Material Type

Artifact

Date

1941

Materials

PAPER, WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Length

31.2

Width

23.2

Description

(DIMENSIONS ARE EXCLUDING FRAME & MATTE). WOOD FRAME, MATTE PAPER, BACKING. PAINTING OF OZADA PRISONER OF WAR CAMP NEAR BANFF. WATERCOLOR AND CHARCOAL. SIGNED IN CORNER, INITIALS POSSIBLY "A" & "S". DEPICTS BACKGROUND OF MOUNTAINS, FOREST, GUARD TOWER AND FENCE. IN FOREGROUND ROWS OF ARMY TYPE TENTS. REVERSE OF FRAME "P.O.W. - OZADA CAMP 1944 BEFORE LETHBRIDGE POW CAMP WAS FINISHED. DRAWN BY A P.O.W. P.O.W. OZADA CAMP 1941 NEAR BANFF."

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

FINE ARTS

MILITARY

History

GIVEN TO DONOR AT END OF W.W.II WHEN LETHBRIDGE CAMP (133) DISMANTLED BY CAMP INTERPRETER & MAIL HANDLER, HENRY GIESBRECT. EACH PRISONER OF WAR WAS STRIPPED OF POSSESSIONS IN ENGLAND, WORD GOT OUT AMONG P.O.W.'S, SO MANY GAVE AWAY ALL POSSESSIONS BEFORE LEAVING THE CANADIAN CAMPS. DONOR MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE IN 1944 FROM ONTARIO. ARTIST UNKNOWN. *UPDATE* IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON DEVELOPED THE FOLLOWING BRIEF HISTORY OF PRISONER OF WAR CAMP 133 WITH INFORMATION FROM THE GALT MUSEUM BROCHURE "LETHBRDGE'S INTERNMENT CAMPS" AND THE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA WEBSITE. DURING WORLD WAR II THERE WERE 40 PRISONER OF WAR (P.O.W.) CAMPS CONSTRUCTED ACROSS CANADA TO HOUSE THE LARGE NUMBER OF INCOMING POWS - ENEMY MILITARY PERSONNEL THAT WERE CAPTURED IN COMBAT. CAMPS WERE BUILT IN ONTARIO, QUEBEC, THE MARITIMES AND ALBERTA. THE CAMPS IN LETHBRIDGE AND MEDICINE HAT WERE THE LARGEST, TOGETHER HOUSING 22,000 MEN. THE LETHBRIDGE CAMP, NO. 133, WAS BUILT IN THE SUMMER OF 1942, AND BY NOVEMBER OF THAT YEAR HOUSED 13,341 PRISONERS. THE CAMP WAS DIVIDED INTO SIX SECTIONS, EACH WITH SIX DORMITORIES, MESS HALLS, KITCHENS, AND ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES. MEALS WERE IN SHIFTS WITH PRISONERS SERVING AS COOKS. TAILOR, BARBER AND SHOE REPAIR SHOPS WERE ALSO STAFFED BY PRISONERS, AND NON-COMBAT POWS PRACTICED THEIR PRE-WAR PROFESSIONS AS MEDICAL DOCTORS AND DENTISTS. HOUSING AND RATIONS WERE THE SAME STANDARD AS FOR THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES, WHICH SOMETIMES CAUSED RESENTMENT AMONG LETHBRIDGE CIVILIAN RESIDENTS, WHO WERE UNABLE TO OBTAIN MANY OF THE SAME SUPPLIES ON THEIR STRICT WARTIME RATION ALLOWANCES. WITH MANY YOUNG LOCAL MEN AWAY AT WAR, LOCAL FARMERS BEGAN TO REQUEST LABOUR ASSISTANCE FROM THE CAMP, ESPECIALLY FOR THE SUGAR BEET INDUSTRY. BY 1943 AN AGREEMENT WAS REACHED AND SOME OF THE PRISONERS WORKED ON FARMS THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN ALBERTA. MOST OF THESE PRISONERS WENT FROM THE CAMP TO THE FARMS DAILY, BUT SOME WERE KEPT AT 'LODGES' AT THE MORE DISTANT FARMS FOR DAYS AT A TIME, WITH MINIMAL GUARDING. FOR THEIR LABOUR, THE PRISONERS WERE PAID 50 CENTS PER DAY. WITH WAR'S END, CAMP 133 CLOSED IN DECEMBER 1946 AND ITS PRISONERS WERE SENT BACK TO GERMANY. THE AREA WHERE THE CAMP STOOD EVENTUALLY BECAME AN INDUSTRIAL PARK AND PART OF THE FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTRE. AT THE TIME OF THE 2014 SURVEY OF ART OBJECTS, NO INFORMATION ABOUT THE PAINTING'S ARTIST COULD BE FOUND. THE FOLLOWING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON HENRY GIESBRECHT, THE MAN IDENTIFIED BY THE DONOR MARJORIE BROWN AS CAMP 133'S INTERPRETER AND MAIL HANDLER (AND ORIGINAL OWNER OF THE PAINTING), WAS FOUND IN HIS LETHBRIDGE HERALD OBITUARY. HENRY GIESBRECHT WAS BORN IN THE UKRAINE IN 1897, AND EMIGRATED TO CANADA IN 1927, SETTLING IN GULL LAKE, SASKATCHEWAN. IN 1940 GIESBRECHT JOINED THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES AND SERVED OVERSEAS IN THE SOUTH SASKATCHEWAN REGIMENT. IN 1944 HE AND HIS WIFE MARGERY MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE WHERE THEY RAISED THEIR SIX CHILDREN. GIESBRECHT WAS A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION BRANCH NO. 4. HE PASSED AWAY ON JUNE 18, 1978. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR HARDCOPY OF OBITUARY.

Catalogue Number

P19860138000

Acquisition Date

1986-08

Collection

Museum

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