German POW's cutting wood in the bush in northern Ontario.  The German POW's were well fed and given freedoms that Allied POW's in German camps could only dream about.

German POW's working in the woods

Thousands of prisoners spent their captivity in smaller transient bush camps, where they worked at outdoor tasks like logging and road-building.  Pictured here is the mess at a northern Ontario camp.  Ironically many of the skills these men learned in these camps were put to good use when they immigrated back to Canada after the war.  I remember as a small boy in Prince George, B.C. that a good number of our neighbors were German ex-POWs.  They flooded north to work in the many sawmills and construction projects in the booming north of the 1950's.

German POW's in Canada

Canadian farmers in many communities were grateful for POW labour.  Ironically the farmers sons were often gone to war and young Canadian men were in short supply.  In this photo POW Walter Woehr is second from the left.  An unidentified POW is 3rd from the right.  Walter appears to be a good looking young man and is definately more interested in the young Canadian farm girl than he is the camera man.  I just hope she gave him a tumble in the hay before he had to report back to camp.  Many young POW's like Walter became so trusted by the authorities that they were allowed to go to the farms to work and were trusted to return to camp at the designated time.  This was, of course, after the US entered the war.  In Canada by that time there was nowhere to run to.