livinghistory
get thousands of men over to Europe , and the country ’ s priority was to get Canadian military personnel home before repatriating prisoners . Further , the prisoners ’ help was still needed with the 1946 harvest .
While some of the prisoners requested they be allowed
Photograph of prisoners working in a sugar beet field , 1941 – 1945 .
to stay in Canada , rules were that they had to be sent back to Germany via Britain , but the Germany they returned to was very different than the one they had lived in before the war . Some of those who returned to Germany kept
in touch with people they met in Southern Alberta . The Watterberg family , from the Vauxhall area , received letters from two ex-prisoners after they returned to Germany . They shared some of what life in Germany was like in the years after the war , and the Watterbergs did what they could , from a distance , to help . “ The care-parcel mentioned in your letter arrived yesterday . The joy was great as feeding is very bad in Germany . We get 75 grams of fat only , for instance , i . e . less than 3 ounces , all is included , butter , margarine or other fat . This is a little example but I think it will be enough . Very often people have to stand for hours at the shops to get their small rations . Linen or other clothes are to get nowhere . Nothing is to buy . If no improvement would come , we must run into destruction , slowly but certainly . But by complaining our misery will not change better ,” states Edi Haiger in an April 19 , 1947 letter .
Haiger wanted to return to Lethbridge . It does not appear that he was able to , but many others did . Approximately 10 per cent of the men who had been prisoners in Canada immigrated to Canada . Some of those
HOMECOMING WEEKEND
Come home for a weekend celebration of music , culture and community !
September 1 & 2 Alumni Homecoming
Golf tournament | Reunions & mixers Speakers & tours | more
September 2 Outdoor concert & fireworks
Dallas Smith | Corb Lund | The Washboard Union Millz Skillz | more
ULETHBRIDGE . CA / 50-YEARS
September 3
Multicultural showcase Battle of the Bands | Family fun Rugby 15s | more
40 LETHBRIDGELIVING . COM MAY-JUN 2017