Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

MODEL PANZER III TANK

Date Range From

1940

Date Range To

1945

Materials

WOOD

No. Pieces

1

Height

7.9

Length

17.2

Width

9.3

Description

TANK IS COLORED BEIGE AND REPRESENTS A PANZER III FROM THE GERMAN AFRICAN CAMPAIGN. THE ID NUMBER "711" IS WRITTEN ON THE SIDE. THE TURRET ROTATES FREELY. THERE IS A GERMAN SIGN AT THE TOP OF THE TURRET AS WELL AS A PICTURE OF A SMALL PALM TREE WITH A GERMAN SWASTIKA IN IT ON EVERY SIDE OF THE TANK.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

LEISURE

MILITARY

History

THIS MODEL DISPLAYS MARKINGS AND PAINT SCHEMES ASSOCIATED WITH WORLD WAR TWO GERMANY’S MILITARY CAMPAIGN IN AFRICA. MANY OF CAMP 133’S INTERNEES WERE FORMER MEMBERS OF GERMANY’S AFRIKA KORPS. POWS PRODUCED A VARIETY OF HANDCRAFTED OBJECTS TO PASS TIME AND TO TRADE IN EXCHANGE FOR LUXURY ITEMS. DONOR CLAIMED DECEASED HUSBAND, RADFORD WHITT, WAS CREATOR OF DONATED PANZER TANK AND GERMAN ARMOURED CAR. WHITT WAS BORN AND RAISED ON MAGRATH-AREA FARM; HIS GRANDFATHER HAD HOMESTEADED THERE. DONOR STATED THAT WHITT, AN ONLY CHILD, HAD CONTACT WITH THE PRISONERS WHEN HE WAS VERY YOUNG. THE POWS BUILT WHITT SMALL MODELS OF GUNS AND OTHER MILITARY RELATED ITEMS. DONOR STATED THAT WHITT BECAME INTERESTED IN MODEL BUILDING HIMSELF DUE TO THE INFLUENCE AND GIFTS OF THE POWS. DUE TO OPPOSING QUALITIES OF WORKMANSHIP SHOWN IN THE DONATION, IT IS THE VIEW OF COLLECTIONS STAFF, THAT THE ARMOURED CAR AND PANZER TANK ARE, IN FACT, GIFTS MADE BY THE POWS FOR WHITT AND NOT, AS THE DONOR CLAIMED, MADE BY WHITT HIMSELF. THE ASSERTION IS ALSO BASED ON THE ABITLITY OF THE MODELLER (POW) TO DEPICT THE TOP-SIDE DETAILS OF THE PANZER, INFORMATION WHICH WOULD UNLIKELY BE AVAILBLE TO A CIVILIAN CANADIAN CHILD IN WORLD WAR TWO. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR MORE INFO ON WHITT AND HIS EXPOSURE TO THE POWS. RAD MET DONOR (STELLA WHITT) WHO WAS FROM CARDSTON AND MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE IN 1964. *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.

Catalogue Number

P20020033003

Acquisition Date

2002-07

Collection

Museum

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