2nd May
Tim Lynch
In 1914 Wakefield, like many other northern towns, had its share of German immigrants and fears of ‘the enemy within’ spread panic as rumours of enemy agents flew around. Anyone with a German sounding name became suspect and any woman married to a German became a ‘hunwife’. Around the country, men guilty of no crime other than having been born in Germany were rounded up and taken into internment camps. This is the story of one of those camps – Lofthouse Civilian Internment Camp on the outskirts of Wakefield. It is a story of wine, women and song that caused outrage in the British press and of escapees who sent postcards to the camp commandant.
