The realities of war : A South African perspective.

My grandfather arrived in South Africa in 1893 he was 24 years old. There is a bit of a mystery surrounding his arrival which I still have to look into. According to documentation I have, he was born in Germany and must have left in his late teens or early twenties and emigrated to America with his brother they could not have been there very long because his registration papers show him as having come from Chicago. His birth is recorded as being in 1869 in Braunschweig. Germany.

He was working on Robben Island where he met my grandmother and they married in 1897 in Salt River, Cape Town.

All went well until 1914 when war was declared and South Africa being a British Colony at the time entered the war against Germany. Unfortunately my grandfather was still a German national and as such was declared an enemy national. At the time of the outbreak of the war my grandparents had had five children of whom three had died in infancy. In effect in 1914 they were a family of four. Not long after the outbreak of the war all foreign enemy nationals were arrested and sent to Pretoria and then from there to Fort Napier in Pietermaritzburg.

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Fort Napier had been the set up in 1843 by Lieutenant Charles Gibb and the flag of the 45th Regiment was raised over the new fort and from that time Fort Napier was home to the Imperial Garrison.

From 1843 to 1914 the fort had played an important role in Pietermaritzburg. The men’s quarter’s and the hospital, often described as being in poor repair and not very comfortable had never the less played an important part in the Zulu wars and later in the second Boer war. After 1902 the garrison was reduced in numbers, the last regiment stationed there from 1913 – 1914 were the 1st South Staffordshire regiment.

It was to this newly repurposed internment camp than my grandfather and around 2500 foreign nationals were sent. I have in my possession a series of letters written to my grandfather whilst in Fort Napier from his brother Hans who left South Africa before the outbreak of World war one.

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After the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7th 1915 by a German U-Boat in the Irish Sea, British propaganda was used to rally men to the British cause. In Durban and Cape Town, German owned businesses were attacked and shops set on fire. For my grandmother this was a very difficult time. She told my parents that she was sworn at in the streets and slogans were written on her walls. She was left with no income and had to take in sewing to make ends meet.

With two children to raise, times were tough and the family was lucky to have help from kindly neighbours who obviously realised that she and the children were not responsible for what was happening in Europe. My grandfather remained locked up in Fort Napier. In 1917 both the children, Frieda and Elizabeth (Lizzie) became ill, I have no idea what they were suffering from but as a result the younger girl Lizzie died in hospital aged 5.

I have a letter which my grandmother wrote to my grandfather, where she explains what had happened and enclosed a lock of Lizzie’s hair in the letter. I still get quite emotional when I read the letter as I can just imagine how both parents must have been feeling. I know that she tried to get my grandfather home for the funeral but failed in the attempt.

For reasons known only to my grandfather he never became a naturalised South African and when the Second World War broke out, the authorities wanted to intern him again. This time however both my father and his brother were in service and with a lot a talking managed to avoid having my grandfather locked up again, by this time he was 72 years old. Never the less he had to report to Wynberg police station day and night to make sure that he was not getting up to any mischief. He died in 1941 an old and broken man.

There is a postscript to this story which still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. When my father took his ID document to the local police to inform them of his demise, the official drew two lines across the document with the words died 5.9.1941 and threw the document on the table with a very anti-german attitude. War brings out heroism and good character but has many more negative effects.

All Images Pixabay personal collection or see image credits.