Douglas Aliens' Camp medal
Date made: 1915
Maker: Falke, Ludwig
Description: Lead Medal from Douglas Aliens' Camp. 1914-15 Made by Alien No. 3121, Ludwig Falke (a German male internee held in Douglas Camp from 1914-1919).
The medals were made from the melted down liners of tea chests. They were presented by the internees to themselves as a reminder of their time in internment. In some ways this was an ironic gesture, as medals would normally be awarded for bravery in war, but there was felt to be no honour or glory in being held in a civilian internment camp. The medals are usually not named but some were individually engraved with the prisoner's number.
The ICRC database has a record of a Ludwig Johan Heinrich Falke, home address: Hamburg 30, Abendrothsweg 67/III. Ancestry has a Hamburg birth record from 1892 for Ludwig Heinrich Johann Falke. The 1911 Census shows a Lewis Falk [sic] aged 21 staying at a guesthouse in North London. He was an embroidery manufacturer's clerk born in Germany. Possibly the same man with an anglicised name? Age is approximately correct.
Materials: lead
Object name: medal
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: 1954-1414
Subject tags : #WW1INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS
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