Name: The Medicine Hat Prisoner of War facility
Location: Medicine Hat, Alberta
Category: Opening Date: January 1943
Closing Date: July 31, 1946
Prisoners Held: Mostly high ranking officers and possibly Afrika Korp soldiers as well, French Foreign Legion
As of 2009, the only thing that remains of the camp is the drill hall, a commemorative plaque was placed on the hall in 2004.
The Camp Seen as the largest prisoner of war camp built in North America with enough room for up to 12,500 prisoners, the camp covered a span of 123.55 acres and had staffing issues, because of this contraband items such as radios, weapons, etc would often be found on prisoners who smuggled them in.
After the failure of Operation Valkyrie, Hitler had given an order heard by many through radio that claimed traitorous German officers could be shot on sight, there were cases of murder in Camp 132 because of this.
Some reports claim the camps had two categories when it came to inmates, the die hard Nazi supporters and the regular German soldiers (Wehrmacht and possibly S.S.) who may not have been as enthusiastic about the party. Because of this, the camp was often the site of violent clashes between the two groups, sometimes even resulting in death. Members of the French Foreign Legion who were housed at the camp often got into fights with S.A. members who would attempt to blame them for not fighting hard enough in the African Theater resulting in their defeat.
Visiting Camp 132The camp is located 260 km South East of Calgary, Alberta. The address of the camp: 2055 - 21 Avenue SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta
Image Gallery External Linkshttp://www.albertasource.ca/homefront/ww2/alberta_at_war/camps/mh_leth.htmlhttp://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/prisoners_of_war/clips/11378/http://historictravel.suite101.com/article.cfm/medicine_hats_wartime_pow_murdershttp://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/criminal/powmurder/setting_camps_alberta.htm
