Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

BOOK

Date Range From

1942

Date Range To

1946

Materials

PAPER

No. Pieces

13

Height

3.2

Length

21.4

Width

19.6

Description

1. HARD-COVER ALBUM WITH GREEN-BROWN COVER. TEXT ON FRONT READS, "DAS IST DEUTSCHLAND, (THIS IS GERMANY)." 136 PAGES CONTAINING CUT-OUT PICTURES FROM MAGAZINES AND HANDWRITTEN TEXT. HEIGHT 3.2, LENGTH 21.4, WIDTH 19.6. 2. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "ULYSSES DERIDING POLYPHEMUS, FROM PAINTING BY J. M. W. TURNER., 1775-1851." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 3. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PHOTOGRAPH, TEXT READS, "NAVE, DURHAM CATHEDRAL, ENGLAND." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 4. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN, FROM PAINTING BY TITIAN., 1477-1576." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 5. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "DIDO BUILDING CARTHAGE, FROM PAINTING BY J. M. W. TURNER., 1775-1851." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 6. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "THE FLIGHT OF NIGHT, FROM PAINTING BY W. M. HUNT., 1824-1879." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 7. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "SURRENDER OF BREDA, FROM PAINTING BY VALASQUEZ., 1599-1660." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 8. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "SHEEP, AUTUMN, FROM PAINTING BY MAUVE., 1838-1888." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 9. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "THE TRANSFIGURATION, FROM PAINTING BY RAPHAEL., 1483-1520." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 10. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "SPRING, FROM PAINTING BY COROT., 1796-1875." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 11. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PHOTOGRAPH, TEXT READS, "YORK MINSTER, YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 12. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PHOTOGRAPH, TEXT READS, "ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, LONDON., COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY EUGENE A. PERRY." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9. 13. BLACK AND WHITE REPRODUCTION OF PAINTING, TEXT READS, "CROSSING THE CHANNEL, PAINTING BY TURNER., 1775-1851." LOOSE PAGE FOUND TUCKED INSIDE ALBUM. LENGTH 20.4, WIDTH 13.9.

Subjects

DOCUMENTARY ARTIFACT

Historical Association

MILITARY

History

FOR DONATION CONTEXT INFO ON THIS P.O.W. CAMP 133-RELATED OBJECT, SEE P20080033001 AND ITS PERMANENT RECORD. *** NARRATIVE BELOW SOLICITED FROM SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR BILL RAMP IN EARLY 2010 WHEN THIS ARTIFACT (#1-ALBUM) WAS EXHIBITED AS PART OF THE GALT’S TREASURES & CURIOSITIES DISPLAY. THE NARRATIVE BECAME THE BASIS FOR THE ARTIFACT’S LABEL COPY IN THE EXHIBIT. "WHAT ATTRACTED ME TO THIS ARTIFACT WAS THE COLLECTION OF IMAGES, WHICH TOGETHER EVOKED A WORLD – NOT A WORLD THAT ACTUALLY EXISTED, BUT ONE A PRISONER NEEDED TO BELIEVE IN. THE BOOK IS A SCRAPBOOK OF PICTURES FROM GERMANY, SO I IMAGINE THAT THEY CAME FROM MAGAZINES THE PRISONER RECEIVED FROM FAMILY OR FRIENDS – OR PERHAPS FROM A CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION OR EVEN AN ARM OF THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT? – VIA THE RED CROSS. WHAT STRIKES ME IS HOW PEACEFUL THE PICTURES ARE, AND HOW THEY ADD UP TO AN IDEALIZED AND ROMANTICIZED GERMANY – BEAUTIFUL VISTAS, ANCIENT TOWNS AND FARMSTEADS, THE SWEEP OF A MODERN AUTOBAHN. THESE IMAGES ARE ALSO RESOLUTELY APOLITICAL. THE DEPOLITICIZATION IS UNDERSTANDABLE GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT I WONDER IF THE PRISONER ALSO WANTED A GERMANY THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS OR WAR, THAT WAS SOMEHOW “SIMPLY HOME”? THE TRAGIC IRONY, OF COURSE, IS THAT THE PEACEFUL, ROMANTIC GERMANY OF THESE PAGES WAS AN IDEALIZED FAIRY-TALE – AND THE REAL GERMANY WAS BEING DESTROYED, FIRST BY THE NAZI REGIME, AND BY THE WAR THEY BROUGHT DOWN ON THEIR HEADS, EVEN AS THIS SCRAPBOOK WAS BEING COMPILED. ALTHOUGH THE SCRAPBOOK RELATES SPECIFICALLY TO GERMANY, IT ALSO PARTAKES OF A BROADER AESTHETIC SENSIBILITY, A KIND OF ROMANTIC-NATIONALISTIC VENERATION OF THE PAST AND OF THE PICTURESQUE THAT APPEARED IN THE 1930’S IN MANY EUROPEAN COUNTRIES WITH THE ADVENT OF CHEAP, MASS-PRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS AND MAGAZINES." *** *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

P20080033021

Acquisition Date

2008-11

Collection

Museum

Less detail