@phdthesis{309,
  keywords = {Prisoners of war, Germans, Concentration camps},
  author = {Stefania Cepuch},
  title = {"Our guests are busy": The internment and labour of German prisoners of war in Ontario, 1940-1946},
  abstract = {For a period of six years stretching from 1940 to 1946, over 35,000 members of the German armed forces were interned in seventeen prisoner of war camps all over Canada. The passing of order-in-Council PC 2326 authorized the use of German prisoners of war labour in those industries that required additional help. As a population, Canadian citizens during WWII did not trust aliens of any kind that entered their country. They were concerned with the possibility of sabotage and escape if the prisoners were allowed out of the encampments to work. After a short time, this mistrust was replaced by an acceptance of men who showed a willingness to work for their jailers. The prisoners themselves adapted well to their six years behind barbed wire. Their military structure was modified to work within the camps, and their enforced isolation from any other way of life increased the efficiency of this organization. Setting up escape committees, classrooms and recreational activities, the POWs were allowed to live with the minimum of interference from their Canadian guards. The Canadians themselves had to adapt to the presence of the enemy in their midst. While attempting to administer the camps in accordance with the Geneva Convention, the Canadian government made some mistakes which were marks against an otherwise exemplary record in their treatment of prisoners of war. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)},
  year = {1992},
  edition = {M.A.},
  number = {Dissertation/Thesis},
  publisher = {Queen's University at Kingston (Canada)},
  address = {Canada},
  language = {English},
}