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Hanged in Medicine Hat: Murders in a Nazi Prisoner-of-War Camp, and the Disturbing True Story of Canada’s Last Mass Execution
For three years during the Second World War, 12,000 Nazis were held in a prisoner-of-war camp at the edge of Medicine Hat, an isolated city of 12,000 people on the bald Canadian prairie. The camp and the townsfolk lived cheerfully side-by-side until two men were beaten and hanged by their fellow prisoners and no one on the scene would admit to knowing anything about the crimes. RCMP investigators infiltrated the camp and discovered the existence of a shadow Nazi government, complete with its own Gestapo responsible for enforcing discipline and loyalty to the Fuhrer. Suspects were identified. Charges were laid. A series of gripping trials resulted in the last mass hanging in Canadian history. Now, eighty years after the fact, acclaimed historian Nathan Greenfield presents stunning new evidence that raises grave questions about whether justice was served on either side of the wire in Medicine Hat.
300 pages, Hardcover
Published November 9, 2022
About the author
Nathan M. Greenfield
10 books5 followersNATHAN M. GREENFIELD, PhD, is the Canadian correspondent for The Times Educational Supplement and is a contributor to Maclean’s, Canadian Geographic and The Times Literary Supplement. He is the author of The Damned, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction; Baptism of Fire, which was a finalist for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction; and the widely praised The Battle of the St. Lawrence. Greenfield lives in Ottawa.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 6, 2022
Shortly before midnight Bruno Perzenowski and Heinrich Busch climbed up the thirteen steps. Once there, Branchaud led each man, his final stride placing him above one of the two steel trapdoors. As December 17 ended and the new day began, the hangman still waited, but no telegram arrived with a reprieve. At 12:10 a.m., the hangman with practiced hand “pinion[ed] their legs, dropped the hoods [over their faces], adjusted the ropes and pulled the lever.” Twenty minutes later, Perzenowski’s and Busch’s bodies were cut down, examined by the coroner, pronounced dead, and carried directly to the common grave they had been forced to dig the previous day. At 12:45, Walter Wolf and Willy Müeller were executed. Their bodies too were brought to the common grave. The child murderer, Donald Sherman Staley, was hanged at 1: 30 p.m., bringing an end to what would be the last mass hanging in Canadian history.
Hanged in Medicine Hat is a book I requested more or less on a whim — I spent my teenaged years on the “bald prairies” of Southern Alberta without ever hearing the story of the Nazi POW camp that once was there, let alone the story of the last mass execution in Canadian history, so my interest was piqued — and historian Nathan Greenfield’s account is well-researched, well-told, and presents a nuanced question: In the immediate aftermath of WWII, what should justice have looked like in the handling of unrepentant Nazis who killed some of their own “within the wires” of Medicine Hat’s Camp 132? (tl;dr: we blew it.) Full of fascinating details, shining a light on a near-forgotten episode in Canadian history, what’s not to like?
Opened early in 1943 and representing a sizeable increase in employment and economic activity for the city, Camp 132 was welcomed by Hatters. That the prisoners were available for farm labour and the occasional hockey game only made their presence more welcome. The locals treated the captives with courtesy, and their manners were reciprocated. The existence of Camp 132 was as positive an experience as could be expected for both sides, except for the shocking killings of Private August Plaszek in 1943 and Sergeant Dr. Karl Lehmann a year later.
Along with the interesting history behind how German POWs (including members of Rommel’s Afrika Korps, surrendered to British troops) ended up in Medicine Hat, Alberta, I was fascinated to learn that, because Canada had signed the Geneva Convention, not only did these POWs receive 3500 calories a day (most prisoners would gain fifteen pounds over the course of their detainment), but they would have complete control of their own leadership and policing (which meant senior Nazis and the Gestapo ran the show within the camp). With coded messages and a secret radio bringing orders straight from Berlin, the POWs remained under German military command, and as the Russians marched on their capital and things began to look dire in the Fatherland, any POW who whispered that Germany might lose the war could be accused of treason and risk being dealt with by military tribunal. So when prisoners were found murdered within Camp 132 — and the Canadian government decided to treat it as a civil matter and subject the perpetrators to our civil justice system — was that a miscarriage of justice? Should the Germans, per the Geneva Convention, have had the right to administer punishment according to their own military rules? This is the crux of Hanged in Medicine Hat and with the presentation of court transcripts, newspaper articles, and interviews with eyewitnesses, Greenfield makes a persuasive case that the Canadian government didn’t have the right to bring these men to civil trial, let alone subject them to capital punishment.
The government’s intention and the appeals court’s decisions may have settled the matter in 1946 but they do not do so today. The violation of the Geneva Convention and the War Measures Act may seem to be technical legal points. They are not. For, by trying the POWs in civilian court, Canadian authorities deprived them of something vitally important: jurors of their peers, that is jurors who understood military ethos.
On the other hand: I was telling my family about this story over dinner last night and both my husband (an old conservative) and my daughter (a young progressive) said that the Nazis murdered within the camp and the Nazis hanged for their crimes were simply fewer Nazis in the world and they couldn’t get worked up about their deaths. I tried to explain that Greenfield presented some of the POWs as radicalised youth who had never known another way of life (which I thought might sway my daughter’s stance, but she just said it was less likely someone like that could be reformed after the war), and while at least one of the hanged men went to his death calling out, “My Führer, I follow thee”, Greenfield didn’t believe any of them deserved the death penalty (and especially not as the consequence of a civil trial). Perhaps it takes a book length explanation to be persuaded by Greenfield’s position (as I was), but at any rate, I found the whole thing utterly fascinating.
December 11, 2022
Nazis couldn't even stop killing when they were POWs. Go figure.
Nathan Greenfield's "Hanged in Medicine Hat" is a look at two executions of German soldiers in a POW camp in Canada. The German soldiers had created their own subculture within the camp and continued to fall under German military authority for the most part. Accusations are made, men are hung, and the perpetrators face a non-military Canadian court.
Greenfield tells a very straightforward story. The details are there as far as can be expected when talking about an episode at the end of World War II in central Canada. Greenfield's prose is easy to read and he keeps his narrative to the the point.
The problem becomes the lack of flair around the writing. As a meditation on a trial that probably should not have happened the way it did, Greenfield makes excellent legal points. However, I never felt like I was in the camp, or in the courtroom, or at the gallows. This felt too much like a recitation of facts instead of a full story.
(This book was provided as an advance read copy by Netgalley and Sutherland House.)
Nathan Greenfield's "Hanged in Medicine Hat" is a look at two executions of German soldiers in a POW camp in Canada. The German soldiers had created their own subculture within the camp and continued to fall under German military authority for the most part. Accusations are made, men are hung, and the perpetrators face a non-military Canadian court.
Greenfield tells a very straightforward story. The details are there as far as can be expected when talking about an episode at the end of World War II in central Canada. Greenfield's prose is easy to read and he keeps his narrative to the the point.
The problem becomes the lack of flair around the writing. As a meditation on a trial that probably should not have happened the way it did, Greenfield makes excellent legal points. However, I never felt like I was in the camp, or in the courtroom, or at the gallows. This felt too much like a recitation of facts instead of a full story.
(This book was provided as an advance read copy by Netgalley and Sutherland House.)
December 8, 2022
"Hanged in Medicine Hat" - was wondering about the title - was actually Lethbridge but the convictions took place in Medicine Hat.
"Hatters", in particular, will find this an interesting (and to some extent, complicated) read. Growing up in or living in Medicine Hat, makes it easier to understand (especially the geography of the area and the various families and groups).
It also brought back a memory. My mother worked in a a local factory during the war and had German ancestors. She once talked to a German POW who was allowed to work where she was working to correct a mistake he was making and afterwards was told never to speak German again. She didn't (even when talking to may grandmother) and I never was allowed to learn German.
Even some of the names of the prisoners are common in SE Alberta today
Well worth reading!
"Hatters", in particular, will find this an interesting (and to some extent, complicated) read. Growing up in or living in Medicine Hat, makes it easier to understand (especially the geography of the area and the various families and groups).
It also brought back a memory. My mother worked in a a local factory during the war and had German ancestors. She once talked to a German POW who was allowed to work where she was working to correct a mistake he was making and afterwards was told never to speak German again. She didn't (even when talking to may grandmother) and I never was allowed to learn German.
Even some of the names of the prisoners are common in SE Alberta today
Well worth reading!
January 31, 2023
Thank you Netgalley for letting me review this story. My opinions are entirely my own.
I was very excited to see this title. I have a love for local history and have visited the site of my local POW camp. I was disappointed that it could not keep my attention. I tried picking it up on three occasions and could not get past the first few chapters. There was just too many details, most of it not associated to the actual case. I appreciate back story and mostly read non fiction, but this one was not a favorite writing style.
I was very excited to see this title. I have a love for local history and have visited the site of my local POW camp. I was disappointed that it could not keep my attention. I tried picking it up on three occasions and could not get past the first few chapters. There was just too many details, most of it not associated to the actual case. I appreciate back story and mostly read non fiction, but this one was not a favorite writing style.
November 15, 2023
I wish I could rate it higher but way too much unnecessary, repetitive, and generally uninteresting detail, at least for the general lay reader. Many pages simply a recitation of court transcripts. Should have just been a longer magazine article. Can only recommend for the specialist in international law and treaties impacting governments at war with each other and their respective prisoners of war.
November 29, 2023
Interesting read and the differing arguments surrounding how the POW’s should/were treated in a court of law (civilian vs. military). Difficult to keep track of the various “players” at times requiring rereading of some sections (good thing it is a short book!).
October 16, 2023
So much potential for a very good read. Unfortunately the author turned into a very dry read.
April 5, 2024
Don't waste your time, honestly. This book is the pits.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews