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.
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.
The following video is the result of a digital history assignment that I'm currently taken. The assignment tasked us with using digital methods to examine a significant or interesting landscape and naturally I chose the site of the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project in Manitoba's Riding Mountain National Park. For those not familiar with it, this project employed 440 German PoWs in a woodcutting operation from 1943 to 1945 in an effort to prevent a predicted fuelwood shortage.
My first task was to find the sources. While I have a fairly sizeable collection of textual records relating to the camp's history, maps and other spatial information are, for the most part, missing. Instead, I turned to aerial photographs to fill in my record gaps. Little did I realize how much I could learn from them!
With the assistance of the National Air Photo Library, the Manitoba Land Initiative, and a staff member at Riding Mountain National Park, I was able to assemble a range of coverage from 1931 to 2009. The next step was to import them into a GIS program and georeference them.
With the photos georeferenced, I was now able to add information from my records. As a map of the camp's layout has not survived, my first step was to create an outline showing the buildings' shapes and locations. Fortunately the building's footprints, with some exceptions, were still fairly clear, even in my photographs from the 1970s.
The next major step was to look at landscape change. Like a map of the camp, a map showing the location of the woodcutting area has also not survived. Using aerial photographs from the 1940s and 1950s, I was able to plot the extent of the woodcutting operation, which, as I discovered to my surprise, was almost entirely confined to the northern shore of Whitewater Lake. By comparing these photographs with modern ortho-imagery, the regrowth of the spruce population is quite remarkable. The Parks Bureau specifically instructed that the PoWs leave spruce trees standing in hopes of regeneration. As you can see from the video, the spruce population has [spoiler alert!] done exactly that!
Anyways, I've talked enough so on to the video. While this isn't going to win any Oscars and I am certainly not Morgan Freeman, I hope that this video demonstrates how GIS and other historical methods can be applied to studying history.
Thank you to all of the individuals who helped, especially Josh MacFadyen, who put up with all of my constant questions!
One last thing; if you are interested in learning more, Josh and I will be delivering talks on Historical GIS for GIS day on November 20. For more information, please click here.
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..."
"In the name of all the wood-cutters, I would
convey greetings to you and the entire camp. We find ourselves in the midst of
the Canadian bush here, in the so-called Riding Mountain National Park. There
is no barbed wire here, but instead a definite boundary has been set by red
markings on trees. The woods principally leaf, and partly mixed. The ground is
slightly hilly and swampy in part.” - Camp Spokesman Leo Manuel, November, 1944.
Among my interests is looking at how the PoWs reacted to and interacted with the environment that surrounded them. Most, if not all, of the PoWs had been captured in the North African desert in 1941 and 1942 and, after a brief internment in Egypt, had been sent to North America. First interned at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, they were moved to the vast Albertan prairie at camps in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. A year or two after their capture, these men were now working in the middle of the Canadian "bush."
Camp medical staff outside of one of the camp buildings. Note the elk antlers above the door as well as the black bear and dogs.
Free to roam through the immediate area around the camp, PoWs looked to their surroundings in different ways. Among the first, and most popular, activities was hiking through the bush. Though the PoWs were quickly introduced to the dangers of wandering through the bush in the late fall (19 PoWs got lost and were introduced to the Manitoba winter), the continued their wandering until the camp closed in 1945.
Manuel also stated that the area was abundant with game, including wolves, deer, elk, bears, and moose. While some PoWs simply enjoyed listening to the elks bugling and the wolves howling, others picked up antlers shed by deer, elk, and moose as souvenirs. It was not long before nearly every building in the camp featured some form of antlers hanging above the entrances.
Whether PoWs were canoeing in their hand-made dugout canoes, playing with the camp bear, or getting lost while hiking around Whitewater Lake, the "wilderness" defined their experiences and drastically changed the way they thought about Canada and wartime internment. This will be my next project as I return to school in the fall.
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!
Just a brief post today. For those who missed it, the Winnipeg Free Press published an article last week dealing with PoWs in Riding Mountain National Park and my research made a brief mention!
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!
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.
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.
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.
BIg thanks to the 26th Field Regiment / XII Manitoba Dragoons Museum for hosting my presentation last week! Had a great crowd and I hope to do it again next year!
In case you missed it, you have one more chance to see the presentation this week. This Thursday (August 30th), I will be presenting "From North Africa to the North Woods: Prisoners in the Park" at the Parkland Regional Library in Dauphin, MB. The presentation will take place at 7:00 pm and admission is free.
I'm taking this time to invite all my readers to my upcoming presentation, "From North Africa to the North Woods: Prisoners in the Park", this Tuesday in Brandon!
Focusing on the history of the prisoner of war camp in Riding Mountain National Park (Whitewater Lake POW Camp), come out and enjoy a presentation about a little known part of Manitoba's military history. Learn what life was like for prisoners and guards through slides, photographs, and artifacts.
The presentation is being hosted by the 12th Manitoba Dragoons / 26th Field Regiment Museum at the Brandon Armoury (1116 Victoria Ave - corner of 11th and Victoria) at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, August 21. There is no cost and a mini-reception will be held afterwards.
The 12th Manitoba Dragoons / 26th Field Regiment Museum will also be open to visitors and if you have not had the chance to go through the museum, it is well worth your time!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who came out to this year's wagon tour! The weather cooperated beautifully this year as we took three wagons out to the former camp site. Met some great people and found a few more leads on guards and prisoners!
Just a quick reminder that the July 21 "From North Africa to the North Woods" Wagon tour is quickly approaching! It's a great opportunity to learn more about the history of PoWs in Riding Mountain National Park and a chance to visit the provinces' largest semi-permanent PoW camp!
Tickets are available at the Nature Shop (RMNP Visitor Centre) or by calling (204)
848-4037. For more information you can visit the Friends of RMNP website at www.friendsofridingmountain.ca. If you have any questions,
feel free to phone that number or to ask me!
The tour will also be running on September 2nd, 2012.
Interested in learning what life was like in a Manitoba PoW
camp during the Second World War? Then the “from North Africa to the North
Woods” is the trip for you!
Loaded onto four wagons, the visitors become new prisoners
heading out to the former site of the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project 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.
Since the summer of 2008, Friends of Riding Mountain
National Park, in cooperation with Parks Canada and the Riding Mountain
Biosphere Reserve has been offering these interpretative wagon tours to the
site of the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project on the shore of Whitewater
Lake.I have been fortunate to be
involved with this since the start and it has become a favourite program of
mine. If anyone is looking for a true PoW experience, this is definitely worth
the trip!
Tour dates are July 21st and September 2nd
Tickets are $59.00 each or $53.10 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 feel free to 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 usually fill up a few
weeks in advance!
Wildlife had always been abundant in the area surrounding the small labour camp in Riding Mountain National Park and encounters with elk, moose, deer, wolves, and bears were not uncommon for the prisoners wishing to explore the area. However, in the spring of 1944, the prisoners and the staff were about to come much closer to the wildlife than they had expected.
The bear with a guard and camp staff member
Forty prisoners were hiking along the northwestern shore of Whitewater Lake on a nice spring day in 1944. The hike however was interrupted by the presence of a large black bear with two small cubs. The prisoners managed to scare off the mother bear and one of her cubs while the remaining cub was left to fend for itself. Jumping on the opportunity to adopt a new "pet", the prisoners quickly picked up the cub and brought it to the camp.
Despite the disapproval of some of the staff, especially the park warden, the bear was allowed to remain at the camp. The bear quickly grew on the prisoners as well as the guards and staff. A cage was built in between one of the bunkhouses and prisoners often took the bear for walks, on a leash, with the camp dogs.
The bear would remain at the camp until the next year but that is a story for another day!
I'm a few days late with this one, but I thought I would show a bit of a before and after scene. As mentioned earlier, Max Neugebauer, a 33-year old PoW at the Riding Mountain Labour Project, died of his injuries on March 16, 1944. On March 18, a small service was held in Dauphin and Max was buried in Dauphin's Riverside Cemetery. The first picture is the funeral procession on March 18 and the second is a shot taken from a similar position in the spring of 2011. By matching up some of the headstones in the 1944 picture, I was able to roughly take a picture of the same area. Things have certainly changed since the spring of 1944...
Dauphin Riverside Cemetery in 1944 (top) and 2011 (below)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Sixty-Eight Years Ago...
March 13, 1944
On this day, tragedy struck the prisoners at the Riding Mountain Labour Project. With cooler temperatures and strong winds, the camp spokesman, Leo Manuel, conferred with his men and decided that the weather was too bad for the prisoners to work. When bringing this up with the camp commander, Colonel James, his request was denied by a visiting officer from the Department of Labour. This officer, Colonel Fordham, ordered the prisoners to work. When Manuel and the prisoners protested this decision, Fordham threatened that if the prisoners did not work, Manuel and his staff would be transferred, canteen privileges would be denied, and a particularly elaborate dessert prepared by the kitchen staff would be cancelled. Under these conditions, Manuel reluctantly ordered his men to work.
While the weather report stated that the temperatures were not overly cold for this time of year and the winds were not particularly strong enough to cause concern, it is needless to say that while cutting down trees, excessive wind was a cause for concern.
Max Neugebauer, who had just celebrated his thirty-third birthday a week before, was one of the men ordered out for work. Married with a wife and family in Munich, Neugebauer had been captured in North Africa like the majority of his comrades.
While cutting down a tree with another prisoner, a sudden gust of wind arose, blowing the falling tree in their direction. Unable to move in time, Neugebauer was struck him on the head, rendering him unconscious, while the other prisoner suffered minor injuries. Taken immediately to the camp hospital, Dr. Fritjof Gress recommended that he be taken to the Dauphin hospital. Escorted by members of the Veterans Guard, Neugebauer was admitted to the Dauphin hospital the same evening.
For three days, Neugebauer remained unconscious. He was never to regain consciousness as in the morning of March 16, 1944, he died of his injuries.
On March 18, 1944, a service was held in Dauphin's St. Viator's Church, attended by a small number of prisoners and members of the Veterans Guard of Canada. His body was buried in the Riverside Cemetery and the Veterans Guard escort fired a salute. A cross handmade by his comrades was placed at the head of the grave.
Manuel had the unfortunate duty of sending a telegram to Neugebauer's wife informing her of the news.
For almost thirty years, Neugebauer's grave stood in stark contrast to those interred around it. In 1970, as part of a program to relocate German PoWs who had died in Canada, his remains were exhumed and relocated to the Woodland Cemetery in Kitchener, Ontario. He remains there to this day alongside 186 of his comrades who died in Canada in the First and Second World War.
For more information on the Woodland Cemetery, check out this article.
For anyone who finds themselves in the Dauphin area on March 7, 2012, I will be doing a presentation at Dauphin's Parkland Regional Library about the PoW Labour Project in Riding Mountain National Park. The presentation takes place at 6:30 pm and is free to everyone. Come out to learn some of the area's history and to see some artifacts as well!
For more information, visit the Friends of RMNP's website by clicking HERE.
