It was called the Fredericton Internment Camp, also Camp B or Camp 70. It was the only barbed-wire compound of its kind in eastern Canada during the Second World War. Today, the refugee and prisoner of war camp is little more than a stand of brush alongside Highway 10 near Minto, New Brunswick. The one remaining landmark is the crumbling concrete base of a water tower that serviced the site.
Camp 70 was an internment camp established as a military station to accommodate internees and prisoners of war. During its operation, the camp housed almost 2,000 people. It was located in a remote, forested area near Ripples in central New Brunswick, on the Richibucto Road, today known as Highway 10. The camp imprisoned captured German and Italian merchant marines as well as Canadian sympathizers between July 25, 1941 and September 1, 1945. During the camp's last four years of operation, German and Italian POWs worked in the nearby woods for 20 cents per day. Others worked in the camp's kitchen, hospital, library, canteen and dormitory huts. Prisoners were watched by 350 guards belonging to the Canadian Provost corps and the Veterans Guard of Canada. The camp was completely demolished after the war.
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Updated: September 21, 2003