From 1941 to 1945, a complex of buildings that once served as a reform school for boys on the outskirts of Bowmanville, Ont. was turned into an internment camp for German soldiers captured by the Allies.
Today, "Camp 30," Canada's last intact POW camp, is a ghostly remnant of its former self, having fallen victim to vandalism and a fire that destroyed its administration building in 2009.
But its dilapidated state has also resulted in some spectacular photos that were captured by nearby resident Mark Stewart during a family walk to the site on Easter Sunday.
Check out Stewart's photos of a former POW camp in Bowmanville, Ont.:
Canadian POW Camp In Bowmanville, Ont.
"(It's) amazing to think we have something like that near us," he told The Huffington Post Canada in an email.
Camp 30 housed notable German officers such as U-Boat commanders Otto Kretschmer and Wolfgang Heyda, according to Heritage Canada The National Trust.
In 1942, it was the site of the "Battle of Bowmanville," in which prisoners rioted with baseball bats and hockey sticks in protest of a plan to shackle them, just as Adolf Hitler was doing the same to Canadian captives, according to a historical site.
The camp housed a series of private schools after the war. The last one, Darul Uloom Islamic University, left the site in 2008. it was purchased with plans to develop housing the following year.
Kaitlin Group has permission to demolish eight buildings that have little historic value but main structures such as dormitories, a concert hall and infirmary have been deemed worthy of preservation.
Camp 30 was declared a National Historic Site in 2013, and the Municipality of Clarington, where it's located, is looking at ways to restore it.
For now, it remains a haunting relic of Canada's military history that is falling further and further into ruin.
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