Material Type

Mixed Media

Date Range

1943-1946

Physical Description

22 black and white digital copy photographs TIFF format 300 dpi

Physical Condition

Excellent

History Biographical

John Rock was born in Freiburg, Germany in 1920. A barber before the start of World War 2, Mr. Rock served with the Luftwaffe in North Africa beginning in 1941. He was part of an 88 mm gun crew in an anti-tank / anti-aircraft role. In February 1942 Mr. Rock was captured by Australian troops and sent by land to Cairo, then by ship to Canada. Travelling by train for a week, the prisoners of war (POWs) arrived first at Ozada camp in the Kannanaskis country of Alberta. On 7 December 1942 the POWs arrived at the newly-built Camp 133 on the northeastern edge of Lethbridge. Camp 133 was composed of six compounds, each housing approximately 2,000 men. Mr. Rock was housed in C Barracks. Within the camp the POWS ran their own affairs, and there were a variety of activities to take part in. Mr. Rock played for the C Barracks soccer team that won the Camp 133 championship. The POWs also took part in gymnastics, track and field, baseball and tennis among other sports. There were also musical and theatrical productions, and Hollywood movies were shown. The food provided the POWs was better than rations in the German military, and sometimes better than the people of Lethbridge could obtain during the war. Mr. Rock continued his trade as a barber while in Camp 133, and was also paroled to work on southern Alberta farms. Camp 133 closed in 1946, and all remaining POWs were repatriated to Germany. Mr. Rock married in Germany in September 1950, and in October 1951 he and his wife emigrated to Canada, arriving in Lethbridge where he found work with the Ellison Milling Company. After a year the couple moved to Niagara Falls, Ontario and then to Banff, Alberta a few years after that. Mr. Rock and his wife still live in Banff. [Source: The Lethbridge Herald, 1 September 2001, page C5]

Language

German

Acquisition Source

Rock, John Box 1032 Baff, Alberta T1L 1B1

Scope and Content

The fonds consists of 22 digital copies of photographs showing John Rock and his comrades during their years as prisoners of war (POWs) in southern Alberta.

Notes

The photographs are divided into two groups. The first nine images are individual photographs. The remaining 13 images are from an album Mr. Rock compiled while a POW.

Access Restrictions

Public Access

Accession No.

20101101000

Collection

Archive

Less detail