German Internees - WW1

[Guest Eise]

Hi,

My husbands gr grandfather was German by birth- If records from Red Cross are correct he was born somewhere in Berlin, Nov 1882. He had two names to our knowledge; Family knew him as Joseph Richard Smith; He was married and buried in Hull Yorkshire with this name; He was arrested and taken to Lofhouse Park Wakefield 1914 under this name and released from Frith Hill Surrey in Sep 1919 under this name;

He was also given a tribunal which was eventually successful during WW2 under this same name.

Yet 3 of his children born in 1910,1912,and 1914 were all registered as Zeitz with him giving his name as Richar William Zeitz; It is the same person. They are the family house and his wife is the same person; All children have been proven with certificates;

I am trying to discover whether he was kept at Wakefield for the whole of WW1 until taken to Surrey for his release in 1919.

wE still do not know why he changed his name through his marriage years; unless he became placed at ease as he had married an English girl and had a daughter registered Smith then felt he would like his children to be registered under his true name. The last child registered under eitz was born 6 Jun 1914, which would be just before he was arrested to be interned.

after this all the children were registered under Smith.

If you can offer any help, ideas or even better information i would be very grateful. I have tried Wakefield Archives but they sent me to the Wakefield library history section which havent got back to me yet.

yours hopefully Eise

[phil@basildon]

Hi,

My husbands gr grandfather was German by birth- If records from Red Cross are correct he was born somewhere in Berlin, Nov 1882. He had two names to our knowledge; Family knew him as Joseph Richard Smith; He was married and buried in Hull Yorkshire with this name; He was arrested and taken to Lofhouse Park Wakefield 1914 under this name and released from Frith Hill Surrey in Sep 1919 under this name;

He was also given a tribunal which was eventually successful during WW2 under this same name.

Yet 3 of his children born in 1910,1912,and 1914 were all registered as Zeitz with him giving his name as Richar William Zeitz; It is the same person. They are the family house and his wife is the same person; All children have been proven with certificates;

I am trying to discover whether he was kept at Wakefield for the whole of WW1 until taken to Surrey for his release in 1919.

wE still do not know why he changed his name through his marriage years; unless he became placed at ease as he had married an English girl and had a daughter registered Smith then felt he would like his children to be registered under his true name. The last child registered under eitz was born 6 Jun 1914, which would be just before he was arrested to be interned.

after this all the children were registered under Smith.

If you can offer any help, ideas or even better information i would be very grateful. I have tried Wakefield Archives but they sent me to the Wakefield library history section which havent got back to me yet.

yours hopefully Eise

The Isle of Man was used as an internment camp in both World wars. An internment camp was built at Knockaloe on the West coast near Peel. More information here.

www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/famhist/geneology/intern.htm

[Doug Johnson]

Not much appears to have survived from the first world war and the NA guide to what they have is Here

German Prisoners in Great Britain; Tilletson and Son (Printer), London, c1917 contains many photographs of Lofthouse Park and I believe it is now available free on line. It contains some images of internees so it has to be worth a look at.

Also search this forum as I am sure it has been discussed before, possibly under a Handforth thread.

Graham Mark's book "Prisoners of War in British Hands during WWI; A study of their history, the camps and their mails" is also good for general information on the camp.

Doug

NB Germans changing their name during the war was commonplace, even the royal family did it, to avoid the anti German hatred of the time.

[Guest WhemsMerm]

Something so does not leave

[Alan Tucker]

Anglicising names of German immigrants pre-1914 was fairly common and probably could not be done in wartime because that would undermine the operation of the emergency powers which required the registration of 'enemy aliens'. If someone was sent to Wakefield in 1914 it is likely that..

a) they were of military age

not naturalism

Someone has written a good, detailed booklet on the German community in Hull. It was a significant community because ships from Hamburg etc docked there and German emigrants looked to cross the country and catch a ship to Liverpool. Many found they could not afford it and remained in places like Hull, Bradford and Manchester.

[Guest AntonM]

Does anyone know if there are records listing the civilian prisoners at Knockaloe in WW1? Red Cross not helpful.

Looking for Frank Hutter, Austro-Hungarian who spent the whole war in Knockaloe. Prisoner number 4884, Camp 1, Comp 6 & 5, Hut 3B.