New Year Greeting
Date made: 1915
Description: Sketch by K.M. Scharsich, an internee at Knockaloe Internment Camp 1914-1917. "Dear Madam, Wishing your family and yourself a very Happy and bright New Year Yours very sincerely K.M. Scharsich Prisoner of War 1915."
The closest match on the ICRC database would appear to be Max Scharsich, with Prisoner Information Bureau number 552. He appears on a 1914 list of prisoners with age shown as 62, home address 53 Kaiser Strasse, Cassel. He appears on a list of those repatriated from Spalding 9 April 1918. Douglas Camp register records: Interned at Douglas Camp 21.9.1914. Transferred from Douglas Camp to Spalding 3.4.1918 for repatriation. No. 552 from Anglo-German list. Ref. 1784/01. Douglas Camp internee number: 202. Title shown as 'Captain' though not clear if he was a hut captain or sea captain. However, ancestry.co.uk has an entry in the marriage records for Hesse, showing a man of the same name and age, marrying in Kassel, occupation shown as 'Schiffskapitan'. This may explain why, given he age, he was not repatriated earlier. He does not appear on the UK 1911 Census.
Internees were held on the Isle of Man 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 1917 more than the population of Douglas the largest town.
Measurements: h 8 in w 6 1/2 in
Materials: paper : pen & ink
Object name: drawing
Collection: Art Collection
ID number: 1954-6978/4
Subject tags : #WW1INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS