Prisoner War Artifacts Being Preserved

July 29, 2013

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson

 

 

 

Many individuals develop interests and hobbies.  Hobbies usually range from stamps to coins or other notable items.

One such collector is RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson.  Approximately 40 years ago, Bob decided by chance to start collecting World War II Prisoner Of War artifacts.

 

 

In his 70s, Bob has decided to pass on his collection of over 1,000 artifacts to the Royal Alberta Museum in late April 2013.  His  collection relates to German PoW held in Canada during WW2, and their Guards, members of the Veterans Guard of Canada.

According to Bob “I would rather have the collection remain intact instead of being sold separately on Ebay.“

Between 1941 and 1944, Canada accepted over 35,000 German and Austrian prisoners of war.  The two largest  camps were in Lethbridge and Medicine Hall Alberta.  Due to logistical reasons, these prisoners were not repatriated until 1947.

While in captivity, the prisoners of war were encouraged to divert their idle time towards arts and crafts.  By having them involved in arts and crafts, it was felt that the prisoner’s skills would be better spent creating thing from scrap material instead of planning to escape the isolation and extreme temperatures of Alberta.

Many of the complete pieces of art were sold to their guards in exchange for money or supplies to improve their living conditions.

Through his collecting of these artifacts, Veteran Bob Henderson was able to research the stories associated to many of the artifacts.

We have included below some of these artifacts for your viewing:

Photograph of German Prisoner of War document (Source of photo - RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson)

Photograph of German Prisoner of War document (Source of photo - RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson)

Photograph of German Prisoner of War document (Source of photo - RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson)

Photograph of German Prisoner of War document (Source of photo - RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson)

Photograph of German Prisoner of War document (Source of photo - RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson)

Photograph of German Prisoner of War document (Source of photo - RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson)

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson's WWII German Prisoner of War Collection.

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson's WWII German Prisoner of War Collection.

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson's WWII German Prisoner of War Collection.

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson's WWII German Prisoner of War Collection.

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson's WWII German Prisoner of War Collection.

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson's German WWII Prisoner of War collection.

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson's German WWII Prisoner of War collection.

Photograph of RCMP Veteran Bob Henderson's German WWII Prisoner of War collection.

Through Bob’s efforts, he has been able to collect and preserve these artifacts for the benefit of future generations.

Curator Sean Moir stated “What is extraordinary about this collection is the depth of the research that he (Bob Henderson) did.”

CTV Alberta did a news program on Bob’s Collection and turning it over to the Royal Alberta Museum. Check out the news story

We thank Veteran Joe Collinson for bringing Bob Henderson’s story of passing on his collection to the Royal Albert Museum.

 

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