Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1940

Date Range To

1945

Materials

PAPER, PIGMENTS

No. Pieces

1

Length

33.7

Width

29.7

Description

(DIMENSIONS ARE EXCLUDING FRAME). WATERCOLOR PAINTING. PORTRAIT OF MAN WITH MILITARY CAP AND PIPE. BLUE CAP. BROWN PIPE. UNSIGNED ON FACE OF PAINTING. PAINTING IS MATTED AND FRAMED. LABEL ON BACK "EIGENTUN DER ABTEILUNG B SCMIFFER NR.25" SIGNATURE APPEARS LOWER RIGHT CORNER OF BACKING OF PORTRAIT AND FRAME "SCHIFFER 25"

Subjects

ART

Historical Association

MILITARY

FINE ARTS

History

DONOR OBTAINED PAINTING IN 1946 AT AUCTION TO DISPOSE OF PRISONER OF WAR CRAFTS & PERSONAL EFFECTS AFTER LETHBRIDGE CAMP (133) DISMANTLED. *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 EDMUNDSON'S 2014 ART SUVERY, NO INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTIST OF THIS PAINTING COULD BE FOUND. *UPDATE* IN 2018, COLLECTIONS INTERN KIRSTAN SCHAMUHN CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF PERSONAL ARTIFACTS. ON 19 NOVEMBER 2018, SCHAMUHN INTERVIEWED ROSEMARY ALLAN REGARDING HER FATHER’S, BERESFORD “BERY” ALLAN’S, DONATION. THE INFORMATION BELOW HAS BEEN EXTRACTED FROM THAT INTERVIEW: WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE ARTIFACT, ROSEMARY ALLAN ELABORATED, “I WAS PRETTY LITTLE WHEN THE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP WAS DISBANDED, BUT I KNOW THAT WE HAD SOME PIECES OF FURNITURE THAT WERE MADE BY THE PRISONERS OF WAR, BECAUSE THE PRISONERS OF WAR WERE GIVEN OPPORTUNITIES TO PRACTICE CRAFTS, TO LEARN CRAFTS. I KNOW THAT WE HAD A DOUBLE BED AND TWO DRESSERS, AND THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL OLD PIECES. SO MY DAD DID PURCHASE THAT FURNITURE FROM THE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP, BUT HE ALSO PURCHASED THE PAINTING AND I DIDN’T KNOW THAT THE PAINTING HAD COME FROM THE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP UNTIL I READ IT IN YOUR DOCUMENTATION BECAUSE IT WAS JUST ALWAYS PART OF WHAT WAS ON THE WALLS.” ON HER FATHER’S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE CAMP, ROSEMARY ALLAN RECALLED, “GARY ALLISON WROTE AN ARTICLE IN THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD ABOUT MY DAD SITTING AT A HANGING AT THE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP, WHICH WAS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT WAS A MURDER THAT HAPPENED IN THE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP, AND THE PERSON THAT DID THE MURDER WAS TRIED AND WAS HUNG…WHEN THERE WAS A DEATH PENALTY IN CANADA. IT WAS VERY DISTRESSING FOR MY DAD, TO HAVE TO DO THAT.” ON HER FATHER’S CAREER WITH THE R.C.M.P., ROSEMARY ALLAN REMEMBERED “HIS TRAINING HE RECEIVED IN SASKATCHEWAN. I DON’T KNOW WHEN THAT WAS, HE GOT TO LETHBRIDGE AFTER HIS TOUR OF DUTY IN THE YUKON. HE WAS THE ONLY CROWN REPRESENTATIVE IN THE NORTH.” “I DON’T KNOW WHEN THE ALASKA HIGHWAY WAS [BUILT], BUT AFTER IT OPENED HE WAS THERE, MAYBE FOR ANOTHER YEAR, A YEAR AND A HALF OR SO, AND [THEN] HE WAS MOVED AND RELOCATED BY THE R.C.M.P TO LETHBRIDGE.” “HE WAS NEVER MOVED AFTER BECOMING THE STAFF SERGEANT OF THE R.C.M.P. DETACHMENT IN LETHBRIDGE, HE WAS ALWAYS THERE.” “[AFTER LEAVING THE R.C.M.P.] HE WORKED FOR CIVIL DEFENSE FOR A YEAR, AND AFTER CIVIL DEFENSE HE WAS HIRED TO BECOME A PROBATION OFFICER TO WORK WITH THE YOUNG, THE YOUTH OFFENDERS.” PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE P19860112001 FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION AND COPIES OF ARTICLES REGARDING THE FAMILY HISTORY.

Catalogue Number

P19860113000

Acquisition Date

1986-03

Collection

Museum

Less detail