Waterloo Region Generations
A record of the people of Waterloo Region, Ontario.
Walter Wolf

Walter Wolf[1, 2]

Male 1917 - 1946  (29 years)

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  • Name Walter Wolf 
    Born 29 Oct 1917  [1, 2
    Gender Male 
    Crime 10 Oct 1944  Medicine Hat, , Alberta, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location 
    murder of Karl Lehmann 
    • Age: 28
      Occupation: German soldier
      Crime: Murder of fellow POW
      Date: Oct. 10, 1944
      Location: Medicine Hat POW camp
      Victim(s): Karl Lehmann
      Method: Assault
      Trial: June 24-29, 1946
      Recommendation for mercy: Unknown
      Hanged: Dec. 18, 1946 at Provincial Gaol, Lethbridge
    Military WW2 - German POW 
    Misfortune hanged for murder 
    Eby ID Number Waterloo-165035 
    Died 18 Dec 1946  Lethbridge, , Alberta, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Buried Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Person ID I165035  Generations
    Last Modified 25 Apr 2024 

  • Photos
    Walter Wolf
    Walter Wolf
    image from National Archives of Canada

  • Notes 
    • The Wolf
      Sixty Eight Years Ago
      September 10, 1944


      On September 10, 1944, a German Prisoner of War in Camp 132, Medicine Hat, by the name of Dr. Karl Lehmann was beaten and hung by his fellow comrades. After a lengthy investigation four German PoWs, Heinrich Busch, Willi Mueller, Bruno Perzonowsky, and Walter Wolf were arrested for the murder. After a trail held in Alberta, the four were found guilt of murder and sentenced to hang.

      Unteroffizier Walter Wolf (ME 42576) was captured at Halfaya Pass in North Africa on 17 January 1942. He was married but had no children. He had received the Iron Cross, Second Class. Before enlisting at the age of 19 in 1937, he was a financial tax inspector. After the French campaign, he was transferred to a unit in the Afrika Korps. Arriving in Canada on 26 May 1942, he was interned at Ozada, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Neys.

      What many don't realize is that Walter Wolf spent a few months in Manitoba, working in Riding Mountain National Park.

      Wolf enlisted in the Germany army in 1937 at the age of nineteen and after service in the French Campaign of 1940, he was transferred to North Africa. Captured at Halfaya Pass in January 1942, Wolf arrived in Canada in May of that year, first interned at Ozada. In the summer of 1943, Wolf volunteered for a labour project and was one of 440 PoWs that were sent to the Riding Mountain Park Labour Project at Whitewater Lake. His career as a woodcutter was short-lived as Wolf was quickly identified as a pro-Nazi and a troublemaker. Having been accused of harassing fellow prisoners, Wolf was transferred from Riding Mountain back to Medicine Hat in January 1944.

      In 1946, Wolf and his comrades were found guilt of murder. On December 18, 1946, the four prisoners and an unrelated sex offender were hung in Canada's second largest mass hanging. The bodies were buried at the Lethbridge jail before being relocated to Kitchener, Ontario where they remain today.

      O, M., O, M., & profile, V. (2012). The Wolf. Prisonersinmb.blogspot.com. Retrieved 9 December 2019, from https://prisonersinmb.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-wolf.html

  • Sources 
    1. [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41542815/uffz_walter-wolf.

    2. [S87] Cemetery - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Woodland CC#4510 Internet Link .
      Uffz./ Walter Wolf/ 29.10.17 + 18.12.46

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsCrime - murder of Karl Lehmann - 10 Oct 1944 - Medicine Hat, , Alberta, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - 18 Dec 1946 - Lethbridge, , Alberta, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBuried - - Woodland Cem., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth