Several local museums have made an effort to collect material relating to the history of German POWs in Canada and the US. For example, the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society features a page on The Art of Hans Krakhofer. Some excerpts:
After spending nine months in a POW camp in England, Krakhofer was transferred to a camp in Monteith, Ontario, near the city of Timmins. ... the rough terrain of Northern Ontario was ideal for internment; there was little but bush to escape to.
In the Canadian camps conditions were generally good. Over the next 18 months at Monteith, Mr. Krakhofer took several university courses in navigation and mathematics, and continued to develop his artistic skills. Several of the works shown at left were done during his stay at Monteith.
In 1943, he volunteered to cut timber in a distant camp at Red Cliff Bay on the Lake of the Woods.
There's more in the article, including a sidebar with several other drawings.
Posts