TheLastHangman

The story of Canada’s second-largest mass hanging which involved four Nazi POWs, a pedophile child murderer, and Canada’s last (un)official hangman.

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

The film is live! Watch it here:

https://t.co/gySgwHft8L

#canadianhistory #WWII #WW2 #POW #documentary #truecrime

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

Coming soon... https://t.co/qGeox2RdjY #history #canadianhistory #WWII #WW2 #POW #storytelling #movie #documentary #documentaryfilm #truecrime #medicinehat #Canada #Alberta

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

We hope you’ll understand our radio silence has been for good reason, the #film is finished! Please stay tuned for more info about when and where to see it. #history #canadianhistory #WWII #WW2 #POW #storytelling #movie #documentary #documentaryfilm #medicinehat #Canada #Alberta

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

The #Canadian government created a Veteran’s Guard to secure the #POW camps, and was made up of #WW1 Vets too old for #combat, and volunteers looking for secure income. Men assigned to the guard towers were in groups of 3, rotating through 2hrs watch, 4hrs rest, for a 24hr shift.

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

Medicine Hat was chosen for a #POW camp because, “It was surrounded by prairie & farmland. The landscape was flat & trees were few. A person unfamiliar with the region could become disorientated & perish from heat exhaustion during the summer or hypothermia during the winter.”

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

The effort to sort German & Italian internees & #POWs, enemy merchant seamen, and Jewish #refugees into separate WWI-era #internment camps across Canada caused the #CanadianGovernment to ask Britain to send only German POWs & build camps in Lethbridge & Medicine Hat to house them

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

Intercepting morale-building messages meant POW mail was searched & #censored at federal & local levels. News of Nazi battle wins could cause defiance towards camp authorities, but Allied battle wins were shared with POWs to undermine #morale & aid de-Nazification & re-education.

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

7 Nazi soldiers stood #trial one at a time for the 2 #murders at Camp 132, 6 of them would ultimately be found #guilty. Chief Justice Howson’s “voice broke” as he read the first sentence to Sergeant Werner Schwalb, which was for him to, “be hanged by the neck until you are dead.”

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

Little is known about Canada’s #lasthangman, Camille Branchaud, but we know he performed the #executions of the Nazis found guilty of murder at Camp 132. Press were banned from #hangings in 1935, Branchaud began his tenure in 1936 and maintained his anonymity until his dying day.

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

6000 German soldiers detained in Canada applied to remain after the war, but the #GenevaConvention required that #POWs be #repatriated. Even so, many chose to emigrate to Canada to start their lives anew. Here’s to #newbeginnings, at the start of a #NewYear and always.

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

#POWs at Camp 132 felt fortunate and well treated, and their caretakers hoped Canadians held captive overseas were being equally well treated. Acts of kindness remind us of our shared #humanity, and in the spirit of the #holidays we send wishes of #love and #peace to all.

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

Most #POWs at Camp 132 were captured in late 1942 in north Africa and sent via ocean liner from Egypt through the Suez Canal around Africa to New York City. There they boarded #CanadianPacific trains bound for Canada along this very train line, found just east of #MedicineHat.

[Tuesday Film Company @TuesdayFilmCo]

Knowledge is power. Thankfully others have been documenting the Canadian #WW2 #POW camps and events that took place there for decades. Special thanks to Dr. David J. Carter, whose “POW: Behind Canadian Barbed Wire” was an incredible resource for our research on @lasthangman.

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

At Camp 132, two German #POWs were killed by their fellow #soldiers. 7 men stood trial for the 2 murders, of which 5 were #hanged for their #crimes. The #trials took place here, at the Court of Queen’s Bench in #medicinehat
@TuesdayFilmCo @gabfilms @STORYHIVE

[TheLastHangman @LastHangman]

To know where we're going, we need to know where we've been. This is the ‘Rhine Hall’ building at #POW Camp 132 in #medicinehat. Did you know Canada operated 25 POW camps during #WW2? https://t.co/euo07kZ3sv
#canadianhistory #documentaryfilm #lasthangman @storyhive @tuesdayfilmco