The Little Third Reich on Lake Superior

For eighteen months during the Second World War, the Canadian military interned 1,145 prisoners of war in Red Rock, Ontario (about 100 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay). Camp R interned friend and foe alike: Nazis, anti-Nazis, Jews, soldiers, merchant seamen, and refugees whom Britain feared might comprise Hitler's rumoured "fifth column" of alien enemies residing within the Commonwealth. For the first time and in riveting detail, the author illuminates the conditions in one of Canada's forgotten POW camps. Backed by interviews and meticulous archival research, Zimmermann fleshes out this rich history in an accessible, lively manner. The Little Third Reich on Lake Superior will captivate military and political historians as well as non-specialists interested in the history of POWs and internment in Canada. Accessible history of the controversial POW camp run during World War II in northern Ontario. 25 B&W photographs, map, bibliography, notes, index "The firsthand accounts collected through interviews over the years alone make The Little Third Reich on Lake Superior: A History of Canadian Internment Camp R an important addition to the literature, providing a much better understanding about life in a Canadian internment camp. Further, the experience of Camp R demonstrated to Canadian authorities the need for better constructed facilities, provision of adequate recreational activities, and the need to avoid mixed camps of hard core Nazis, prisoners of war, and interned civilians. It was the origin for rewriting prisoner classifications and rights within internment camps in Canada..." [Full article at http://yourontarioresearch.ca/2014/12/not-typical-pow-camp] "Most of us have an image of what prisoner of war camps looked like, either from documentary footage about Nazi POW camps, or feature films about World War ll, or television situation comedies. The Little Third Reich on Lake Superior shatters all of those stereotypes and, through diligent assembly of public records, multiple library archives and personal interviews, gives us a in-depth picture of a Canadian internment camp. All of this is skilfully organized in a reader-friendly, chronological way.... There are extensive notes and historical photographs included in the volume." [Full article at http://bit.ly/1J9X5sR] "Hitler's publicist once spent the winter in Red Rock, Ont., humming the Horst Wessel Song and cursing his fate. In the carnival of Canadian oddities, none is more curious than The Little Third Reich On Lake Superior. Historian Ernest Zimmerman of Lakehead University chronicles the strange events that saw 1,150 men and boys – Jews and Nazis alike – herded into bunkhouses northeast of Thunder Bay in the winter of 1940.... Little Third Reich counts 26 such camps nationwide from Kananaskis Park in Alberta to Montréal's St. Helen's Island, future site of Expo 67. None were bigger than Camp R at Red Rock." [Full article at http://bit.ly/1iDeBhL] "… Zimmermann details life in one small, remote camp on Lake Superior to show unique origins and to criticize persons and procedures of Canada's internment program. He condemns Churchill for deporting enemy aliens from the UK to Canada to forestall an imaginary 'fifth column' in case of German invasion. He blames the Mackenzie King government in Ottawa for accepting deportees and handling internees in an illegal, unworkable manner…. Nazis and anti-Nazis (including Jews) fought bloody conflicts in the camps, often leaving Nazis to dominate camp life, plan escapes, and generate propaganda. The book includes colorful incidents of daily life and inmate characters such as former Hitler confidant Ernst 'Putzi' Hanfstaengel. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries." "The Little Third Reich on Lake Superior (University of Alberta Press) reminds us how many people it can take to bring a work to print. The late Ernest Robert Zimmermann's manuscript required further editing that was prov