大象传媒

I was only four years old at the outbreak of war so my memories of pre-war days are somewhat scant. After the quietness of the winter of 1939/40 I do remember a sudden deluge of strange people, speaking a foreign language, descending on the village. My mother used to recall that on the arrival of the internees they swooped like vultures on all the shops leaving very little for the locals to buy.
I started school in April 1940 at the Four Roads, Rushen. Within a few weeks barbed wire and a barrier were erected outside the school as this crossroads was to be an entrance into the Russian Camp. Once in operation, at the end of each school day our teacher, Miss Clague would escort us to the crossroads where we had to wait on the kerbside until a guardsman called out the name of our home village- either Port St Mary or Port Erin. We were then allowed to walk through the barrier gates. One day each week, I think it was a Thursday, we had to remember our gasmasks for a practice.
My friend Anne's parents had a guesthouse on the road above the Bay Hotel so their house was filled with internees. A German girl, called Eva, stayed there and we all played together on the beach. One morning we decided to teach our dolls how to swim! Eva's cotton doll had a stick-on cotton transfer face. Unfortunately the face peeled off in the water. William Hoggatt was an artist of notable distinction on the island at that time and he lived in Port Erin. So we all trudged up to the Darragh to his home and studio to ask if he would paint a face on Eva's doll. He kindly obliged. My sister and I have often wondered what happened to that doll with a valuable face!
As the war progressed and the internees were released the barriers were moved for the reduced area of the camp so we eventually found ourselves living just outside leaving one of my grandmothers living alone inside the camp. On two occasions my mother found it necessary to stay at my grandmothers for the night to comfort her. The first was when she broke her hand and secondly when my unclde was drowned in March 1945 when his ship was mined. I remember my parents discussing on each occasion the best time for my mother to enter the camp just hoping that the guards would not remember that she hadn't returned home for the night. Being in the camp at night without police permission was a serious offence. Each time I worried in case my mother was caught.
My friend Barbara lives in Castletown and was on an occasion unable to buy shoes her size there. Her mother went to the police station to obtain passes to enter Port Erin to hopefully buy Barbara some shoes. They travelled by train and had their passes checked out at Port St Mary station. On purchasing the shoes they returned to Castletown thinking that Port Erin was a strange place.
I remember when the last of the internees left Port Erin because I was at a piano lesson and my music teacher made me go outside to the garden gate to wave goodbye to the train on which they all travelled. My teacher's husband had been fined during the war for trading directly with the Germans - he had been purchasing leather and materials and selling it on- whereas this should have been done through the commandant's office. My music teacher was very happy to see all the internees depart.

This story has been submitted to the Peoples War website by 'Isle of Man' on behalf of Maureen Hatton and has been added with her permission. The author is aware of the site's terms and conditions.

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