Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft Bibliothek , Goethe Universität , Frankfurt , Hellenthal Collection , Photographer Walter Hellenthal
McKay Family Collection ( cropped )
On the morning that followed the declaration of war by Britain against Germany on 3 September 1939 New Zealand Administration police officers swooped on 42 German Samoans at their homes around Upolu . The men were told to pack a bag and accompany the police officers . Some protested vigorously , like 75-year-old Mr Hans Keil , of Saleimoa who put on his old German cavalry uniform , brandished his sword , and marched around his house to a phonograph record of German martial music . Most went quietly .
The administration ’ s police chief Arthur Braisby ( pictured at right ) had put together a list of men to be arrested and , as the clouds of war had gathered in the weeks beforehand , had prepared internment quarters at the Taumeasina centre , on the coastline just east of Apia . These two residential buildings ( shown above at a picnic gathering for Dr Hellenthal in 1937- children ’ s lolly scramble in progress ) appear to have been built by the New Zealanders as holiday or convalescent accommodation for administration officials and their families . Barbed wire was strung around the buildings and guards put in place .
Over the next three months most men were paroled but eventually 15 were sent to Somes Island , in Wellington . The unlucky deportees harboured a resentment that Catholic internees had received priority for parole . Apparently , the Catholic clergy had been effective in lobbying on behalf of parishioners .
| To Walk Under Palm Trees - The Germans in Samoa : Snapshots from Albums | Tony Brunt
188