Knitted cardigan or coat made at Rushen Internment Camp and purchased by internee Marie Rosenberg
Date made: 1940
Maker: unknown
Description: Brown woollen knitted cardigan or coat made at Rushen Internment Camp and purchased through the service exchange by internee Marie Rosenberg. The cardigan is three quarter length and lined. It has a full length zip which might have been added at a later date. The cardigan has two front pockets.
Austrian born Marie Rosenberg (internee number 2896) was working as a fresh water research biologist in Windermere before her arrest and internment at Rushen Camp on the Isle of Man in 1940. She had moved to the UK in 1933. Whilst interned on the Isle of Man it was believed she worked at the marine biological station in Port Erin and became friends with Ruth Borchard, one of the founder members of the Service Exchange which operated in the camp. Under the exchange work receipts, ‘service tokens’, were exchanged for goods or services. Essentially an artificial economy was established to provide internees with an income. These tokens were made from cutting up thousands of cornflake boxes and putting their rubber stamp on. At its height the Exchange employed over a thousand women, from occasional jobs to full time. By winter 1940 the rationing of material together with the increasing release of internees meant the scheme was unsustainable, and was finally liquidated in November 1941.
She was released in January 1941, but as a Category C ‘enemy alien’ was not able to return to Windermere, instead she was permitted to continue as an employee though based in Cambridge. Whilst in Cambridge, she and a number of fellow released internees continued to operate the Service Exchange seemingly bringing with them materials made in Rushen Camp to sell in Cambridge. We can see from the handwritten ‘Service Exchange Cash Book – Cambridge March 11 1941’ that Marie Rosenberg paid off the money she owed for the cardigan whilst in Cambridge. The cash book contains details of the types of objects being sold in Cambridge, these include a good many shell necklaces, macramé belts, raffia animals and hats.
The cardigan, together with a box of shells, service exchange tokens, the Cambridge Cash Book and other internment related archives were donated by Marie Rosenberg’s daughter in 2023.
Measurements: overall: 120 cm x 42 cm x 4 cm
Materials: wool
Object name: internment items
Collection: Costume & Textiles Collection
ID Number: 2023-0044/1
Subject tags : #ww2internmentmuseumcollections