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Prisoners of War and Dreams of Freedom: Dugout Canoes at a Second World War Work Camp in Manitoba, Canada
Manitoba Archaeological Journal (2014)
  • Adrian Myers
  • Timothy Dodson
Abstract

During the Second World War, nearly 34,000 German Prisoners of War (PoWs) were transferred from British to Canadian control, and Canada thus hastily set up several large PoW camps and smaller satellite camps. PoWs filled leisure time with hobbies and crafts such as theatre, painting, model ship building, and woodworking. At Riding Mountain Work Camp, a forestry work camp in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba, PoWs were even allowed to build and use dugout log canoes on a nearby stream and lake. Archaeological fieldwork at the site revealed that at least four of these canoes are still extant in the forest, and that two additional canoes are displayed at a nearby community museum.

Keywords
  • canoes,
  • dugout canoes,
  • PoW
Publication Date
2014
Citation Information
Timothy Dodson and Adrian Myers (2014) "Prisoners of War and Dreams of Freedom: Dugout Canoes at a Second World War Work Camp in Manitoba, Canada" Manitoba Archaeological Journal 24.1/2 (2014): 93-112. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/adrianmyers/37