Again, this has nothing to do with my own research, but I'm fascinated with the amount of artwork these prisoners produced during their captivity in Canada. I recently found this site with artwork from a German POW. This particular piece is from the Thunder Bay Historical Museum. They have a collection of pieces from Hans Krakhofer, who as a prisoner of war, worked cutting timber at Red Cliff Bay on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario. This site has more of his pictures and an interesting account of his life. Hans settled in Canada after the war and worked at the Abitibi Power and Paper Company.
Makes me wonder if Canadian prisoners were as creative, or if they even had the opportunity to do things like that. From all accounts, WWII POW in Canada were treated very well; some even considered their time here as a holiday. "They were the best years of my life!" One prisoner told his family.
How wonderful to be able to see these pictures after so many years.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing, for an enemy soldier in WWII, being transported to North America was one of the best outcomes they could have hoped for. Probably not so true now.