Bowmanville POW camp - (905) 436-2036

The Bowmanville POW camp also known as Camp 30 was a Canadian-run POW camp for German soldiers during World War II located in the community of Bowmanville, Ontario in Clarington, Ontario, Canada (2020 Lambs Road). In September 2013, the camp was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.In 1943, prisoners Otto Kretschmer and Wolfgang Heyda were the subject of an elaborate escape attempt named Operation Kiebitz.Early historyIn 1922, John H. H. Jury donated his farm of 300 acres to the government to build a "School for unadjusted boys who were not inherently delinquent" (Bowmanville Boys Training School). Two of the early buildings were completed in 1927. The property taught boys until 1941, 14 years after it first opened as a school, when the government told the school to move to a new location so the area could be quickly turned into a prisoner of war (P.O.W) camp. Bowmanville Boys Training School were relocated within Bowmanville to "Rathskamoray" (Currently the Lion's Centre), although most boys returned home. Canadian officials had barely seven months to turn the boys school into a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp. The school was built to hold many people, but the officials had many tasks to complete before prisoners could be moved in: building barb-wire fences 15 feet apart, guard towers (nine), as well as gates and barracks for the Canadian guards. These tasks were completed in late 1941, just as the prisoners were arriving. After the war ended, the POWs were shipped back to Europe, and the site resumed its use as a school.

Tags: Prison & Correctional Facility