Symposium

Behind the Wire: Exhibition

Internment during the First World War. The Global German Experience

Launch event for Behind the Wire

10 May 2023

(0:59 h)

Symposium

Behind the Wire: Exhibition

Internment during the First World War. The Global German Experience
Launch event for Behind the Wire

Symposium, held 26 April 2023

During the First World War, German civilians were interned as ‘enemy aliens’ in British Empire locations around the world. The biggest internment camp was Knockaloe on the Isle of Man, holding 22,000 prisoners. British citizens, white and non-white, were interned in Ruhleben camp near Berlin as a retaliatory measure, bringing the global experience of internment back to the German home front as well. For civilian internees across the world, long periods of isolation caused mental health problems in the form of the ‘barbed wire disease’. Humanitarian support came from the Spanish and the Swiss governments, as well as the Red Cross. The exhibition focuses on these global themes, opening up new perspectives and formats for presenting the history of wartime internment. Alongside eighteen panels, a Virtual Reality Experience will give viewers an immersive experience of Fort Napier Camp in South Africa.

Symposium talks:

Internment in the British Empire, Panikos Panayi

Race and Internment: the Ruhleben camp near Berlin, Michelle Kiessling

Mental Health and Internment, Matthew Stibbe

Internment in Switzerland, Susan Barton

Spanish humanitarian efforts, Marina Perez de Arcos (cancelled due to ill health)

Presenting internment in Virtual Reality, Stefan Manz, Paul Long

Academic lead contacts are Professor Stefan Manz (Aston University Birmingham; S.Manz@aston.ac.uk) and Professor Matthew Stibbe (Sheffield Hallam University; M.Stibbe@shu.ac.uk).