Wainwright Internment Camp 135 1944 1946

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Wainwright Internment Camp 1351944 - 1946

• Prepared by
• Capt Kevin Winfield
• June 2005

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Discussion Points

• Historical Overview
• PoW Camps in Canada Alberta
• Wainwright Internment Camp 135

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Historical Overview

• 1939
• German invasion of Poland
• Britain and France declare war on Germany
• Initial engagements result in German PoWs and
  internees

4
Historical Overview

• 1940
• Fall of France
• Threat of German invasion of Britain
• Growing anxiety over Axis PoWs in UK

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Historical Overview

• 1940
• Canada and Australia petitioned by Britain to
  take in PoWs
• Canada agrees to help already accepting
  captured German merchant seamen as early as
  September, 1939

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Historical Overview

• 1940
• First boatload of 3,000 German Officers arrives
  in Canada in June

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POW Camps

• Canada eventually establishes 26 Camps
  nationwide, housing 37,525 PoWs at their peak
• Locations ranged from historic Old Fort Henry
  (Kingston) to makeshift barracks in the
  Kananaskis
• Situated primarily in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec
  and New Brunswick

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POW Camps

• German PoW treatment in Canada considerably
  better than that of their Allied counterparts
• Criticism emerges that PoW camps were too posh
• Actual conditions varied, but much truth in
  claims

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POW Camps

• Alberta technically
• operated five camps
• during WW II

Kananaskis (Seebe)
Medicine Hat
Ozada
Lethbridge
Wainwright
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POW Camps

• The PoW Camps in Alberta were the biggest in
  North America
• The largest of these were in Lethbridge and
  Medicine Hat identical in design, they held up
  to 12,500 PoWs and cost more than 2 million to
  construct

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Internment Camp 135

• Construction of Wainwright Internment Camp 135
  began in late Autumn, 1944
• Almost six feet of ground frost recorded
• Despite very poor weather conditions, the Camp
  was completed by end January, 1945

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Internment Camp 135
The first 523 prisoners arrived Monday morning,
29 January 1945, by train escort from Kananaskis
(Seebe) Camp 130
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Internment Camp 135

• Wainwright PoW compound relatively modest in its
  size
• Guarded by World War One Veterans
• PoWs consisted of officers, ORs and captured
  civilians
• Internee population peaked at 1090 in May 1945

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Internment Camp 135
Camp Perspectives Under Construction
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Internment Camp 135
Camp Perspectives PoW Barracks (facing
northwest)
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Internment Camp 135
Camp Perspectives PoW Barracks (facing north)
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Internment Camp 135
Camp Perspectives Building 27 (facing northeast)
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Internment Camp 135
Camp Perspectives Inside Building 27
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Internment Camp 135
Camp Perspectives Inside Building 27
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Internment Camp 135
Camp Perspectives German PoW Band
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Internment Camp 135
Historical HighlightsJan 44 to Jun 46
Only two prisoners successfully escaped
(re-captured the following month)
A 20 foot tunnel (with an eight foot shaft) was
discovered during a surprise inspection of a PoW
Barracks
Only one PoW death occurred at the Campa suicide
by a Luftwaffe Lieutenant near the Buffalo Park
Gates
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Internment Camp 135

• As the PoWs were officially British (and not
  Canadian) prisoners, they had to be returned to
  Europe after the war for release
• The warning order for their mass return from
  Wainwright was received on 14 May 1946, just over
  a year after the war in Europe had ended

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Internment Camp 135

• The last of the remaining PoWs left Wainwright 10
  days later, on 24 May 1946
• The Camp staff and Guard company were reduced to
  nil strength on 14 June 1946, marking the end of
  Internment Camp 135

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Legacy Projects
CFB/ASU Wainwright POW Tower Display
Wainwright District Museum
Battle River Historical Society
Wainwright Main Street Project