Material Type

Photograph

Date Range

12 September 1944

Description Level

Item

Creator

J.M. Campbell

Physical Description

Black and white photograph

Physical Condition

Excellent

History Biographical

The murder of Dr. Karl Lehmann, a prisoner of war (POW) in Camp 132 at Medicine Hat, took place during the night of 10-11 September 1944. Stabswachtmeister (Sergeant Major) Bruno Perzonowsky was one of the fanatic Nazis interned in Camp 132, and led the attack on Lehmann. Although the motive for his murder is not entirely clear, it appears that Dr. Lehmann had angered the camp leadership by reading articles from the Medicine Hat and Calgary newspapers to his fellow POWs that reported on Germany’s failing war effort. Lehmann was also friendly with a group of men who had served with the French Foreign Legion before the war, and who were suspected of plotting to take control from the Nazi leadership inside Camp 132. Karl Lehmann was called to a meeting with the camp’s leaders in North Lecture Room 6 of building DZ. According to a statement made later by participant Walter Wolf, the windows of the room were covered with blankets and he and five fellow conspirators were in various locations in the room. Lehmann was instructed to sit on a bench. Bruno Perzonowsky asked him if he knew of any radical activities going on in the camp. When Lehmann answered “No”, Willi Mueller struck Lehmann in the head and neck, and the others joined the attack. Karl Lehmann hanged from a gas pipe on the wall, and when the cord around his neck broke, the killers strung him up again and then left to establish their alibis. After an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), four men were charged with the murder of Dr. Karl Lehmann: Bruno Perzonowsky, Willi Mueller, Heinrich Busch and Walter Wolf. Arrested on 6 April 1946, the four were defended in court by lawyer G.E. Rice, appointed to the task by the provincial Minister of Justice. Mr. Rice raised several objections to the proceedings, one being that under the terms of the Geneva Convention the men should be tried by military court-martial under the codes of justice of the German armed forces. This objection, and others that he raised, were all denied. Bruno Perzonowsky, Willi Mueller, Heinrich Busch and Walter Wolf were all found guilty of murder and hanged in the Provincial Jail at Lethbridge on 18 December 1946. [Source: Carter, David J. Behind Canadian Barbed Wire. Nesbitt Publishing Co. Ltd., Brooks, Alberta, 1980]

Scope and Content

Close-up of the body of Dr. Karl Lehmann in the northwest corner of the north lecture room, building DZ in Prisoner of War (POW) Camp 132 at Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Notes

Date given in the book 'Behind Canadian Barbed Wire" by David J. Carter (Brooks, 1980), page 261

Access Restrictions

Public Access

Accession No.

20021021021

Collection

Archive

Less detail