Following in their Footsteps

Originally posted at www.powsincanada.wordpress.com

For my 50th post and my one-year anniversary on Wordpress, I'd like to share what I've been up to these last few weeks.

Two years ago, I was forwarded an email from someone in Germany whose father had spent time in Canada during the Second World War as a prisoner of war. Lutz, the sender of the email, knew that his father had spent time at a camp in Manitoba but wasn't sure about his exact whereabouts. A quick search of my records provided some insight into the life of Lutz's father, Richard.

Richard Beranek after his capture in June 1944.

Richard Beranek was born on November 8th, 1926 in Mendrik, Czechoslovakia. Following his drafting into the German Army, Richard was posted to the Normandy region where, at the time of the D-Day landings, he was laying telephone lines in the Bayeux area. On June 8, 1944, British soldiers captured Richard, beginning his career as a prisoner of war.

Less than a month after his capture, Richard found himself aboard the Empress of Scotland en route to Halifax. Once the ship docked, Richard and 1,000 of his countrymen began the four-day journey to Camp 132 at Medicine Hat, Alberta.

In the early summer of 1945, Richard was once again loaded onto a train across the Canadian, prairies. This time, however, he was one of 100 PoWs destined for the farming project at Grassmere, Manitoba. The Grassmere Farming Project was located just north of Winnipeg and began its life in the 1930s as a relief project. By 1945, the buildings were vacant and were converted to be used as a makeshift prisoner of war camp. From June to November, Richard had his comrades worked on the local beet fields, assisting local farmers who needed extra labour.

PoWs at Mafeking, Manitoba.

In November, with the fall harvest, completed,the Manitoba Paper Co. of Pine Falls, requested that thirty prisoners be transferred to their lumber camp at Mafeking, Manitoba. Among those selected to be transferred was Richard.

At its peak, the Mafeking camp employed 130 PoWs and served as a wood-cutting camp for the Manitoba Paper Co. Throughout the winter, PoWs would cut and then haul wood to Mafeking, where it was then loaded onto trains to take it to the mill at Pine Falls. While it is unknown whether Richard worked as a woodcutter or a hauler and loader, he did enjoy his time working in the Canadian bush.

His time here, however, was brief, for in April 1946, the entire complement of the camp was transferred to Camp 23 at Monteith, Ontario and then repatriated back to Britain. Richard eventually made his way back to Germany in 1947 where he remained until he passed away in 1988. While he never had a chance to return to Canada, he fondly recalled his time here as the best years of his life.

Lutz at Grassmere.

Fast forward to August 2014, Lutz, his son Marcel, and his sister, Marianne, arrived in Winnipeg to retrace Richard's time in Manitoba. First visiting the site of the former camp at Grassmere, I was able to point out the rough location of the camp and share some of the stories told to me by one of the camp's former guards (on a side note, when I showed him a photograph of Richard, the former guard paused for a moment before saying "I know that face" - quite the experience for me to say the least!). I would also like to take the time to thank Darryl, who let us explore around his property - it was greatly appreciated!

 A week later, Ed Stozek had arranged for us to take two wagons out to the site of the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project (also known as the Whitewater Prisoner of War Camp) in Riding Mountain National Park. Fortunately the weather cooperated (mostly) and the day was spent exploring the site.

The Beraneks and Ed Stozek looking at Whitewater Lake in Riding Mountain National Park.

Last week, we visited the camp at Mafeking. With the assistance of a local, Delbert, who, at the age of six, met some of the PoWs, we toured around the sites inhabited and worked by Richard and his comrades. Like so many of the PoW camps in Canada, little is left of the site today. That being said, we were still able to find some of the log cabins built by the PoWs and various pieces of debris scattered throughout the site. Seventy years later, the Beraneks had returned to Mafeking.

The Beraneks exploring the remnants of a truck at Mafeking.

When I first received Lutz's email, I was certainly not expecting to be a part of experience such as this one. I feel extremely privileged to be able to be part of the Beranek's journey and to be able to help fill in some of the gaps of Richard's time in Canada.

It isn't everyday that you are able to take a family and show them where their father lived and worked seventy years ago...  

Note: For more of Lutz's journey, you can read Bill Redekop's article in the Winnipeg Free Press (link)

2014 PoW Wagon Tours

Back by Popular Demand! I can now confirm the return of the "From North Africa to the North Woods" wagon tour in Riding Mountain National Park.

Loaded onto four wagons, visitors become new prisoners heading out to the former site of the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project (also known as the Whitewater Lake PoW Camp) under the strict supervision of the guards. Learn what life was like at the camp as the guards and prisoners (interpretative staff) bring history to life through stories and photographs. Once at the camp, enjoy a traditional German meal, similar to that served to the prisoners at the worksites. After lunch, explore the site of the former camp with the aid of a GPS and myself.

Tour date is August 31.

Tickets are $62.00 each or $55.80 for Friends members and are available at the Nature Shop (RMNP Visitor Centre) or by calling (204) 848-4037.

For more information, please visit the Friends of Riding Mountain National Park's website.

The wagons depart from the north end of the Bison enclosure in Riding Mountain National Park at 9:15am and we return at 2:30pm.

Tickets are already selling and they will fill up a few weeks in advance!

Rebuilding a PoW Camp

Reblogged from my other site, powsincanada.wordpress.com

From October 1943 to October 1945, over 400 German prisoners of war (PoWs) were employed in a woodcutting operation in Manitoba’s Riding Mountain National Park. Housed in a newly built camp on the shore of Whitewater Lake, the PoWs had better living conditions than the majority of civilians living around the park. When the buildings of the camp were removed in 1945 and 1946, the area was allowed to return to its natural state. For seventy years, nature has reclaimed the site, which is now a small prairie bordered by spruce. The history, however, has not been forgotten. Through the use of a 3D reconstruction such as this one, I hope to achieve a better understanding of how PoWs experienced internment at Riding Mountain while, at the same time, contributing to better public interpretation on and off the site.

The first step was to find appropriate sources that would allow me to build models of the buildings. Fortunately, through my research, I have found photographs of almost every building at the camp. However, no map of the camp has survived and it near impossible to determine the camp’s layout from the photographs alone. A solution came with a 1949 aerial photograph from which I could make out the foundations of the majority of the camp’s buildings. Combining the information obtained from these photographs with an architectural plan for a bunkhouse similar to those built at Riding Mountain, I could now start modelling.

Using Trimble’s SketchUp program, I started modelling the buildings whose dimensions I knew, or was fairly certain of. While the majority of the buildings at the camp were standard military installations and could be modelled from the information obtained from the architectural plans, I encountered problems when trying to model unique buildings, such as the garage, barn, and stables. This, however, was where SketchUp proved its worth. Using the Photomatch tool, I applied a single measurement to a photograph, which then allowed me to measure, with fair accuracy, the length of any other building in the photograph. With these dimensions, I could now finish modelling.

This 3D reconstruction, however, has to be taken as a representation rather than an exact replica of the camp. Due to source limitations, I was not able to model everything to the detail that I would have liked but instead had to improvise for cases in which no data exists. The building interiors were especially difficult for only one interior photo, of the recreation hall, is known to exist. While further research may uncover the interior layout of these buildings, I chose to leave these areas empty for the time. Another difficulty I encountered was that with a higher level of detail resulted in a significant decrease in the speed of both my computer and SketchUp. Therefore, to ensure that the final model was still accessible, I was unable to include the detail that I would have liked.

Despite it’s limitations, a 3D model such as this one can be extremely useful. By building this model, I am now able to learn much more about what life was like for German PoWs in Riding Mountain. Already, this model has also allowed me to correct some inaccuracies with my existing map, particularly in the designation of some of the buildings. By comparing the model of the camp to a copy of the “Nightwatchman’s Circuit,” listing the route taken by one of the guards each night, I changed the designation of three buildings and identified a previously-unknown fourth. More importantly, however, this model presents numerous opportunities for historical interpretation off and on the site. Whereas I have traditionally provided visitors with GPS units and printed handouts, a digital model expands my ability to help visitors understand the camp’s history. By uploading the model to IOS, using an app like SightSpace, visitors will be able to visualize and interact with the camp model while standing on the former camp’s location.

This model is only the beginning of reconstructing life at Riding Mountain. As more information becomes available (and as I port the model over to a faster computer), I hope to build a more complete and detailed representation of the camp. This will allow me to study the camp in ways previously unimaginable while contributing to a better understanding of what life was like for German prisoners of war in Riding Mountain National Park.

70 Years Ago: PoWs Arrive in Riding Mountain National Park

October 26, 1943
Dauphin, Manitoba

A train with a rather unusual cargo was stopped on the outskirts of Dauphin just before noon. Immediately following the train stopped, armed guards disembarked and established a secure perimeter on all sides of the train while empty trucks from the nearby Air Force base idled nearby. Once the area had been deemed safe, the doors to the train were opened from the inside and a guard armed only with a billy club exited. Quickly following behind him were the among the first German prisoners of war to step foot on Manitoba soil in the Second World War.

Of the 440 German Prisoners of War (PoWs) that were on-board this train, the majority were combat veterans of the North African Campaign. Following their capture at the hands of British, Australian, and New Zealand troops, most of these men had spent a brief time in internment camps in Egypt before being loaded onto ships that would taken them to their next home: Canada. After a brief stop in South Africa, these ships sailed across the Atlantic as the PoWs, having heard of the great successes of their U-Boat fleet, constantly feared that their own navy would sink them. However, arriving in New York without incident, the PoWs boarded waiting trains that would then take them to internment camps in Alberta.

The 440 PoWs were selected from hundreds of volunteers from Camp 132 in Medicine Hat. Offered an opportunity to work in the outdoors, many seized the chance rather than remain behind barbed wire and under constant scrutiny from the guards.

Having stepped off the train near Dauphin, the PoWs were herded aboard the waiting trucks. After a long drive along the Strathclair Road and then along a recently reinforced ten-kilometer stretch to Whitewater Lake, the PoWs arrived at their new home.

First proposed in June 1943, the buildings of the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project was built in response to a shortage of fuelwood in Manitoba. Using PoWs as a labour force was first seen as a drastic measure but the lack of other forms of labour necessitated their house. Therefore, construction of the camp commenced in Summer 1943 and continued until the PoWs arrived on October 25. In total, fifteen buildings were constructed on the Northeast shore of Whitewater Lake, prompting the Dauphin Herald to report that this camp was the largest PoW camp built for woodcutting operations in Canada. The buildings included six bunkhouses for the PoW, a bunkhouse for the kitchen staff, a bunkhouse for the administrative staff, an administration building, a cookhouse large enough to accommodate the camp, a recreation hall, a barn, and a garage. Estimated at costing $225,000, the camp’s facilities had its own generator to supply electricity, a sewage system, running water, and a telephone line specifically established to maintain direct contact between the camp and Dauphin. More notably, the camp lacked any noticeable security features as there was no barbed wire fences or guard towers, only miles of dense forest.

For one PoW seeing the camp for the first time, his only thought was "freedom..."

2013 PoW Wagon Tours

As summer rolls around once more, it is once again time for our "From North Africa to the North Woods" wagon tours here in Riding Mountain National Park.

Loaded onto four wagons, visitors become new prisoners heading out to the former site of the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project (also known as the Whitewater Lake PoW Camp) under the strict supervision of the guards. Learn what life was like at the camp as the guards and prisoners (interpretative staff) bring history to life through stories and photographs. Once at the camp, enjoy a traditional German meal, similar to that served to the prisoners at the worksites. After lunch, explore the site of the former camp with the aid of a GPS and myself.

Tour dates are July 20th and September 1st.

Tickets are $62.00 each or $55.80 for Friends members and are available at the Nature Shop (RMNP Visitor Centre) or by calling (204) 848-4037.  If you have any questions, feel free to phone that number or ask me.

The wagons depart from the north end of the Bison enclosure in Riding Mountain National Park at 9:15am and we return at 2:30pm.

Tickets are already selling and they will fill up a few weeks in advance!

Researching PoW Camps

I have noticed an increased number of posts for people searching for information about PoWs camps in Manitoba so I thought I should address this.

If you are looking for information about an individual or about a camp, please get in touch with me! A very small percentage of my research has been posted online so if you are looking for additional information, please post a comment below or send me an e-mail (link to the right) and I will do what I can to answer your questions.

Most of the searches seem to be about the PoW camp in Mafeking, Manitoba and I do have records of the camp. For the most part, the story of the Mafeking camp remains untold, as does the story of the PoWs in Pine Falls, Manitoba. As relatively few records have survived, there isn't much of a historical record. Though if you have any questions, again please get in touch, I am more than happy to help!

For those interested in prisoners of war or guards at these camps, let me know and I will see what information I can provide. If anyone knows of any guards or PoWs that were at any camps, I would very much like to hear from you!

A Long Way From Home

Yesterday I took a drive to Kitchener, Ontario to visit the Woodland Cemetery. Here, in a small plot tucked away in the corner, lies the graves of 187 German prisoners of war who died in Canada in the First and Second World Wars.

Like every military cemetery around the world, each of these graves has a story to tell. While many of these stories have been lost to time, fragments have remained. Of the 148 casualties from the Second World War, sixty percent died of medical causes while twenty percent died of work-related incidents and injuries. The remaining twenty percent include five prisoners hung for murder and four prisoners shot while attempting an escape.

I have already shared the brief histories of two PoWs, Max Neugebauer and Walter Wolf, both of which were working at the camp in Riding Mountain National Park, but two more deserve mention. Richard Becker and Karl Karg were also employed at Riding Mountain. While they were transferred from the camp in June 1944, both men died in drowning accidents, Karg shortly after his arrival in Ontario and Becker in 1945.

In 1970, the graves of German PoWs buried across the country were exhumed and relocated to Kitchener, Ontario. However, not all of these individuals were accounted for. At least three prisoners who died in Canada were not relocated to Kitchener. One prisoner lies unidentified in Saskatchewan, one presumably was not found in Ontario, while the body of a drowning victim was never recovered.

Hopefully with some more research, their stories can all be told.

The Wolf

Sixty Eight Years Ago
September 10, 1944

On September 10, 1944, a German Prisoner of War in Camp 132, Medicine Hat, by the name of Dr. Karl Lehmann was beaten and hung by his fellow comrades. After a lengthy investigation four German PoWs, Heinrich Busch, Willi Mueller, Bruno Perzonowsky, and Walter Wolf were arrested for the murder. After a trail held in Alberta, the four were found guilt of murder and sentenced to hang.

Walter Wolf (Source: Library and Archives Canada)

Unteroffizier Walter Wolf (ME 42576) was captured at Halfaya Pass in North Africa on 17 January 1942. He was married but had no children. He had received the Iron Cross, Second Class. Before enlisting at the age of 19 in 1937, he was a financial tax inspector. After the French campaign, he was transferred to a unit in the Afrika Korps. Arriving in Canada on 26 May 1942, he was interned at Ozada, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Neys.

What many don't realize is that Walter Wolf spent a few months in Manitoba, working in Riding Mountain National Park.

Wolf enlisted in the Germany army in 1937 at the age of nineteen and after service in the French Campaign of 1940, he was transferred to North Africa. Captured at Halfaya Pass in January 1942, Wolf arrived in Canada in May of that year, first interned at Ozada. In the summer of 1943, Wolf volunteered for a labour project and was one of 440 PoWs that were sent to the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project at Whitewater Lake. His career as a woodcutter was short-lived as Wolf was quickly identified as a pro-Nazi and a troublemaker. Having been accused of harassing fellow prisoners, Wolf was transferred from Riding Mountain back to Medicine Hat in January 1944.

In 1946, Wolf and his comrades were found guilt of murder. On December 18, 1946, the four prisoners and an unrelated sex offender were hung in Canada's second largest mass hanging. The bodies were buried at the Lethbridge jail before being relocated to Kitchener, Ontario where they remain today.

For more details about the crime and trial, please click here.

Summing Up

Well the last two weeks seem to have flown by very quickly so I thought I should give an update about what has been going on!

First, I'd like to thank the Parkland Regional Library in Dauphin for hosting my presentation on August 30 and thank you to all who came out! It is always great to share the story of PoWs in Manitoba and am looking forward to doing some more presentations in the future.

The next event was the Friends of Riding Mountain National Park's "From North Africa to the North Woods Wagon Tour which was a great success! About forty people in total came out for the tour to the site of the Whitewater Lake Prisoner of War Camp. With perfect weather, few bugs, no rain, great food and a great crowd, I couldn't have asked for more! Thank you to all those who participated in the tours this year, they were really great. Made some more contacts who shared their stories with me but that is another story to come later. We should be offering the tours next year so if you missed out, get in touch with Friends of RMNP or me, and we'll add you to the list.

This past week I've relocated to London, Ontario, where I'm starting my Masters Degree at the University of Western Ontario. I'm looking forward to it but most of all, looking forward to doing some more research about PoWs in Canada. Hopefully this means that I'll be updating this more regularly as I get into more of a schedule.

Richard Beranek

Through my research, I have been fortunate to come into contact with a number of family members of former PoWs who spent time in Canada and a couple who's relatives spent some time of the war in Manitoba. They have been extremely gracious in providing me with information, documents, and pictures of their relative's experiences and today I would like to share some of this.

A few months ago, Linda (hutt-writevoice.blogspot.ca) forwarded me a request for information from an individual in Germany seeking information about his father. I got in touch and was able to provide some information about his time in Manitoba. Anyways, here is his story.

Richard Beranek

Richard Beranek was born on November 8th, 1926 in Mendrik, Czechoslovakia. By June 1944, at the age of 17, he was an infantryman in the 13th Company of the 915th Grenadierregiment. The 915th, as part of the 352nd Division, was assigned to coastal defense duties in the area around what was to be known as Omaha Beach. With the Allied invasion of June 6, 1944, the 352nd was pushed inland and the 915th found itself near St. Gabriel. Here, on June 8th, Richard was captured by the British and a week later, he was transferred to a PoW camp in the UK.

On June 27, 1944, Richard was transferred to Canada aboard the Empress of Scotland and arrived in Halifax. He and his comrades were then loaded on a train for a four-day trip to Camp 132 at Medicine Hat, Alberta. In the summer of 1945, Richard volunteered for farm labour and was eventually selected to assist with the fall harvest. Retracing his path across the Canadian prairies, Richard and the other volunteers were offloaded in Manitoba and began their work on farms in the Grassmere region.

Group of PoWs with Guard at Mafeking

Once the fall harvest was completed, it was requested that thirty men from the Grassmere project were to be transferred to a small lumber camp at Mafeking, Manitoba. The Mafeking camp, originally 100-men strong, required replacements for injured and transferred PoWs. Richard was selected as one of the replacements and arrived in Mafeking in November.

For the next few months, Richard worked at the Mafeking camp until its closure in the spring of 1946. The remaining men were transferred to Monteith to prepare for their transfer to the UK. Eager to be one step closer to home, Richard arrived in the UK in May of 1946. He and his fellow prisoners were put to use in various labour projects in the UK and it was not until the following year that Richard would return home.

A special thanks to Richard's son Lutz for sharing his father's stories and photographs with me and thanks to Linda and Robert for the help!

Camp 132 - Medicine Hat

I must apologize for my absence in the last month but I have been quite busy and unable to post any updates. Hopefully I can make it up to everyone and make posting a regular habit!

One thing that I did get a chance to do this month was to visit the former site of Camp 132 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Nearly every PoW that spent time in Manitoba, and many that spent time in Canada, also spent time behind the barbed wire fences that surrounding Camp 132.

Camp 132 Today

Built to accommodate the increasing number of PoWs arriving from Britain, Camp 132 as one of the two largest camps in Canada. This one and its sister camp in Lethbridge, were built to accommodate 12,500 German PoWs, almost one third of the total number of PoWs in Canada. The population of these camps usually were larger than the population of the respective communities.

Thousands of PoWs went through the gates at Medicine Hat, some spending short periods of time here while others spent most of the war here. With large grounds, the PoWs were able to play sports and with recreation halls, orchestras, bands, and plays were often held for entertainment. Not everyone enjoyed their time at Medicine Hat as thousands volunteered for labour projects across the country.

Camp 132 Gymnasium

Following the end of the war, the camp was eventually downsized and became unused. Today, the former camp site is now the Medicine Hat Stampede Grounds and little remains of the once bustling camp. A couple buildings still remain, the most obvious is one of the gymnasiums, seen in the picture. Still, I was struck by what it must have been like for German PoWs stepping off of the train and seeing the vast prairie disappearing into the horizon...

Home Again!

Having returned home from Ottawa this week I can certainly say that the trip was a success! Having spent a little over a week there, Adrian and I sorted through thousands of documents relating to PoWs in Canada. In the end, we took almost 15,000 pictures of documents ranging from pay lists from labour projects in Manitoba to escape reports to orders written by Riding Mountain's camp administrator! Spending between eight and ten hours at the archives made for some very long days but in the end, we just had enough time to document everything we wanted to. However, I am sure another trip is in order in the next year or two!

PoW Work Jacket with "target" - Canadian War Museum

While in Ottawa, we couldn't miss going to the Canadian War Museum which has an absolutely amazing collection of artifacts ranging from Canada's first settlers to the modern day. We had requested to see some of their holdings relating to PoWs in Canada beforehand so we were given special access to articles like PoW work jackets, German uniforms and equipment, as well as Canadian uniforms. After this we were given a behind-the-scene tour of the museum's facilities which was absolutely amazing! To see items like the uniforms of Billy Bishop and Sir Arthur Currie, General Wolfe's chair, and Hitler's telephone up close was something I will never forget! A big thanks goes out to the museum staff!

On a side note, German PoWs in Canada wore a wide range of clothing depending on where they were located within the country and the work they were involved in. For formal wear and while in larger internment camps, PoWs were authorized to wear German uniforms, complete with their insignia, rank, and medals. However, for those participating in labour projects, each PoW was issued a specially-marked set of clothing that included a jacket, pair of trousers, and a cap. To identify these men as PoWs, the jacket had a large circle on the reverse (which the PoWs often joked was a target for the guards to aim at in case they attempted escape, while the trousers and hat had a red stripe sewn down the length. Having seen some examples of this clothing before, it was still great to see these items up close.

Anyways, I will certainly busy for the next few months as I work my way through all of the files!

Dissidents in the Camp

Today - 68 Years Ago

Before beginning this post, I'm going to clarify a point that has been brought up in presentations that I've given in the past about the camp. Since the end of the war, German soldiers have often been grouped together and labelled as "Nazis" but this was not the case. Technically a Nazi was a member of the Nazi Party, Hitler's political party that rose to power in the 1930s, and included thousands of German soldiers and citizens. However, one did not have to be a Nazi to be in the Germany Army. Like many armies in World War II, the German military brought countless numbers of German men who were certainly not members of the Nazi party as well as those who considered themselves anti-Nazis. It is these men I'd like to talk about briefly.

Only two months after their arrival in Riding Mountain National Park, a clear group of hardcore Nazi prisoners has established themselves in the camp. Like many camps in Canada, these pro-Nazis took it upon themselves to ensure that the Nazi ideals were present in all internment and labour camps and were willing to go to great lengths to do so. Punishment for those who spoke out against the Nazi Party, the German War effort, or Hitler was often brutal and swift. At least two prisoners who spoke out against Hitler and the war were murdered in Medicine Hat and while no murders were commited at Riding Mountain, my records indicate this was certainly an option that the Nazis in the camp had considered.

On December 15, 1943, four PoWs, each of whom were against the war, decided they had had enough. Two prisoners, Fritz Dornseif and Otto Ecker left the camp at 8:30 pm and gave themselves up to the guards at the camp entrance, asking for protective custody. Two others, Paul Nowack and Peter Fergen, left the camp boundaries and were found by farmers the next morning.

With the four prisoners back at the camp, each stated that had been "mentally tormented" to such a degree that they felt their lives were in danger. For them, leaving the camp was the only answer. The four had one thing in common and this lay with the careers they had chosen in the inter-war years...

Anyone have any idea what this may be? Post a comment if you do! I'll give the answer in the next day or two.

Der Lagerführer

One hundred and seventy-five Canadians were employed at the labour camp in Riding Mountain but this number still left a wide variety of occupations open. To fill the gaps, the Canadian officials turned to the PoWs for their assistance in running the camp. Of the 440 PoWs that arrived in October 1943, roughly 400 of them were assigned bush work while the remaining forty were to assist in the day-to-day operation of the camp. One of these men was Leo Manuel.

Stabsfeldwebel Leo Manuel, was the one of the highest-ranking PoWs at the Riding Mountain Park Project. Like the majority of his comrades, Manuel was likely captured in North Africa in the early forties and had been transferred to camps in Ozada and Medicine Hat, Alberta. Relatively little is known about Manuel before he arrived at Riding Mountain but his high rank would soon provide him with an unique opportunity.

The vast majority of German PoW camps in Canada had some form of a German administration in the camp. Each of these camps had a camp leader or spokesman who was responsible for maintaining discipline within the camp, negotiating with the Canadians, and communicating with International Aid Organizations. However, many of these administrative groups were self-appointed and composed of hard-core Nazis determined to ensure that Nazism remained strong among the PoWs.

Orderly, IRC Delegate, Unknown, and Manuel outside Orderly Room

Leo Manuel was selected to serve as the Lagerführer, or camp leader, at Riding Mountain. His allegiance is unknown to me but he was well respected by the majority of the PoWs under his command. Only a few prisoners, mostly pro-Nazis, criticized Manuel and his actions as they believed he was too friendly with the Canadian officials and agreed with many of their demands.

Manuel's work would have been conducted from the camp orderly room (seen in the picture) where he and his staff remained in constant communication with organizations like the International Red Cross, the YMCA, and the Swiss General Consul. In addition, Manuel was instructed by the Spokesman at Medicine Hat to write monthly reports on the happenings at Riding Mountain. Manuel served as an intermediary between the PoWs and the Canadians, negotiating requests with Colonel James.

Manuel would remain the Camp Spokesman until, following disagreements with the Lt. Col. Fordham, the officer in charge of PoW Labour Projects, he resigned in May 1944.

The Manitoba Winter

Today - 68 Years Ago
November 1, 1943

The news of a "mass breakout" in Riding Mountain spread across the region as RCMP officers constantly patrolled the parks borders, searching for the missing nineteen PoWs. As the police tried getting pictures of the missing men to aid in the search, spelling errors and poor phone communication hampered their efforts. Regardless, patrols were assembled and searched the area around the camp and the major roads. Increasing snowfall, which during the middle of the night had increased to a small blizzard, severely hampered the search effort. Regardless, preparations were made for a manhunt in the morning.

Winnipeg Free Press - November 1, 1943

The story was picked up by the major newspapers, eager for news of what could be one of the largest escape attempts in Canada during the war. The escape made the front page of the Winnipeg Tribune, Winnipeg Free Press, and Minnedosa Tribune and an article was even printed in the Globe and Mail. The attached Winnipeg Free Press article tells most of the story.

PoWs Landmann and Schneider were the first to return shortly aften nine in the morning and seven more followed shortly after. The others arrived after lunch, while the final two were picked up by an RCMP patrol.

What promised to be "Manitoba's largest manhunt" was cancelled as the PoWs were placed in custody. While the camp staff decided the fate of the PoWs, the nineteen men were definitely glad to be back indoors.

On this day, 68 Years Ago - Riding Mountain Park Project

October 26, 1943
Dauphin, Manitoba

A train with a rather unusal cargo was stopped on the outskirts of Dauphin just before noon. Immediately following the train's halt, armed guards disembarked, establishing a secure permititer on all sides of the train while empty trucks idled nearby. Once the area had been deemed safe, the doors to the train were opened from the inside and a guard armed only with a "billy" club exited. Following him were among the first German combatants, prisoners of war, to step foot on Manitoba soil. 

To be precise, 440 of these enemy soldiers, many of whom were combat veterans of North Africa, were seated in this train. After being quickly unloaded from the trains and ushered aboard the waiting trucks, the PoWs entered Riding Mountain National Park via the Strathlair Road. The trucks continued down this road, until reaching a recently rebuilt spur road heading West. Following this for ten kilometers, these men arrived at what would be their new home.

First proposed in June 1943, the camp had been hastily constructed over the past months. In total, fifteen buildings were constructed on the Northeast shore of Whitewater Lake, prompting the Dauphin Herald to report that this camp was the largest PoW camp built for woodcutting operations in Canada. The buildings included six bunkhouses for the PoW, a bunkhouse for the kitchen staff, a bunkhouse for the administrative staff, an administration building, a cookhouse large enough to accommodate the camp, a recreation hall, a barn, and a garage. Estimated at costing $225,000, the camp’s facilities had its own generator to supply electricity, a sewage system, running water, and a telephone line specifically established to maintain direct contact between the camp and Dauphin.

As for what the PoWs were thinking when they first stepped off the trucks, one can only assume that they never could have imagined what lay before them...