"Real Photo"

Continuing on my last post's theme, I thought I would show some more examples of PoW postcards. Unlike the ones in my last post, these ones are "Real Photo" postcards. In most PoW camps, a military or civilian photographer visited the camp and took photographs of the PoWs for the purpose of sending them home. This was generally done to show the families of the PoWs that the men were alive and well in Canada - this being a bit of Canadian wartime propaganda!

The first image is a group of PoWs at Camp 30 in Bowmanville, Ontario. The majority of the PoWs in Bowmanville were officers and included members of all branches of the German military. This particular image shows members of the Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Heer (Army). This postcard was sent by either the man on the far left or right in the front row. These two individuals were part of the German Customs branch so I'm not sure how they ended up in Canada! Interestingly enough, another copy of this postcard is in the hands of another collector (link).

The next photo is a group of sailors at Camp 21 in Espanola, Ontario. The sender, Heinz Alsleben, was one of forty survivors of U-93, a German U-Boat sunk in January 1942.

Postcards

 Kriegsgefangenenpost

Well it has been awhile since there has been a new blog post so I thought I had better change that! Today I would like to show some examples of Kriegsgefangenenpost, or Prisoner of War Mail, sent by German PoWs here in Canada to their friends and families back home. I briefly covered one example of PoW mail from a PoW that was at the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project but today I would like to show some of the lighter sides of postcards.

The standard issue postcard, an example of which I linked in the previous paragraph, were made available to all German PoWs in Canada. However, for those who found this postcard too simple or boring, PoWs had the option of purchasing different types of postcards to send home. Among these postcards made available for purchase were those printed by War Prisoners' Aid YMCA. These postcards were often sold at PoW canteens and featured images of the lighter side of internment life. The artwork was done by a German PoW and a series of approximately twenty of these postcards was produced. The following are some of the examples in my collection, all of which were unused. I hope you enjoy!