Soldiers and enemy alien civilians suffered alike as interned prisoners during the Great War.
For allied troops captured by the Germans, being a POW meant suffering all kinds of abuses. Despite being a signatory of the Hague Convention of 1899 — which outlined humane treatment of prisoners of war — allied captives were physically abused and often fed fetid rations that were poor in quality and had few calories. Hunger and sickness abounded.
All told, approximately 3,800 Canadians were made prisoners of war during conflict. The largest number of soldiers captured on a single day was 1,400 men during the 2nd Battle of Ypres. Of these POWs, three hundred died in captivity, while 175 escaped. The most famous escape from a German POW camp took place at Holzminden, Germany, in July 1918; twenty-nine men successfully escaped through a tunnel designed by a Canadian POW.
Canada also created POW camps for enemy soldiers it captured on the battlefield. These camps were placed throughout Canada, and prisoners were often made to perform manual labour.
Prisoners of war in Canada were divided into two classes: First Class prisoners being primarily German officers and Second Class prisoners who were civilian enemy alien labourers from Austria-Hungary.
The Canadian government also interned immigrants from enemy countries out of fear that they might be disloyal to Canada. Immigrants of German descent, or those with roots in Austro-Hungarian Empire, were viewed with suspicion by many Canadians of British and French stock. Nearly nine thousand enemy aliens were placed in internment camps during the war.