Whitewater (POW camp)

Operating from 1943 to 1945, the camp was built on the northeast shore of Whitewater Lake, approximately 300 kilometres (190 mi) north-west of Winnipeg.

[1][2] The decision to have a prisoner of war labour project in Riding Mountain National Park was the result of a fuelwood shortage in the winter of 1942 and 1943.

[3] Internees were paid 50 cents per day to cut down trees; prisoners were allowed to use their wages to order from the Eaton's catalogue.

[6] Whitewater was the only POW camp in North America not to be bounded by a fence or barbed wire, as its isolation made escape unfeasible.

Many of these civilians were of Ukrainian descent and it is believed they were sympathetic to the German prisoners as they hoped that the Germany Army would overthrow the Soviets in Ukraine.