Seven years in the making, the book The most difficult of our camps, Vernon Internment Camp 1914 – 1920 has recently been released.
Researched and written by members of the Vernon and District Family History Society, the book was made possible by grants from the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.
It takes you into the lives of some of the internees with numerous biographical sketches, great photographs and extensive details about their camp life. During the First World War, 8,579 Ukrainians and other Europeans were incarcerated in 24 camps across Canada.
The area in central Vernon, known as MacDonald Park, became the longest occupied internment camp where men, women, and children were held behind a barbed fence, between 1914 and 1920.
The book also contains details about the various work camps situated at Mara, Edgewood and in the Monashees.
READ MORE: Vernon First World War internment camp book going to schools
Below is an excerpt from the book, an internee profile:
Baron Rochus von Luttwitz (#92) was a member of Germany’s lesser nobility, with an estate (Mittelsteine) in Silesia. He had travelled to North America during his first marriage, and in 1913 went to Vancouver where he became a member of the elite German social circle of the financiers Alvo von Alvonsleben and Dr. Otto Grunert (#91), a founder of the Bank of Vancouver.
In 1914, he returned to Germany and at age 44, married 19 year-old Elsa-Freda von Einsiedel. They promptly left for Canada, entering the country on July 30, five days before the Empire declared war on Germany. It was von Luttwitz’s intention to make Vancouver his permanent residence and live as a gentleman farmer. With the outbreak of war, being an officer in the German cavalry reserve, he registered. Denied permission to leave Canada, he was paroled. He and his wife resided in Kerrisdale at the Grunert home for some months. A house party which they and several other Germans attended on April 28, 1915, was denounced by neighbours and von Luttwitz and Grunert were arrested the following day. Their wives and the Baroness’s maid accompanied them to Vernon, where they were interned on May 3.
For more information visit vdfhs or email verfamhist@shaw.ca to purchase a copy for $30.
READ MORE: Vernon internment camp shut down 100 years ago
@B0B0Assman
bowen.assman@vernonmorningstar.com
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