First World War internee Captain Fritz Johann August Gerntholz , Knockaloe Camp, Isle of Man
Date(s): ?1918
Scope & Content: The identification of Fritz Johann August Gerntholz is based upon the prisoner number 16620 which is marked on the glass plate and comparison with the repatriation and hospital records on the ICRC website. His Red Cross bureau number was 952. He arrived at Knockaloe 2/9/15 and was transferred to Alexandra Palace 16/3/19. He appears on a 1914 list of prisoners, with address: Stettin, Beringerstr.6. He married in Stettin on 14 July 1913 with his profession shown as 'Ship's captain'. He also appears in a 1915 Stettin address book with the address above and title 'captain' (Ancestry).
TNA ref FO 383/143 contains an application from him to be released from internment, which was evidently unsuccessful. In his letter to the US Embassy, he states that he was the captain of the SS Horst Martini which was seized in Newport harbour on 5 August 1914. He claimed that under the terms of the Hague Convention, officers & men of a ship seized as a prize should be released.
The last known reference to him is an entry in a 1940 Stettin address book, where again he is shown as kapitan, but this time at Kronenhofstr. 13 II.
Nationality: German
Language: English
Extent: overall: 16 cm x 12 cm
Physical description: Black & white glass half-plate negative
Item name: photograph
Collection: Photographic Archive
Level: ITEM
ID number: PG/7870/38830