“A man who wants constant watching”: Karl Hens (1872-1948) and the politics of wartime internment in South Africa, 1914–1918

Abstract

ABSTRACT The internment of ‘enemy subjects’ in many countries in response to the outbreak of war in Europe in August 1914 reflected global security concerns. South Africa, then a newly constituted Dominion of the British Empire, followed London’s lead and interned some 2,500 German and Austro-Hungarian nationals. Based on the examination of official and private records, this article analyses the story of a German, migrant couple: Karl and Marie Hens. It explores their life in South Africa hustling to make a living and then, after August 1914, first to escape and then survive war-time internment. It reveals the difficult relationships between them and their communities and between the internees themselves and the relief agencies; from the impact of severe personal restriction and growing impoverishment to the politics of release in 1919. Yet, as Marie no doubt realised, the wives and children – not interned, and left at the mercy of their ‘British’ neighbours – suffered the most.