The Manx Museum plays host to an international conference later this month on the subject of First World War internment, and proceedings begin on Friday 12 September with a public lecture from Professor Panikos Panayi of De Montfort University in Leicester.
Professor Panayi, who has spent his professional life studying the impact of the First World War on German civilians in Britain, will be speaking about the internment of enemy aliens in the Isle of Man, in a lecture entitled ‘Knockaloe in Global, National and Local Perspective’.
The internment camp at Knockaloe near Peel held some 23,000 German, Austrian and Turkish males at its peak, and was one of the largest prisoner of war camps in the British Isles. The timing of both conference and lecture are particularly significant, as September 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first enemy prisoners on the Isle of Man.
Matthew Richardson, Manx National Heritage’s Curator of Social History, commented:
“This lecture, as well as giving the keynote for our conference on First World War internment, also forms an important part of the lecture series which we are running in conjunction with our exhibition ‘This Terrible Ordeal’ at the Manx Museum. We have already had distinguished scholars speaking earlier this year on subjects like the British Army on the Western Front, and the Ben My Chree as an aircraft carrier, and now we are enormously privileged to welcome Professor Panayi, one of the leading academics in his field, to speak to us about internment at Knockaloe. For anyone with an interest in the First World War on the Isle of Man, this promises to be very informative”.
Professor Panayi has published extensively on the subject of internment, his works including Prisoners of Britain: German Civilian and Combatant Internees During the First World War (2014) and Enemy in Our Midst: Germans in Britain During the First World War (1991).
The lecture tickets cost £10 and are available from the Manx Museum and manxheritageshop.com. 10% discount is available to students and members of the Friends of Manx National Heritage. Doors open at 7pm for 7.30pm start.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Matthew Richardson
E: Matthew.Richardson@mnh.gov.im
T: 01624 648053