German POW graveyard.

CanadianAR

CanadianAR

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I discovered this graveyard in my city(Kitchener, ON). After WW1 and WW2 there were several sites across Canada where German POWs who died while here are buried. They were all brought to one spot.
Included are two gravebmarkers made by surviving POWs while imprisoned. Just interesting so I thought Id share. There are about 180 names, I photographed them all, but wont post them all. If your curious about a name, PM me and Ill see if its there.









Quite the wood carver this soldier was.
 
There was a documentary on a while back on CBC, it was either Lethbridge or Medicine Hat, regarding some of the POW deaths.

If they weren't a good Nazi in all respects and beliefs in the POW camp, the German POW's ganged up and killed their own soldier in the POW camp.
 
Coyote Ugly said:
There was a documentary on a while back on CBC, it was either Lethbridge or Medicine Hat, regarding some of the POW deaths.

If they weren't a good Nazi in all respects and beliefs in the POW camp, the German POW's ganged up and killed their own soldier in the POW camp.
Click to expand...

Military discipline was upheld in the camps with Allied consent. At least one of them was shot after an in camp court martial and the guards supplied the rifles. Movie even made about that event. Name escapes me

Grizz
 
There was an incident where a German POW had escaped from one of the camps and made it to High River, Alberta.

My Father and two of his friends were playing in the back yard and alley and a scruffy man came walking down the alley and asked them with an accent "Where am I and what is the name of this town"? The question seemed very unusual and out of place to them. Anyways, to make a long story short, it wasn't long after that he was recaptured.

Sabatoge by the POW's seemed to be a concern. (Bridges, RR, etc)
 
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Grizzly Adams said:
Military discipline was upheld in the camps with Allied consent. At least one of them was shot after an in camp court martial and the guards supplied the rifles. Movie even made about that event. Name escapes me

Grizz
Click to expand...

I recently watched a movie on Netflix called "The Black Book", or something similar. It was about the Dutch resistance. Towards the end of the movie, and after some infighting amongst SS and Gestapo senior officers, one of them was executed under the watch of Canadian liberators. Supposedly this was done precisely because the Allied liberators had allowed the defeated German military to maintain it's own code of discipline and military justice. In the execution scene, Canadian troops are seen issuing Mauser rifles to German POWs who formed the firing squad.

I wonder if this is the same movie...?
 
Wow, quite moving. It is something you don't see or hear about often. It makes you wonder how many relatives come over from Europe or elsewhere to visit ?
 
The POW who as executed was a German Jew who had managed to avoid detection. He was drafted. Toward the end of the war he deserted, and hid until the Allies liberated the area. He then surrendered himself. Put into a camp, he was detected, tried and shot with the cooperation of the Canadians.
 
There were a few bouqets of flowers, so someone either visited, or had them sent.
I just thought it was an interesting piece of WW2 history in my otherwise bland town.
 
Coyote Ugly said:
There was a documentary on a while back on CBC, it was either Lethbridge or Medicine Hat, regarding some of the POW deaths.

If they weren't a good Nazi in all respects and beliefs in the POW camp, the German POW's ganged up and killed their own soldier in the POW camp.
Click to expand...

interesting, as a member of the German armed forces (not the SS and similar outfits) membership in a political party was not allowed so please define "good Nazi" if you wouldn't mind
 
My grandmother actually married one of the POW's from the Lethbridge camp. Lot of them got hired out for work around town. Never met him but I have his enfield he picked up after the war.
 
Donny Fenn1 said:
interesting, as a member of the German armed forces (not the SS and similar outfits) membership in a political party was not allowed so please define "good Nazi" if you wouldn't mind
Click to expand...

You will have to watch the video of the CBC Documentary. IIRC, it was like running down the Third Reich after being captured and in the camp, finger pointing, blame, sour grapes, sour kraut!, not wanting to escape, disillusioned, etc.
 
Coyote Ugly said:
Kitchener is like Cub Med. Better than being a prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald or any KZ. I wonder how many Allied soldiers ended up there?
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Considering that MANY former POWS decided to make the US and Canada their permanent residence after the war probably goes to show that they had some pretty good treatment at the hands of the Allied Powers...

Can't say many Allied prisoners decided to move to Europe after the war... (barring military postings of course)
 
If you guys would look up "British War Graves Libya" on you tube is film from last week showing US President Obama's Allies in Libya smashing every single Brit, Canadian and US war grave stone. Sad but true.
 
Very interesting, I wonder what did most of them died from? War wounds, work related injuries, illness, murdered by other inmates? It's certainly worth doing some research about it.
 
Desert_Fox said:
Considering that MANY former POWS decided to make the US and Canada their permanent residence after the war probably goes to show that they had some pretty good treatment at the hands of the Allied Powers...

Can't say many Allied prisoners decided to move to Europe after the war... (barring military postings of course)
Click to expand...


Actually they had it way better than Allied prisoners. Ate well, accommodations reasonable and a lot of camps didn't even bother with fences. Happened on a book about "prisoner" labor in the development of our National parks. German POWs did their part. At the camp in Riding National Park, the prisoners appeared to be quite integrated into the local communities, even having girl friends. Officials obviously didn't approve, something about fraternizing with the enemy, but some of them would go into town overnight and party. Guy would slip away to a waiting car. Same car would drop him off before roll call nest morning. Way better than the Eastern Front. :)

Grizz
 
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