Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

P.O.W. AND GIRL

Date Range From

1943

Date Range To

1943

Materials

PAPER, WATERCOLOUR, INK

No. Pieces

1

Length

25.3

Width

17.6

Description

WATERCOLOUR, INK ON PAPER ON SECONDARY PAPER SUPPORT WITH DEDICATION AND SIGNATURES IN BLACK INK. SUBJECT P.O.W. ON LEFT, STANDING GIRL IN RED KERCHIEF ON RT, SIGNED "H.P." BOTTOM RIGHT, N.D. BETWEEN 22 AND 24 JANUARY 2020, UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE PREPARATOR/ ASSISTANT CURATOR DAVID SMITH MOUNTED THIS PAINTING IN AN ACID-FREE, LINEN-HINGED MAT. THE WORK WAS FIXED TO THE MAT BY MEANS OF REVERSIBLE JAPANESE PAPER HINGES TREATED WITH WHEAT STARCH PASTE.

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

MILITARY

FINE ARTS

History

BETWEEN 1942 AND 1946, LETHBRIDGE’S POPULATION GREW BY UPWARDS OF 13,000 PERSONS AFTER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO LOCATE ONE OF CANADA’S LARGEST PRISONER-OF-WAR (POW) CAMPS ON THE NORTH EASTERN OUTSKIRTS OF THE CITY. CAMP 133’S INTERNEES WERE CAPTURED GERMAN SERVICEMEN, INCLUDING MEMBERS OF THE DEUTSCHES AFRIKA KORPS, DOWNED LUFTWAFFE AIRCREW AND CAPTURED KRIEGSMARINE SAILORS. CAMP 133’S IMPACT ON THE REGION WAS SIGNIFICANT AND INCLUDED THE USE OF POW LABOUR ON FARMS TO OFFSET THE SHORTAGE OF MANPOWER CAUSED BY THE WAR. THIS PAINTING WAS GIVEN TO 10 YEAR OLD MURIELLE NIKLES BY CAMP 133 INTERNEE HANS LAUGSTROF IN THE FALL OF 1943. ON THEIR WAY HOME FROM SCHOOL IN NOBLEFORD, ALBERTA, NIKLES AND HER YOUNGER SISTER SAW POW LABOURERS IN A SUGAR BEET FIELD (SOUTH OF TOWN) AND DETOURED THEIR ROUTE HOME OUT OF CURIOSITY. SHE CAME INTO CONTACT WITH LAUGSTROF AND STRUCK UP A CONVERSATION WITH HIM IN ENGLISH. IN THE WEEKS THAT FOLLOWED, SHE MADE A POINT OF TALKING WITH HIM AS HE WORKED IN THE FIELD. GUARDS WATCHING THE POWS GENERALLY TOOK NO INTEREST IN THE FRIENDSHIP. HOWEVER ON ONE INSTANCE, LAUGSTROF INSTRUCTED NIKLES AND HER SISTER TO, "GO HOME ...DO NOT STOP!" ON ACCOUNT OF AN UNSYMPATHETIC GUARD. THE WATERCOLOUR WAS CREATED BY FELLOW CAMP 133 INTERNEE HARALD PFAEHLER. IN ADDITION TO THE PAINTING, LAUGSTROF GIFTED A PAIR OF GERMAN EPAULETE PIPS/RANK DEVICES TO MURIELLE AND CHOCOLATE BARS WHICH SHE, AS A CIVILIAN, COULD NOT EASILY OBTAIN. A SECOND PAINTING WAS DONE BY PFAEHLER AND WAS GIVEN BY LAUGSTROF TO MURIELLE'S YOUNGER SISTER GLADYS (SEE COPY OF THE SISTER'S PAINTING IN PERMANENT FILE). LUFTWAFFE (AIR FORCE) SERGEANT MAJOR HANS LAUGSTROF IS SHOWN IN A POSTCARD, STANDING ON THE EXTREME RIGHT (SEE ARCHIVAL DONATION 20091000000). *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

P20080017001

Acquisition Date

2008-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail