Prisoner of War Camp Exhibit at Wainwright Museum in Alberta, Canada
I wasn’t sure what I’d think of Wainwright, Alberta, best known for being a Canadian forces base. At its peak, it housed 1,100 prisoners of war, mostly German officers.
I spent the morning here exploring a prisoner of war camp exhibit, the Wainwright museum, learning about Buffalo National Park and chatting with two lovely and enthusiastic locals who work in the town.
Wainwright, AB has a wonderful little Main Street that is undergoing a restoration. Buildings are being returned to their original glory from the early 1900s, slowly but surely, with the passionate effort of Gord Snyder and many of the local businesses.
At the very end of the street is the quaint Wainwright Museum. Currently on exhibit is a display of the prisoner of war camp that once existed here.
Historical Phones Exhibit at the Wainwright Museum in Alberta, Canada
This wasn’t your typical POW camp, though. When a German guard arrived here, he met the commanding officer at the base to pick up his weapon. He was sent to the store and walked in to see a German prisoner of war sitting there.
Thinking he was in the wrong place, he was about to leave when the officer tells him that he has been waiting to give him his gun and bullets. So, he’s casually issued his gun by a prisoner and walks out to a game of hockey: guards against prisoners. Needless to say, the prisoners were treated very well!
In the back room, historical items from the area have been donated and laid out in a hodgepodge way. If Gord’s there, he’s a great guy to ask about anything Wainwright-related.
Although he spent his adult life elsewhere, he’s a local boy at heart and knows most of the stories behind the historical items.
Jennifer Ford with Bison Head at the Wainwright Museum in Alberta, Canada
Upstairs are numerous old phones, with a female mannequin manning a phone station. This was my favourite part of the museum, just seeing the simple set up of such an integral part of world history (I mean, who doesn’t use a phone?!).
What I liked:
- Just a jewel of a museum in rural Alberta. You can tell the exhibits are well cared for and put together with much passion.
- There always seems to be plans for expansion. Gord and Jennifer Ford (who are part of Buffalo Adventures -see next bullet item) have so many ideas and genuinely want to make the museum- and town- as interesting a stop for visitors as possible.
- They have started Buffalo Adventures, a company that takes travellers to the lesser-known parts of the nearby area (see the following few posts on some of the fun adventures I went on).
Lori Henry is a freelance Travel & Lifestyle writer based in Vancouver, Canada. She covers Solo Travel, Outdoor Adventures, Wellness & Spas, and Cultural Dance, and is often called "That Cultural Dance Gal."
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There’s a great museum exhibit called “For You, The War is Over”, about the German POWs in Alberta, and the Albertans who were POWs in Germany during the Second World War. It will be open in Calgary at The Military Museums from Sunday, June 7, 2009 and will be showing there all summer and into the fall.
The exhibit has already been shown in Lethbridge at the Galt Museum, and will be in Medicine Hat after Calgary.
(I worked on this exhibit and it’s great.)
The Wainwright museum people were very helpful when we were putting the exhibit together, and so were the staff at the Canadian Forces base in Wainwright. I agree, Lori, a visit to the Wainwright Museum is definitely worthwhile.
Thanks, Jill. I didn’t get a chance to see the exhibit when I was in Calgary, but hopefully next time I’m in town!