MANX National Heritage has launched a new edition of one of its most popular books on civilian internment.
Living with the Wire: Civilian Internment on the Isle of Man – is an updated publication about the internment camps in the Isle of Man.
29,000 German and Austrian men were held in the Island between 1914 and 1919 and from 1940 tens of thousands of Germans, Austrians, Italians, Hungarians, Finns and Japanese found themselves behind barbed wire stockades.
Yvonne Creswell, author of Living with the Wire and Manx National Heritage curator for social history, said: "In the early 1990's civilian internment on the Isle of Man was an important aspect of Manx history that was slowly fading from the public consciousness.
"As each generation of Manx and ex-internees with firsthand experience of living with the wire passed away the subject appeared to be ready to become a lost footnote in 20th Century history."
In 1994 Manx National Heritage staged the "Living with the Wire" exhibition at the Manx Museum. Ex-internees, Manx civilian staff, military personnel and their families shared their memories, artwork, documents and craftwork to provide an insight into life on the Island during the two world wars.
Yvonne continued: "I thought that interest would peak in the months after the exhibition but I was thankfully wrong and year on year the enquiries from researchers of all ages and levels grew steadily.
"A significant number of enquiries are also received from the families and descendents of ex-internees wanting to discover what their parents, grandparents, or great grandparents experienced on the Island or to generously donate objects, artwork, or documents to the collections of Manx National Heritage.
"As a result the rich and varied story of those who lived behind the wire is constantly growing and the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, which seemed so fragmented in 1994, are slowly coming together. This updated new book is dedicated to all those who have generously shared their part in 'Living with the Wire'."
The book costs £10 and is available exclusively from the Manx Museum Heritage Shop, the House of Manannan, or online at www.manxheritageshop.com.
