Ideological Battles in Medicine Hat:
The deaths of August Plaszek and
Karl Lehmann
By Danial Duda
Reprinted with permission of the author and publisher of For King and Country: Alberta in the Second World War;)
Ironically, the spark that led to the actual murder was struck by the Canadian authorities. German paws were being segregated by their political ideology and given colour classifications to tell them apart: "Whites" were pro-democratic, "Greys" probably could be convinced to become democratic, and "Blacks" were definitely Nazi.21 Whites also helped the Canadian authorities spread democratic ideals because the detaining power was not allowed under the Geneva Convention to do so directly. The ardent Nazis found out that they were being shipped out of Medicine Hat to Neys, Ontario on II September 1944.22
On the night of 10 September, Lehmann was asked to go to the hut where he gave lectures and meet someone who wanted to talk to him. When he arrived there were four men waiting for him: Bruno Perzonowsky, Willi Mueller, Heinrich Busch and Walter Wolf. They beat Lehmann and then hanged him. The next day all four were off to their new home in Neys.23
Sergeant-Major Bruno Perzonowsky, the ringleader, was born in Johannesburg, East Prussia. He was captured on 14 April 1941 when his bomber went down in Wales; his sixty completed flights earned him the Iron Cross, First Class. Before joining the Luftwaffe in 1935, he was a policeman in Elbing, East Prussia. His wife and daughter lived in Kragemfurt, Austria during the war. He arrived in Canada on 1 January 1942 and was interned in Montieth, Medicine Hat and Neys.24
Sergeant Willi Mueller was born in Kleina, a province of Gorerotz. He was captured near Glasgow on 6 May 1941 when a Spitfire shot down his bomber. He had won the Iron Cross, both First and Second Class and had completed 87 operational flights. Before he joined the German Kriegsmarine in 1935 he had been a mechanic in Rosetz. Within the year, he transferred to the Luftwaffe. He was single.25
Sergeant-Major Heinrich Busch was born in Burgan, Frankfurt-am-Main. The collision of his bomber with barrage balloon wires led to his capture in Norfolk, England. He had completed twenty-six operational flights and was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class. He was a clothing store clerk before signing up with the Luftwaffe in 1934. He arrived in Canada in January 1942 and was interned in Montieth, Medicine Hat and Neys. He was also single.26
Sergeant Walter Wolf was captured at Halfaya Pass in North Africa on 17 January 1942. He was married but had no children. He had received the Iron Cross, Second Class. Before enlisting at the age of 19 in 1937, he was a financial tax inspector. After the French campaign, he was transferred to a unit in the Afrika Korps. Arriving in Canada on 26 May 1942, he was interned at Ozada, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Neys.27
As with the P1aszek murder trials, all four men were tried separately. They were arrested on 6 April 1946; the preliminary hearings began on 1 May and finished on 15 May. On 24 June, Perzonowsky was the first to be tried, two days before Schwalb was to hang for Plaszek's murder. Next to be tried was Wolf, then Busch, and finally Mueller. All four were found guilty and sentenced to hang. The main line of defence was that all four were following orders and had executed a man who was believed to be a traitor. This was not a strong enough argument and a court of appeal upheld the decision of guilty on 16 October 1944; however, there were two stays of execution. On 18 December, all four men were hanged, at the same time as a sex murderer was executed. When the four POWs found out that they were to die with a sex murderer, they asked if they could die by firing squad, the sentence of a court martial. Their request was refused. The night before the executions, three of the prisoners tried committing suicide by slashing their wrists with razor blades that were probably smuggled in with books. The guards stopped them in time and after they were bandaged up at the hospital, they were taken to the gallows. It was the second largest mass hanging in Canadian history, the largest happening during the Riel Rebellion when eight natives were hanged at Battleford for their actions in Riel's cause.28
These murders are tragic examples of what a powerful and ruthless clique can do in an enclosed environment like a POW camp. Even with the humane treatment carried out by the Canadian authorities following the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, the life of a prisoner was by no means always safeguarded from the horrors of war. A clear example of this was shown in a scrapbook that scouts [unarmed members of the Veterans Guard of Canada who patrolled within the barbed wire and watched for any illicit activity] captured in the Medicine Hat camp. Seventy per cent of the POWs never had better conditions than at Medicine Hat. Those who became the leaders often despised the war and the German leadership until they were sent to Canada; with the "good life" here, they "gathered behind a red swastika banner."29 The Nazi hierarchy flourished and everyone was watched by everyone else. No one could have his own opinion. There were leaders appointed for everything: huts, sections, sports, and special groups. In July 1943 several officers from the Bowmanville camp in Ontario arrived. They allegedly had "brought with them a communication from the most senior German officer in Canada, Lt.-Gen. Schmidt."30 Thereafter all affairs were carried out by the Gestapo element as if ordered by General Schmidt. During his preliminary hearing, Walter Wolf gave evidence that General Schmidt gave orders to destroy any traitors after the 20 July 1944 attempt on Hitler.31 Some POWs who were tired of the Nazi ways began to get together and plan an overthrow of the camp leadership. Treachery led to this group's demise and one was killed in the recreation hall. "Thus did Gefr. [Private] Plaszek," it was observed, "having done his duty towards the Fatherland at the front, die the hero's death."32 Beatings were daily occurrences, and those who felt threatened sought protection from the Camp Commandant.33 According to this soldier, life in Medicine Hat was not a pleasant way to wait out the war, though most of the prisoners had it better than Canadian POWs in Germany.
By January 1947 all German POWs had been repatriated to Germany except some 60 prisoners. Most of these were too ill to travel at this time while some who had successfully escaped were still at large. Others, like Adolf Kratz, were serving their jail sentences for whatever crime they had committed. Kratz was released in 1955 following representations made by family and friends. One plea was that his 74-year-old mother needed someone to support her. Before he left for Germany, Kratz would playa key role in the British Columbia provincial election of 1960. During that general election Donald Riggan, a Social Credit candidate in the riding of Delta, would be accused of having a criminal record. He confirmed these allegations and said that there was a good reason he had this record. In 1949, a member of the RCMP approached him and asked him to commit a crime in Alberta and be caught at it. He could then plead guilty and be sent to the penitentiary in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, where he would "obtain vital information from a 'brilliant Nazi scientist named Adolf Kratz' who was serving a sentence for murder."34 It was only one week before the election when this patriotic episode in Mr. Riggan's life was disclosed to the public. Jack Weeks, the deputy warden of the Prince Albert Penitentiary, said he remembered both Kratz and Riggan; but Kratz was almost illiterate, and the prison records described him as a 22-year-old German who was a private in the Afrika Korps and a carpenter in civilian life.35 This description did not fit that of a "brilliant Nazi scientist." The RCMP would not confirm the story for Mr. Riggan.36 The voters did not believe him either and he lost by 4000 votes.37
With the deportation of Adolf Kratz to Germany, the history of the murders at Medicine Hat came to a close. Though the genera] experience was a good one for German POWs in Canada, the strong Nazi element in some camps, especially at Medicine Hat, made life a living hell for some. Thus the war that was being fought in Europe had its effects even on the bald Alberta prairie; until the Nazis were totally defeated, those prisoners who held contrary political views were not safe. Even the Geneva Conventions, designed to protect those victims of war who were at the mercy of the enemy, could not protect the POW that thought differently from his comrades. At times the idea that "a regimental number is not a piece of information, but a man, and a man in trouble" could not go far enough to protect everyone; at least it did not for August Plaszek and Karl Lehmann.
Notes
21. See John Joseph Kelly, "Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence in German prisoner of War Camps in Canada During World War II," The Dalhousie Review, 58(2) [Summer 1978], pp. 285-294 and Don Page, "Tommy Stone and Psychological Warfare in World War Two: Transforming a POW Liability into an Asset," Journal of Canadian Studies 16(3&4) [Fall-Winter 1981], pp. 110-120.
22. Melady, op. cit., p. 181.
23. Carter, op. cit., pp. 257-270.
24. Ibid., p. 261.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid., pp. 257-270; Sagi, op cit., p. 6.
29. John Joseph Kelly, Prisoner of War Camps in Canada 1939-1947 [MA Thesis, University of Windsor, 1976], p. 175.
30. Ibid., p. 176.
31. Provincial Archives of Alberta, Acession No. 83.323, File No. 1 [Walter Wolf file].
32. Kelly, op. cit., p. 176.
33. Ibid., pp. 175-177.
34. Provincial Archives of Alberta, Acession No. 78.139, File No. 19 [Newspaper Clippings].
35. Ibid.
36. Ibid.
37. Elections British Columbia, Electoral History of British Columbia 1871-1986, p. 269.