First World War Civilian Internment Camp identity tag
Date made: 1915
Maker: unknown
Description: A brass disc stamped '4106'. An identity tag belonging to Austrian prisoner, civilian internee, Louis Pollack, who was held in the Douglas Civilian Internment Camp c.1915. (See MNH Archives M07378/M07383 for other items relating to Pollack.)
The entry for Louis Pollack (transcribed as Pollak) from the Douglas Camp Day Book is:
Received from Knockaloe 15th November 1915. Transferred to Ripon 7th March 1919. (MS 09319/1;page 129)
He appears on the 1911 Census as Louis Pollak, age 32 a Commission Agent in India Rubber, living at 13 Ellesmere Road, Chorlton cum Hardy, Manchester. The ICRC database shows him on a list dated 7/11/1914 with the same address but adds: 'Landsturm Inf Regt 4' indicating that he was an army reservist.
Background:
During the First World War (1914-1918) the Isle of Man was used as an internment base for civilian ‘enemy aliens’. They were held in two camps, a requisitioned holiday camp in Douglas and a purpose built camp located at Knockaloe near Peel on the west coast of the Island. These held at their peaks over 4,000 and 23,000 men in some cases for nearly five years between opening in 1914 and final closure in 1919. Over 30,000 men passed through Knockaloe between 1914 and 1919.
Measurements: overall: x 3.1 cm
Materials: brass
Object name: Identity tag
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: 2002-0170
Subject tags : #WW1INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS