We invite you to visit Heritage Mississauga’s office at The Grange (1921 Dundas Street West) to view the exhibit and marvel at these unique works of art, and to help us explore and document the stories of the German Merchant Marine POWs at the Cooksville brickyard – and the Ships in the Bottles that they created, thanks to the research undertaken by Zoe Arruda through the University of Toronto Mississauga Historical Studies Internship Program. The exhibit will be on display until September. This article is a continuation of the introductory story shared as an earlier article in this series.

From September 1944 until around July or August of 1946, more than 200 Prisoners of War (POWs) worked at the Cooksville Brickyard. These POWs ended up in Cooksville as a part of the internment camps that Canada operated during the Second World War. In May of 1943, the Canadian government allowed the Department of Labour to begin a series of labour projects where POWs could work for a wage.

It was a way for the POWs to travel beyond the walls of the internment camps while also helping to alleviate Canada's labour shortage. The Cooksville Brickyard felt the effects of this shortage as they were the largest supplier of brick in Canada at the time. One of their important brick supplying contracts at the time was for the construction of the Sunnybrook hospital, which was originally planned as a veteran's hospital. This project was repeatedly mentioned to the Department of Labour in defence of obtaining and maintaining POW labour despite the security concerns of being close to a railroad. The Brickyard sent a request for labour around July or August in 1944, and POWs began working at the Brickyard in September of 1944. Most of the POWs who worked at the Cooksville labour project came from the POW camp at Monteith, also known as Camp Q, or Camp 23.

Approximately 50 POWs worked at the Brickyard at a time, though as many as 125 were there at once. This number was always in flux as new POWs arrived, replacing sick, injured, or misbehaving POWs, who in turn were sent back to Camp 23 at Monteith. Most of the POWs were German, though some were Italian. Most were also Enemy Merchant Seamen (E.M.S), though some were just ordinary civilians according to records from the Department of Labour.

Work at the Brickyard was strenuous and difficult, but according to POW Arnold Salomon, who wheeled bricks away from the furnaces, it was not something the E.M.S were unaccustomed to. A photograph published in the Globe and Mail shows POWs at work carrying bricks with their hands, perhaps moving them to or away from the stacks of bricks in the background. The Cooksville Brick General Manager Mr. Aubrey Cote had said that the POWs were some of the hardest workers at the Brickyard, with many outperforming the civilian workers. For this reason, the company aimed to keep the POWs contented, and a considerable effort was made in order to keep them on the project for as long as possible. Some POWs faced health issues, though only one seemed to be related directly to work: Grego Julian suffered a crushed his foot by a steam shovel while working in a shale pit. Not everyone was hard at work, however. POWs Walter Jansen and Rudolf Wiechert skipped out on work so often they were sent home for loafing and distracting the other workers by chatting with them. While not working, the POWs had other forms of pastimes and entertainment, such as access to Mr. Aubrey Cote’s pool table, which he had allowed the POWs to use.

What was even more interesting, to the Department of Defence’s dismay, were the connections the POWs had formed with the Cooksville community and beyond. Security was quite lax as check-ins were minimal (only about two or three times each day), and guards were also seemingly unaware of certain aspects of the work, such as who might be working a night shift. This allowed POWs large windows of time to sneak away from work. Some spent time within the community, befriending coworkers and local families, while others travelled as far as Niagara Falls or Toronto to attend dances, concerts, or just to explore the cities. POWs blended in as they had access to Canadian civilian clothing, and nice clothing at that—several reports of POWs at dances describe fine clothes such as silk scarves. Please see below for a list of POW stories, including which community connections are currently known.

Prisoners of War at the Cooksville Brickyard, courtesy of Maria Randi. c1945

POWs continued to work even after the war had ended for Germany. After a major security incident in March 1946 at Cooksville, and another at the Toronto Brickyard, the Department of Defence decided to close down both labour projects. The Department of Labour stops keeping records of Cooksville by April, but news reports continue to record POWs working at Cooksville into the summer months.

In connection with the ships in bottles, the Department of Defence had warned multiple times that fraternization and the selling of crafts was an issue in Cooksville. Selling and even making handicrafts was eventually prohibited by the military for several weeks beginning in March 1946. This indicates that the creation of handicrafts in general was popular enough to be seen as grounds for fraternization between the POWs and Canadian civilian workers, which makes the prevalence of the ships in bottles in the Cooksville area unsurprising.

A future article will explore some individual stories and experiences from the POWs themselves.