- This event has passed.
Exhibition Opening: Internment during the First World War. The Global German Experience
April 26, 2023 @ 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Event Navigation
Join us for the opening of the new exhibition at the German Historical Institute London on ‘Internment during the First World War. The Global German Experience’.
During the First World War, German civilians were interned as ‘enemy aliens’ in British Empire locations worldwide. The biggest internment camp was Knockaloe on the Isle of Man, holding 22,000 prisoners. British citizens, white and non-white, were interned in the Ruhleben camp near Berlin as a retaliatory measure, bringing the global experience of internment back to the German home front as well and 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 and exhibition opening:
5.00 – 5.05 Welcome GHIL, Christina von Hodenberg
5.05 – 5.15 Internment in the British Empire, Panikos Panayi
5.15 – 5.25 Race and Internment: the Ruhleben camp near Berlin, Michelle Kiessling
5.25 – 5.35 Mental Health and Internment, Matthew Stibbe
5.35 – 5.45 Internment in Switzerland, Susan Barton
5.45 – 5.55 Spanish humanitarian efforts, Marina Perez de Arcos
5.55 – 6.00 Presenting internment in Virtual Reality, Stefan Manz, Paul Long
6.00 – 6.30 Discussion
6.30 – 8.00 Exhibition viewing and Virtual Reality demonstration
Behind the Wire and Virtual Reality Experience exhibition will be shown in the German Historical Institute London until 30 June 2023. 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).
Responses