Material Type

Artifact

Date

1944

Materials

WOOD, STRING

No. Pieces

1

Length

26.1

Width

5.0

Description

HANDMADE WOOD TOOL FOR HOLDING A MEASURING STRING OR LINE. STRING IS WRAPPED AROUND A FRAME WHICH TURNS ON A DOWEL EXTENDING FROM HANDLE. STRING CAN BE BOTH WOUND & UNWOUND ON FRAME. PENCILED ON TOP: "WALTER GUNAHARD" PENCILED ON BOTTOM, VARIOUS NUMBERS INCLUDING WHAT APPEARS TO BE "'42". A NAIL IN TOP OF DOWEL HOLDS STRING END IN PLACE.

Subjects

WEIGHTS & MEASURES T&E

Historical Association

MILITARY

TRADES

History

TRUNK & TOOLS WERE HAND MADE BY GERMAN PRISONER FROM SCRAP WOOD SCROUNGED AROUND THE CAMP. TOOL CHEST & TOOLS GIVEN TO DONOR BY PRISONER IN 1946, PRIOR TO LEAVING FOR GERMANY. DONOR ACTED AS AN INTERPRETER BETWEEN P.O.W.S & OTHERS SUCH AS FARMERS GERMANY. DONOR ACTED AS AN INTERPRETER BETWEEN P.O.W.S & OTHERS SUCH AS FARMERS WHO HAD PRISONERS TO HELP OUT WITH SUGAR BEET PRODUCTION. TRUNK & TOOLS WERE FROM INDIVIDUAL WHO APPRECIATED DONOR'S ASSISTANCE. CAMP CLOSED IN 1946 & DEMOLISHED SOON AFTER. ON 20 FEBRUARY, GALT COLLECTIONS TECH KEVIN MACLEAN VISITED AUDREY SWEDISH, THE DONOR GEORGE SWEDISH’S WIFE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS, TO CLEAR UP THE RECORD RELATED TO THE DONOR’S ACQUISITION OF THE OBJECTS IN APPROXIMATELY 1946. GEORGE SWEDISH WAS BORN ON 10 MAY 1911 IN LETHBRIDGE. HE PASSED AWAY IN COALDALE ON 19 APRIL 1997. HE WAS EMPLOYED FOR THIRTY-SIX YEARS WITH THE ALBERTA SUGAR COMPANY, RETIRING IN 1976 AS OFFICE MANAGER. DURING THE WAR YEARS, HE WORKED AS AN ACCOUNTANT IN THE SUGAR COMPANY’S LETHBRIDGE OFFICE. THE COMPANY KNEW THAT SWEDISH WAS FLUENT IN MULTIPLE EUROPEAN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING GERMAN, AND, CONSEQUENTLY, HE WAS REQUESTED BY THE COMPANY TO PROVIDE TRANSLATION SERVICES FOR LOCAL BEET FARMERS WHO WERE UTILIZING GERMAN POWS FOR FIELD LABOUR. SWEDISH’S WIFE AUDREY, A RESIDENT OF LETHBRIDGE AT THE TIME, COMMENTED THAT, “THAT THERE WERE NOT MANY LOCALS WHO COULD SPEAK GERMAN SO HE (GEORGE) WENT OUT TO THE FIELDS TO GET THROUGH TO THE POW WHAT THE FARMER WANTED DONE. HE DID HIS BEST TO MAKE THE POW FEEL COMFORTABLE, TO GET THE NECESSARY INFORMATION TO THEM AND FROM THEM.” AUDREY FELT THAT ONE OF THE POWS “THOUGHT ENOUGH” OF HER HUSBAND TO PROVIDE HIM WITH THE HANDCRAFTED TOOL BOX AND TOOLS. GEORGE SWEDISH WAS FLUENT IN VARIOUS EUROPEAN LANGUAGES ON ACCOUNT THAT HIS FATHER, HIS UNCLES AND HIS GRANDFATHER WERE EMIGRANTS FROM A SMALL EASTERN EUROPEAN REGION KNOWN AS RUTHENIA. AUDREY SWEDISH CLAIMED THAT IT WAS AT HER REQUEST THAT GEORGE DONATED THE TOOLBOX AND ITS CONTENTS. SHE STATED THAT HE WAS RESISTANT TO DO SO, HOWEVER, SHE MADE THE CASE THAT IT WOULD BE OF MUCH GREATER SERVICE IN A MUSEUM. AUDREY CLAIMS TO THE BEST OF HER KNOWLEDGE THAT HER HUSBAND NEVER UTILIZED THE TOOLS. HE STORED THE BOX AND ITS CONTENTS IN HIS GARAGE. *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

P19920027007

Acquisition Date

1992-07

Collection

Museum

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