Prisoners-of-War and Postal/Telegraph Censorship

The censorship of prisoners-of-war’s mail was a key pillar of Canadians’ wartime intelligence work. These documents indicate that Canadian military intelligence notified the BSC whenever POWs held in Canada wrote to residents of the United States. The BSC then passed these senders’ and recipients’ names and addresses along to the FBI and G2. 

The identities of Axis POW’s correspondents were of interest, but so were the contents of certain letters. For instance, CDBS00368 identifies a Nazi sympathizer in the American draft pool.

Private citizens’ letters and telegrams were also censored. The documents in this collection allude to the challenges of distinguishing between enemy subversion/espionage and “private business of...a shady hue” (CDBS00018) or separating real security lapses from harmless drunken boasts (CDBS00211). The records also indicate that American "friends" – presumably the FBI – investigated the subjects of Canadian censorship reports shared via the BSC (CDBS00021).