I read with great interest the excerpt from Simon Parkin’s book, Island of Extraordinary Captives, about Britain’s use of internment in the second world war (‘I remember the feeling of insult’: when Britain imprisoned its wartime refugees, 1 February). One extreme case of abuse and insult not mentioned, although it may appear in the book, is the case of the notorious troopship HMT Dunera, which transported “enemy aliens” to internment camps in Australia.
My father, Sigmund Kirstein, was among the internees: a man in his 50s who had managed to reach Britain in 1939. The conditions on the Dunera and the abuse of the internees are a matter of record. Several of the crew were court-martialled after a journey of 57 days with 2,740 men incarcerated in a vessel meant for 1,600 troops.
