Camp 60 - Berry Lake
Story of Celina Brunette, provided by her son, Steve Bottyan
When my Mom, Celina Brunette, was a child, her father worked for the Mandoe in Kenora. He was a lake and boat man. In the war years he was transferred to Berry Lake to boat the German POWs around Camp 60 at Berry Lake. In those days, you took your family where ever you went. Therefore, my Mom spent time with her father and mother at Berry Lake and, now 72, still talks about her time there.
My Mom describes the POWs, ‘the older ones’, as friendly. She speculated that they probably had families and children of their own. But, nonetheless, her father kept a eye on her, as he said they were not to be trusted. My Mom tells me they first lived fairly close to the POWs, but shortly thereafter were forced to move a little farther away on Berry Lake. Perhaps for security reasons. The POWs were true craftsmen I am told. She had many gifts by the end of the war, including handmade suitcases and such, as well as handcrafted kayaks. However, these were left behind in 1946, for at this time my Mom and her family moved right into the former POW camps when the prisoners had been sent back when the war was over.
According to my Mom, there were 3 separate POW camps located on Berry Lake. Maybe they just had to build more cabins to support the population. In any case, all the gifts she received from the POWs are now gone. Her father, Joe, in the Picture above, died when she was 12 in a logging accident. As well, her Mother and older brother Bob have also since passed, of natural deaths. She is the remaining survivor in her family who remembers her family’s time at Berry Lake. She has one other brother, but he was too young to remember. The pictures shown above are 100% original from her time at Berry Lake. My Mom talks about this time frequently. She saw the Germans as men who loved their families, and not as the enemy of World War II.
