This photo is from the Gravenhurst Archives and depicts prisoners and guards from POW Camp 20, which held over 450 Nazi officers from June 1940 to June 1946 when it closed.
According to a press release from the archives: When it looked like Britain would be invaded in 1940, the POWs held in England were transferred out of the country to keep them from being freed by the invaders.
Who would ever imagine that prisoners of war would be offered university courses from a renowned university, musical instruments to create their own symphony orchestra, a library to rival any other north of Toronto, tennis lessons on the lawn, sunbathing beside the beach, chefs to tantalize the taste buds — and all in the comfort of what was once a luxurious sanatorium? It happened just a few miles away and would last for six years.
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