German Internees

[peterd]

Can any forum pals help. A friend is trying to trace her family tree. It appears her great grandfather was a german who came to Britain in 1890s. He was still a german citizen when the war started. Would he have been interned and if so is there anywhere where further details can be found?

Thanks for any help.

Peterd

[BeppoSapone]

Hi Peter

Best bet for someone of German origin trying to trace their family tree would be to join the "Anglo-German Family History Society". I know that they have produced at least one booklet on WW1 German internment.

Most/many Germans were interned, in particular those of military age. Lots ended up on the Isle of Man. The A-GFHS will have a lot more information on individual cases.

Your friend could look at this site: http://www.gov.im/mnh/biblios/internment.pdf

It seems to be mostly concerning Germans, who were interned in two wars,with a bit on Italians. It also includes at least one item written by a Japanese interned in WW2.

[Terry Denham]

I have a copy of the names of all the German/Austrian internees who died and whose graves are now in CWGC care worldwide if anyone needs info on these.

[Terry_Reeves]

Its an interesting question. Not all Germans were neccessarily interned though. The owner of the Triumph Company in Coventry, Siegfred Betteman was on the Home Office hit list, but after an interview with the Chief Constable he was allowed to carry on as usual. The same thing seems to have applied to his chief designer and co-director Mauritz Schulte.

Terry Reeves

[Jim_Grundy]

Peterd

As others have said, this was a problematic area - who was an "enemy alien" and who was a "safely naturalised Brit"? However, I know that in both world wars, the Isle of Man was used as a place of internment. There's a report I've read in a local newspaper about a hunger-strike in one of the camps there in 1914.

One German businessman killed himself in Nottingham in 1914 following the outbreak of war and many others were given a hard time, especially at the time of the Lusitania sinking. Not our finest hour, I'm afraid.

Not much but it might help!

Cheers,

Jim

[BeppoSapone]

Its an interesting question. Not all Germans were neccessarily interned though. The owner of the Triumph Company in Coventry, Siegfred Betteman was on the Home Office hit list, but after an interview with the Chief Constable he was allowed to carry on as usual. The same thing seems to have applied to his chief designer and co-director Mauritz Schulte.

Terry Reeves

I think possibly in WW1, and certainly in WW2, the whole internment thing was "organised chaos".

If you happened to come up against a reasonable person, such as the Chief Constable you quote, you would at least get a hearing. If you came into contact with a "Jobsworth" type, you would have problems.

A WW2 example. A person of Italian origin was "taken away" by the police in June 1940. He had a job to do with aircraft design, which was vital to the country at the time of the Battle of Britain. He was being searched for by, IIRC, the Ministry of Aircraft Production. He was not found in time, as he had been put into the hold of a ship called the "Arandora Star", which was torpedoed. He drowned, along with hundreds of others, due to too few lifeboats and no lifeboat drill.

What could it have done for the Allied cause if this man, and very many like him, had been in contact with reasonable people?