In WW1 my paternal grandfather was listed in the enemy aliens register with the comment "nothing against". His brother Christian, however, was a more recent immigrant, and his wife Lina (my grandmother's niece) was visiting relatives in Germany when war was declared. Her daughter Edith was with her. Christian and the boys remained at their bakery in London, which was smashed up by anti-German protesters.
This picture is of Christian and Lina before the war, with their children.
Christian and the boys were interned in an enemy alien internment camp at Knockaloe (pronounced nok-ay-low) on the Isle of Man, off the north-west coast of England. The boys, not yet teens, were sent home alone through war-torn Europe with luggage labels tied round their necks.
This is a postcard of some internees. Christian is bottom right, with his chair back-to-front.
This is a Christmas card Christian sent to my grandparents in 1916. Like the postcard it was produced in the camp by the internees.
While Christian was behind the wire, two of his nephews were fighting for Britain in Salonika. Many internees had sons fighting for Britain, but it made no difference to their internment.
Christian and Lina were reunited when Christian was exchanged for some injured British soldiers before the end of the war. He had aged considerably, as this picture shows.
There was a fourth child in the 1920s, and rather than return to Britain, the family went to Canada, where I visited their descendents last summer. Although some family members on both sides of the Atlantic were in the allied forces during WW2, none was lost.
Linda, pictured above on the lake beside her Canadian home, is Christian and Lina's granddaughter, one of the nine children their youngest son Albert produced with his wife Betty, who is now in her 80s. After 80 years, all arms of the family are finally in touch, all the bitter conflicts of the past forgotten.
Thanks for sharing this, Val. I LOVE stuff like this and am a big history buff...well, maybe "buff" is stretching it a bit, but I do love history. That was my major in college although I never did quite get to utilize that particular education the way I had envisioned.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting a digital camera, new computer, printer/scanner, etc. for Christmas for the express purpose of being able to include family photos (old and new) and stories like this on my blog.
Thanks again.
Dear Val-
ReplyDeleteI have many old pictures like you did and it's sad that the newer generations don't seem to be interested in their family backgrounds at all-I have no children but my cousins, who have children, are not really interested in the pictures-three of my grandparents were born in Poland and one was born in Russia-
Regi.
Thanks for sharing your family with us Val. My grandfather on my mother's side was gassed in France in the 14-18 war, and as a result, returned home an invalid, wheelchair-bound for the rest of his short life (he was gone long before I came on the scene), leaving my Gran scrubbing floors to earn money to feed their 4 children. She couldn't afford a headstone when he died, so my mother only knows roughly where he's buried in the local church grounds. I think my grandmother also lost a younger brother.
ReplyDeleteSadly, man's incredible ability to be inhuman to our fellow man, continues. The thought that we're basically fighting a religious war in the 21st century would be hilarious if it wasn't so desperately sad.
Val! Thank you so much for this post! The old photos and the postcard are just brilliant. Have you translated the card? Your family is rich with history!
ReplyDeleteVal, thanks for sharing all of this history. So much of it is a somber reminder of the many kinds of casualties of war . . . so many thousands of families ripped apart. I think Diane hit the nail on the head . . . "if it wasn't so desperately sad."
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