living history
This year we celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday by
looking back at some milestones of Canadian history,
and how they involved and affected Southern Alberta
and made it the place we know and live in today.
This issue we remember Camp No. 133, the German
Prisoner of War camp that was located on our city’s
north side during the Second World War.
S E V E N T Y- F I V E Y E A R S A G O –in the summer of
1942–north Lethbridge was a hub of activity as train after
train came to Lethbridge carrying Douglas fi r from British
Columbia, miles of electrical wire, barbed wire, numerous
toilets and other plumbing accoutrements, and all kinds of
other building materials. Carpenters and builders worked
diligently, assembling the materials. Over a few months, a
site that was virtually a new city developed. It was 75 years
ago, this year, that Prisoner of War Camp No. 133 was
constructed in Lethbridge to house thousands of prisoners
of war during the Second World War.
In 1942, Canada was in the third year of the Second
World War. Thousands of German prisoners were sent
to Canada, and prison camps were set
up across the country. The government
wanted the camps to be located close to
a number of specifi c services–rail lines for
transporting prisoners, land for locating
the camps, water, and places where food
for the prisoners could be grown–as
well as locations where escape would be
diffi cult. Southern Alberta met all the
requirements, and over half of the roughly
38,000 German prisoners sent to Canada
were sent to two camps: Medicine Hat
and Lethbridge. Each was designed for
over 12,000 prisoners, though both were
required to handle numbers much larger
than that. A fi re during construction at the
Medicine Hat camp required Lethbridge
to house even more prisoners, and at one
time the Lethbridge camp held over 13,000
prisoners making it the largest German
PoW camp in Canada during the Second World War.
Considering that the population of Lethbridge at the time
was just over 14,000 people, the camp nearly doubled the
size of our community.
Camp No. 133 was located where the Shackleford
Industrial Park is today, and at the time was a considerable
distance from the city. It was located at the corner of Fifth
Avenue and 23 Street N., and encompassed approximately
2.25 square km.
In August 1942, the contract to build the camp was
awarded to Smith Brothers and Wilson Limited of Regina.
Bill and Jack Johns, brothers, were placed in charge of the
project. They supervised a work detail of 80 carpenters
who were broken into work crews of 10. The men were
required to work 10-hour days through a long hot summer.
The task ahead of them had to seem a little daunting as
they needed to build 36 two-storey barracks, six mess
halls, two recreation halls, a hospital, a detention centre,
22 guard towers, and more. The recreation halls were
designed for 5,000 people each, making them the largest
in the province at the time.
Camp No. 133 was essentially a city to itself, and its
construction ensured a smooth-running operation built
with military precision. It was divided into six sections, each
with six dormitories as well as mess halls, entertainment
facilities, kitchens, and anything else that was required.
The number of men meant meals would be eaten in shifts.
Prisoners with various skills provided tailoring, barber
services, and shoe repair services, among others, and an
infi rmary and dental clinic were also manned by German
prisoners. The need for these everyday activities and
services had all been considered in the development of
the camp.
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