POW Camp 132 in Medicine Hat, Alberta

It depends on who you talk to, but there are many people (including a surprising amount of locals) who aren't aware that Medicine Hat, Alberta was home to a prisoner of war camp during World War II. Located at the site of what is now the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede grounds, Camp 132 (officially known as the Medicine Hat Prisoner of War Facility) wasn't just any camp. This facility in Medicine Hat was one of the largest P.O.W. camps in North America and saw thousands of Nazi prisoners brought to this remote corner of southeast Alberta.

Opened in 1943, Medicine Hat's Camp 132 spanned 50 hectares and was capable of holding over 12,000 prisoners. This is especially incredible when you realize that the population of Medicine Hat in 1943 was about the same. With Britain fearful of a German invasion, they sent over 37,000 prisoners of war to remote camps across Canada - the two largest of which were located in the province of Alberta in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. 

Many of the P.O.W.'s were able to work outside of the camp doing farm labour and assisting local businesses. Medalta Potteries was one of the factories noted for their role in employing P.O.W.'s from Camp 132. Despite these agreements, there were still conflicts inside the camp between hard-line Nazis and lesser members of the SS. Two prisoners were murdered here at the hands of fellow inmates for speaking out against Nazism and Hitler. With such a large inmate population, much of the camp still operated under the hierarchy of the officers.

German Prisoners of War at Camp #132.

Treatment of inmates from the guards within the camp was fair, and some of the inmates even returned to Medicine Hat after the war because they found the conditions and opportunity favorable. Many of the P.O.W.s who worked the fields developed a close bond with the families who were desperate for strong farm hands during these years. Naturally, many of these relationships carried on after the war had ended.

With exception to the armoury, today the most recognizable remnant of Camp 132 is the drill hall (also known as Rhine Hall). Visible in a number of the archival images posted below, I enjoyed photographing this location with glimpses of the prison camp in mind. Rhine Hall now holds commercial booths every year during the Exhibition and Stampede. 

Camp 132 officially ceased operations in 1946 and its buildings were sold off or dismantled in the years that followed. The contrast between this location today and what it was like in the 1940s is massive - not least of which because the city has since grown around and beyond what would've been a secluded area back then. Despite the decades gone by, there's no question that the story of Medicine Hat's P.O.W. camp remains a captivating point in our local and provincial history.  

View more archival images of POW Camp 132 here.

POW Camp #132 ca. 1940s

POW Camp #132 canteen tickets.

Hockey game at POW Camp #132.

POW Camp #132 ca. 1940s

German Prisoners of War at Camp #132.

POW Camp #132 ca. 1940s

Hycroft China Factory Interior: Part 2

A continuation of my photo set from inside the abandoned Hycroft China Factory located in the historic clay district in Medicine Hat, Alberta.