Berrima internment camp
The Berrima internment camp ( English Berrima Internment Camp ) was in the village of Berrima ( Barrima means black swan in the local Aboriginal language ), about 130 kilometers southwest of Sydney in New South Wales , Australia . The camp was operated from 1915 to 1919 during the First World War . There was a relatively liberal approach to prisoners of war and internees in the camp.
As the first internees, mainly German naval officers and sailors prisoners of war as well as Germans in Australia who had lived there for a long time, they were placed in tiny cells in a former prison. They did, however, have the option of moving freely up to two miles from the prison during the day. They used this freedom to set up a wide range of leisure activities, such as water sports, building leisure huts, building jetties and boats, and building bridges over the river that flowed through the camp. They built a swimming pool, put on music and theater plays in a natural amphitheater, founded a music band and a school. Later they successfully operated horticulture on an economic basis and a bakery . They sold these products. They were welcome in the neighboring town of Berrima because they went shopping there. Various internees who had lived in Australia for a long time rented their families in this place. The internment camp became a popular spot for Australians, and one source cited it as the first form of Australian tourism. When the First World War ended in June 1918, it was a long time before the camp was closed. There was great resentment among the camp inmates about this and so the buildings they had built either left them to decay or they set them on fire. After the internees were deported to Germany in August 1919, the prison was closed.
Berrima Gaol
The Berrima Prison ( English Berrima Goal ) was built by convicts from a locally occurring sandstone when Australia was still a convict colony . In addition to building the prison, the convicts also built the court building in Berrima. The prison was completed in October 1839. The Berrima Gaol , which lies on the bank of the Wingecarribee River , has about 10 meters high outer walls. In the stone structure there are two inner courtyards, a guard tower, a chapel, kitchen, laundry and storage rooms in addition to the cells. The cells were 2.40 x 2.40 meters. In 1862, only serious criminals who had to serve a sentence of more than five years were detained in this historic prison. As a punishment, convicts were whipped and there were dark cells in the basement without light, which were also sealed against noise. This prison closed in 1909.
Berrima internment camp
The prison was reopened as a Berrima internment camp from 1915. The approximately 42.7 hectare camp was built on both banks of the Wingecarribee River downstream of the Berrima Goal . On the banks of the north side of the Wingecarribee River , the internees built 14 huts and 27 on the south side. Initially, the huts were nothing more than primitive protective roofs, made of natural materials such as wood, bark, moss, grass and clay. The internees also built facilities for the use of water power, boathouses and moorings , jetties and bridges. They also did horticulture, hosted picnic and water sports events, organized games and used these opportunities for personal recreation. The longer the internees stayed in the camp, the better the huts and facilities were fortified.
Inmates
The British colonial government had experience with the construction of internment camps, which it was able to collect in the Boer War of 1899-1902. When the First World War began in 1914, the Australian federal government decided to set up internment camps in all states. She declared people of German and Austrian descent to be "enemy aliens" (German: internal enemies ). As early as 1915, around 3,000 German people were interned in Australia. Germany had several colonies in the South Pacific . Some German ships were moored in Australian ports at the beginning of the war. The people on these ships were interned, as were those on ships that had been captured by the Australian Navy during the war. People of German and Austrian origin who had lived in Australia for generations also came to the camps. Mainly German ship officers and marines were interned in the Berrima internment camp. From 1915-1919 the prisoners of war of the SMS Emden like the chief engineer Walter Bergien, the ship engineers Gerhardt Freund and Otto Fishere, navigator Otto Monkeskieck and the boatswain Karl Müller were arrested in the camp.
General rules
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In the First World War, the Australian Rules for the Custody of and Maintenance of Discipline among Prisoners of War in NSW of August 1914, which were also applied to internees, applied to prisoners of war . It regulated a roll call twice a day, getting up, sleeping and eating. Likewise, the choice of a camp committee was possible that for the general welfare (German: common good ) of the internees responsible and the camp commandant was opposite report fee. The camp committee was also able to create subdivisions for recreation, theater, music, kitchen matters, education and other aspects.
Camp life
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The first group of 89 German internees arrived in Berrima in May 1915. By the end of the year there were already 200. When the first internees arrived, they found the prison building not well prepared for their accommodation. Precautions had been taken to ensure that the garbage could be disposed of and the building secured. The military in charge of the camp had created an observation platform and a small hut as an administrative office. In 1916 the guards, which consisted of 25 soldiers, moved into a new building outside the camp. There was no furniture in the cells themselves. There were only two blankets and cutlery per person. Food was provided. The inmates had to prepare or cook their own food. Camp life was relatively free, except for the wake-up call at 5:00 a.m. and roll call at 5:00 p.m. Between these times, internees were able to move freely within two miles of the prison.
The Winecarribee River played a major role in camp life. The internees cleared the bushes and plants on the banks and built huts, and built boat and floating jetties. They formed a bridge over the river, which they named Hansa Bridge after a German shipping line. They officially opened this in July 1915. Another bridge was built on the dam of what they called Lake Titicaca . Huts that were initially close to the shore were later built at lookout points and grouped like villages. The respective huts were always shared by several specific people. But there were also huts that were open to the general public and had names such as Carefree . This carefree hut was by the swimming pool. Another hut was named Lloydhalle 2 , which was mainly used by young camp inmates. The inmates also built boats to put them in the river. They called one of them Störtebecker .
There were theater and music performances to revitalize cultural life. A performance platform in which the performances took place was built into a natural landscape on the river bank, which had the shape of an amphitheater. Since 1916, a bakery near the amphitheater offered baked goods for sale in 1918.
Vegetable cultivation, which the internees began in 1917, was economically organized and developed successfully. The vegetables were not only sold to the kitchens in the camp, but also to the villagers. The vegetable growers later rented additional land to grow more fruits.
The belligerent Germans, commonly referred to as the Huns in the British-speaking world during the war, also attracted visitors from the surrounding area. These caused various damage on the camp grounds and trampled the gardens and paths. As a result, an area against vandalism was surrounded by a wire fence against unwanted visits, which the patrols secured.
In Berrima
The village population of Berrima doubled within a short time after the camp was set up because it was booming economically. The village played an important role in the camp. The internees bought food such as bread and meat and other products there. Relations between the internees and the village population were unproblematic, as most internees spoke English because of their occupation on ships.
Berrima also played an important role in the family life of the camp inmates, as some of their families rented houses in the village. The internees also supported the village population. For example, they built a school building, which is shown in a photo with teachers and students as the Berrima subsidiary school in 1917 .
Closure of the warehouse
Although the First World War ended in June 1918, it was a long time before the internees were deported. The inmates were annoyed by this fact. When it became known that the monument at the Holsworthy internment camp for the deceased German internees had been destroyed, discontent continued to grow. Nobody took care of the gardens and the structures that were created. They fell apart or the internees burned them down out of dissatisfaction with their situation. On August 12, 1919, the camp inmates were transported to Sydney and embarked there on the Ypiranga . This ship docked in Rotterdam and the passengers came back to Germany.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Berrima Internment Group , on environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved September 23, 2017
- ↑ a b c Berrima Internment Camp , on migrationsheritage.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved September 23, 2017
Coordinates: 34 ° 28 ′ 54.9 ″ S , 150 ° 19 ′ 34.3 ″ E