Riethmaier Family Collection ; restored by T . Brunt 2013 .
War embroiled the whole Stünzner family from the conflict ’ s outbreak at the start of September 1939 . Kurt and Fritz Jnr , both married with children , were bundled into captivity by the NZ Administration and sent to Somes Island , in Wellington , where they were admitted on 27 November 1939 . More than five years of internment would follow .
This photo shows Fritz and other internees , several from Samoa , passing round an ava cup , the traditional hollowed out coconut shell , after they had somehow managed to obtain an ava root and make a drink . Mr Rudy Kruse on the left also holds a bucket with ava in his left hand . The people in this photo are ( left-to-right ): Mr Kruse ( ex-Samoa ), Mr Ludwig Schreiber , Mr Karl Schmidt above obscured , Fritz Stünzner Jnr , Mr Rudolf Berking , unknown , unknown , Mr Max Grapengiesser Snr ( Samoa / Auckland ), Mr Cristoph Alberts , Mr Robert Wetzell ( Samoa ), Mr Fritz Jahnke ( Samoa ) holding an ava root .
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