | Angler | Ontario | 800 km northwest of Toronto | 1941-1946 | |
130 | Seebe | Alberta | 100 km west of Calgary | 1939-1946 | |
132 | Medicine Hat | Alberta | 260 km ESE of Calgary | 2055 21 Ave SE, Medicine Hat, AB | 1943-1945 |
133 | Ozada | Alberta | 130 km west of Calgary | 1942 | |
133 | Lethbridge | Alberta | 160 km southeast of Calgary | 1942-1946 | |
? | Chisholm | Alberta | 180 km N of Edmonton | ? | |
135 | Wainwright | Alberta | 190 km ESE of Edmonton | 1945-1946 | |
(R) | Red Rock | Ontario | Lake Superior | 1940-1941 | |
? | Whitewater | Manitoba | Riding Mountain National Park | 1943-1945 | |
N/A | Wainfleet | Ontario | Close to Port Colborne | 1943-1945 |
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
From 1942 to 1949, Canada forcibly relocated and incarcerated over 22,000 Japanese Canadians—comprising over 90% of the total Japanese Canadian population—from British Columbia in the name of "national security". The majority were Canadian citizens by birth and were targeted based on their ancestry. This decision followed the events of the Japanese Empire's war in the Pacific against the Western Allies, such as the invasion of Hong Kong, the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the Fall of Singapore which led to the Canadian declaration of war on Japan during World War II. Similar to the actions taken against Japanese Americans in neighbouring United States, this forced relocation subjected many Japanese Canadians to government-enforced curfews and interrogations, job and property losses, and forced repatriation to Japan.
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
Marlag und Milag Nord was a Second World War German prisoner-of-war camp complex for men of the British and Canadian Merchant Navy and Royal Navy. It was located around the village of Westertimke, about 30 km (19 mi) north-east of Bremen, though in some sources the camp's location is given as Tarmstedt, a larger village about 4 km (2.5 mi) to the west. There were also American merchant seamen detained here as well as some U.S. Navy personnel.
Stalag XX-A was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located in Toruń in German-occupied Poland. It was not a single camp and contained as many as 20,000 men at its peak. The main camp was located in seven forts of the 19th-century Toruń Fortress, located in the southern part of the city.
The Ukrainian Canadian internment was part of the confinement of "enemy aliens" in Canada during and for two years after the end of the First World War. It lasted from 1914 to 1920, under the terms of the War Measures Act.
Espeland detention camp was an internment camp opened in 1943 by Nazi Germany in occupied Norway next to the village of Espeland in the borough of Arna, Bergen.
Neys Provincial Park is a natural environment-class provincial park on the north shore of Lake Superior, just west of Marathon, Ontario, Canada. This 5,383-hectare (13,300-acre) park includes the historic Coldwell Peninsula and the surrounding island system, consisting of Pic Island, Detention Island, and the Sullivan Islands.
Stalag X-B was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp located near Sandbostel in Lower Saxony in north-western Germany. Between 1939 and 1945 several hundred thousand POW's of 55 nations passed through the camp. Due to the bad conditions in which they were housed, thousands died there of hunger, disease, or were killed by the guards. Estimates of the number of dead range from 8,000 to 50,000.
North Point Camp was a Japanese World War II Prisoner-of-war camp in North Point, Hong Kong which primarily held Canadian and Royal Naval prisoners.
The Castle Mountain Internment Camp, located in Banff National Park, Alberta, was the largest internment facility in the Canadian Rockies, housing several hundred prisoners at any one time. Established on July 13, 1915, a total of 660 enemy aliens were interned at the facility during its entire operation.
George Kenner was a German artist. He made 110 paintings and drawings during the First World War while interned as a German civilian internee in Great Britain and the Isle of Man.
The Battle of Bowmanville was a 1942 revolt in the Bowmanville prisoner of war camp in Ontario, Canada. The prisoners, most of whom were higher-ranking German officers, objected to the intended shackling of 100 prisoners. The battle lasted for three days.
The POW Camp 23, Monteith was a Canadian-run POW camp during World War II, located in Monteith, Iroquois Falls, Ontario.
Whitewater was a labour camp for German prisoners-of-war in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. Operating from 1943 to 1945, the camp was built on the northeast shore of Whitewater Lake, approximately 300 kilometres (190 mi) north-west of Winnipeg. The camp consisted of fifteen buildings and housed 440 to 450 prisoners of war.
Alfred Burke Thompson (1915–1985), was an officer in the Royal Air Force and then the Royal Canadian Air Force, was the first Canadian taken prisoner in World War II, was a participant in the 'Great Escape', and was the Canadian who was the longest ever held as a prisoner of war.
Nazi Germany operated around 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps during World War II (1939-1945).
Camp 130, also known as the Kananaskis Camp and the Camp Seebe was a Canadian prisoner-of-war camp located near Seebe, Alberta. The camp operated from september 1939 to June 1946.
An Internment Camp in Vernon, BC was established to hold enemy aliens and POWs during the First World War. Once Canada entered World War I, fears of enemy aliens on the home front began to arise. To combat this, the Canadian Government implemented The War Measures Act which gave them the authority to intern and disenfranchise enemy alines living in Canada. Approximately 8,500 enemy aliens were interned across Canada, with majority of the 24 camps located around the Rocky Mountains and large population centres in Ontario. Vernon housed the permanent camp in British Columbia, operating from September 18th, 1914 to February 20th, 1920.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)