Stanley Internment Camp
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Stanley Internment Camp () was a civilian
internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
in Hong Kong during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Located in
Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
, on the southern end of
Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...
, it was used by the
Japanese imperial forces The Imperial Japanese Armed Forces (IJAF) were the combined military forces of the Japanese Empire. Formed during the Meiji Restoration in 1868,"One can date the 'restoration' of imperial rule from the edict of 3 January 1868." p. 334. they ...
to hold non-
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
enemy nationals after their victory in the
Battle of Hong Kong The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the ...
in December 1941. About 2,800 men, women, and children were held at the non- segregated camp for 44 months from early January 1942 to August 1945 when Japanese forces surrendered. The camp area consisted of St Stephen's College and the grounds of
Stanley Prison Stanley Prison (c. January 1937, previously known as Hong Kong Prison at Stanley) is one of the six maximum security facilities in Hong Kong. History Built in 1937, Stanley Prison is currently the oldest institution still in service (the old ...
, excluding the prison itself.


Evacuation and arrival at camp

In 1939, the
British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...
had drawn up evacuation plans for the British and other
European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
residents of Hong Kong, which was a
Crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...
of the United Kingdom (UK) at the time. The
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thought the city would inevitably fall to Japanese forces in the event of an attack, so it should not be reinforced with more defensive forces. The presence of a large number of British women and children would have been an "embarrassment" for the government when the Japanese forces took Hong Kong, and additionally it was thought the internment of thousands of British civilians would cause unnecessary suffering and serve the Japanese as propaganda material. In July 1940, the colonial government of Hong Kong received orders from the UK to proceed with the evacuations. By 3 August, all service families and registered non-service British women and children were moved to the
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.Archer and Fedorowich; page 376 However, the hurried compulsory evacuations prompted criticism from many evacuees, their husbands, and their employees, who felt the evacuations were premature and unnecessary. According to Bernice Archer and Kent Fedorowich, respectively of the
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and the
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, the local Chinese population were angered by their exclusion from the evacuations and condemned the plans as
racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
. Additionally, the plans excluded
British passport A British passport is a travel document issued by the United Kingdom or other British dependencies and territories to individuals holding any form of British nationality. It grants the bearer international passage in accordance with visa requ ...
holders who were not of European ancestry. Amidst the criticism, the government subsequently made the evacuations non-compulsory. Existing evacuations already ordered were cancelled provided evacuees volunteered for
auxiliary Auxiliary may refer to: * A backup site or system In language * Auxiliary language (disambiguation) * Auxiliary verb In military and law enforcement * Auxiliary police * Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of ...
roles, such as nursing or administrative work. On 8 December 1941 Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong, marking the start of the Battle of Hong Kong. Seventeen days later, on Christmas Day of 1941, which came to be known as "Black Christmas", the Hong Kong government surrendered, and Hong Kong came under Japanese occupation. On 4 January 1942, a notice appeared in an English-language newspaper that all "enemy nationals" were to assemble on Murray Parade Grounds. Many people did not see the notice, but about 1,000 people were eventually gathered on the grounds.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 30 In addition to those who gathered voluntarily, there were people forcibly removed from their homes. The people assembled were marched to and initially interned in hotel-
brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
s on the waterfront near the present-day Macau Ferry Pier. The conditions there were dirty and overcrowded, and the food was poor. After 17 days, the internees were taken by boat to Stanley. The "enemy nationals" who failed to assemble on Murray Parade Grounds avoided internment at the hotel-brothels. However, by the end of January, most of the civilians to be interned were moved to Stanley. Upon arrival at camp, the internees discovered little was prepared for them there. There were no cooking facilities, no furniture, little crockery or cutlery. The toilet facilities were dirty, inadequate, and without water. The rooms were soon overcrowded with random assortments of people unrelated to each other, and with little attention paid to hygiene or public health.Archer and Fedorowich; page 379


Camp grounds

The Stanley site was chosen by the Japanese through consultation with two Hong Kong government officials – Dr. P. S. Selwyn-Clarke, Director of Medical Services, and F. C. Gimson, the Colonial Secretary. Located on Stanley Peninsula, which was about nine kilometres from the city at the time,Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 8 the camp consisted of St. Stephen's College and the grounds of Stanley Prison, excluding the prison itself; the prison was used by the Japanese authorities to hold what they considered "criminals" from Hong Kong.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 16 Several hundred internees lived at St. Stephen's, while the majority of them lived on the prison grounds. Prior to Japanese occupation, St. Stephen's was a secondary school whose facilities, in addition to classrooms, included an assembly hall, bungalows for teachers, and science laboratories. Over twenty internees occupied each bungalow, which was built for one family, and more than that occupied each science laboratory, living between partitions of sacking and old blankets. Almost all the buildings in the camp were used for housing.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 10 Certain buildings and areas on the prison grounds had specific functions: * The Prison Officers' Club was used for multiple functions, including as a canteen, a kindergarten,
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
church, and recreation centre. * Two main divisions of quarters existed – the Warders' Quarters and the Indian Quarters. Before the war, the Warders' Quarters housed European warders, with large
flats Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...
designed for one family each, and the Indian Quarters housed
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
prison guards, built with smaller flats. An average of thirty internees lived in each Warders' Quarters flat, and an average of six internees lived in each Indian Quarters flat.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); pages 31–32 * A building which had housed single Indian warders before the war was turned into a hospital called Tweed Bay Hospital.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 32 * Two houses, originally used as homes for the prison superintendent and the prison doctor, were turned into the Japanese headquarters for the camp. * The cemetery on the grounds became a popular spot for quiet relaxation as well as a place for intimate meetings between male and female internees.


Life at camp

The internees numbered at 2,800, of which an estimated 2,325 to 2,514 were British. The adult population numbered at 1,370 men and 858 women, and children 16 years of age or younger numbered at 286, with 99 of whom were below the age of 4. The camp was under the control of the Japanese Foreign Affairs Department,Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 37 but according to historian Geoffrey Charles Emerson, the Japanese forces had not made plans for dealing with enemy civilians in Hong Kong. As such, the camp was provided with few necessities, and the internees were left to govern the camp themselves.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 33 Committees were formed for such matters as housing, food, and medical care. The national groups remained mostly independent of each other except for matters of welfare and medical care. Very few government servants were selected to serve on these committees, due to anti-government sentiment; most internees blamed the government for the quick surrender of Hong Kong. The biggest concern was food; ensuring there was enough food occupied most of the internees' time. Little food was provided by the Japanese authorities, and it was of poor quality – frequently containing dust, mud, rat and cockroach excreta, cigarette ends, and sometimes dead rats.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 34 Every day, the internees were served
rice congee Congee or conjee ( ) is a type of rice porridge or gruel eaten in Asian countries. It can be eaten plain, where it is typically served with side dishes, or it can be served with ingredients such as meat, fish, seasonings and flavourings, most o ...
at 8 am, and meals consisting of rice with stew at both 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Additionally, they relied on food mailed from friends or relatives in the city,
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aid, garden-grown vegetables, and bought food from the canteen or the
black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
. Another concern was the health and medical care of the internees. Although medical facilities were inadequate, the internees counted amongst them about 40 doctors, two dentists, six pharmacists, 100 trained nurses,Archer and Fedorowich; page 384 and a large number of volunteer auxiliary nurses.Archer and Fedorowich; page 381 Because of this, according to historian G. B. Endacott, no major epidemic occurred. The most common sickness amongst the internees were
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
,
malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
and its associated diseases,
beriberi Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The two main types in adults are wet beriberi and dry beriberi. Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system, r ...
, and
pellagra Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3). Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to either sunlight or friction are typically affected first. Over t ...
. The shortage of medical supplies and equipment posed a challenge for those in charge of medical care, with the lack of soap and disinfectant being a particularly troublesome concern. The women and children contributed to a sense of normality as their presence provided conventional social, family, and gender relations. The internees believed the children's presence made them less selfish, as it forced them to think of the latter's welfare. The women organised Christmas and birthday celebrations.Archer and Fedorowich; page 390 Other diversions such as musicals, plays, recitals, and variety shows were also staged.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 39 Although the camp lacked books and educational supplies, the teachers and educational administrators amongst the internees were able to provide lessons for the children at the primary and secondary levels. Additionally, extensive educational opportunities were available for the adults: language courses for Chinese,
Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...
, and French, and also lectures on photography, yachting, journalism, and poultry-keeping. In addition to the personal diaries kept by internees, many of them now held by the
Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
, a record of life in the camp was created using a double bed sheet. The Day Joyce Sheet was embroidered and appliquéd with 1100 names, signs and figures including a diary in code.


Deaths

Records show that 121 internees died in the camp, mostly due to illness, with half the deaths being of internees over the age of 50.Archer and Fedorowich; page 388 There were also a few accidental deaths. Two internees died from falls and one child drowned. The worst accident occurred during the large US Navy attack against Hong Kong on 16 January 1945, when a plane accidentally bombed Bungalow 5 at St. Stephen's College, killing 14 internees.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 38 These internees were buried at
Stanley Military Cemetery Stanley Military Cemetery is a cemetery located near St. Stephen's Beach in Stanley, Hong Kong. Along with the larger Hong Kong (Happy Valley) Cemetery, it is one of two military cemeteries of the early colonial era, used for the burials ...
.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 271 Another seven internees were executed by the Japanese authorities. These internees had possessed a radio set which they used to pass messages in and out of camp. The radio was discovered by the Japanese and the internees were arrested. The other internees were forced to watch their public torture. Military trials were subsequently held and on 29 October 1943, some of the internees were executed by being shot and at least one, John Fraser, was beheaded.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 37 Aside from this, the Japanese authorities had executed by
decapitation Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
three Chinese policemen for bringing cigarettes and tobacco to the camp's internees.


Escape attempts

A number of factors made escape attempts daunting for the internees. They would have to navigate through Japanese-occupied territory, find food, and as few internees spoke
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
, they would also have to deal with the language barrier if they succeeded in escaping. Despite these difficulties, there were three major escape attempts, of which two in March 1942 were successful. One group of eight internees escaped on a small boat to neighbouring
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
. Another group, consisting of two internees, escaped through the
New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...
and into
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
. The third group, four policemen, in April 1942 managed to escape the camp grounds but were caught within a few miles of camp. They were subsequently imprisoned and released back to camp after a few weeks.


Early repatriation

Repatriation was one of the two most talked-about subjects at camp (the other being food).Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 56 On 6 May 1942, the Japanese authorities informed the internees repatriation for the Americans would take place on 15 June. Japanese treatment of the American internees improved during this period before the actual repatriation took place; more and better food was given to them, and they were allowed contacts with Chinese friends outside of camp.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 58 American journalists were interviewed by a Japanese news agency and asked questions about the war and the camp. The internees came to find out later the interview became war propaganda for the Japanese, in the form of an article claiming that American journalists had complimented the Japanese military and the camp itself, stating the camp was "probably the most comfortable in the world."Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 59 It was not until 29 June that repatriation for the Americans finally took place, after Japanese and Thai citizens held in the US and South America boarded ships in late June in preparation for exchange of internees. Those being repatriated were given
smallpox vaccination The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...
,
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inoculation Inoculation is the act of implanting a pathogen or other microorganism. It may refer to methods of artificially inducing immunity against various infectious diseases, or it may be used to describe the spreading of disease, as in "self-inoculati ...
, and thorough medical examinations. No books, bibles, diaries, or addresses were allowed to leave with the Americans, but the remaining internees were each allowed to write a 150-word letter for the Americans to take with them.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 60 The American internees boarded the ship, the ''
Asama Maru was a Japanese ocean liner owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK). The ship was built in 1927–1929 by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. at Nagasaki, Japan. The vessel was named after an important Shinto shrine. ''Asama Maru'' set a reco ...
'', along with other Americans who had been allowed to stay in Hong Kong outside of the camp. After picking up Americans for repatriation from other locations in Asia, the ''Asama Maru'' arrived at
Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...
,
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
(then called Lourenço Marques) on 22 July, where the Americans and Japanese exchanged internees. The Americans were to finally reach New York City on 25 August.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 64 Reportedly a total of 377 Americans were repatriated from Hong Kong.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 63 Repatriation of Canadian internees and remaining American internees was announced in August 1943 (not all American internees had been repatriated in June 1942). Preparations similar to the prior repatriation were made, including messages and reports to be delivered.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 69 The ship, the ''Teia Maru'', reached Hong Kong on 23 September, taking on board 73 Canadian internees, 24 American internees, and 13 Latin American internees. The ship sailed to
Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
, where an exchange of prisoners and internees with Japan took place.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 70 There were indications and notices to the British internees that their repatriation was possible; Gimson told them a Swiss
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representative had spoken "encouragingly" about repatriation,Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 65 the Japanese authorities twice informed them (on 24 May 1943 and 2 November 1943) that they would be repatriated,Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 68Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 73 and 25 May 1943 issue of the Hong Kong News reported negotiations for repatriation were "going on rather smoothly". Despite this, the British internees were not repatriated until the end of the war.


Freedom

The internees were freed on 16 August 1945, the day after
Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
broadcast his acceptance of the
Potsdam Proclamation The Potsdam Declaration, or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender, was a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, Un ...
in surrender. About two weeks later, the British fleet came for the internees, and several weeks after that, the camp was closed. Many internees went back to the city and began to adjust back to their former lives, and many others, particularly those of poor health, remained on the camp grounds to await for ships to take them away.Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 40 Historian Geoffrey Charles Emerson wrote the "probable" reason the British internees were not repatriated before the end of the war was related to the Allied forces refusing to release Japanese nationals held in Australia. These nationals were the only sizeable group of Japanese nationals held by the Allies after the repatriation of the American and Canadian internees. They had been pearl fishermen in Australia before the war, and knew the Australian coastline well. Their knowledge would have been "militarily important" to the Japanese if an invasion of Australia was attempted, hence the Allied refusal to release them.Emerson (''Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong, 1942–1945''); page 74Emerson (''Behind Japanese Barbed Wire''); page 36


Compensation

In 1948 the US government, through the War Claims Act, authorised a payment of US$60 for every month an adult spent in an internment camp, and US$25 per month for child internees. Some also received US$1 per day for "missed meals". In the UK, from 1952 to 1956, about 8,800 British internees, specifically those who normally resided in the UK when the war began, received a sum of £48.50 as reparation. Payments for American and British internees were made from the proceeds of Japanese assets seized per the
Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...
. Dutch internees each received a sum of US$100, with the payments funded by a separate agreement signed between the Dutch and the Japanese in 1957. The rise of Japan as an economic power and the opening of World War II files at the UK's
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created a sentiment in the 1990s that not enough had been done to redress the suffering of internees and
prisoners-of-war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
. In November 2000, the British government announced a compensation scheme for British civilians who had been interned in World War II. The scheme called for a package of £167 million, and by February 2001, the first raft of payments of £10,000 were being made. Initially, the plan excluded British persons who had no "bloodlink" to Britain, a point of distinction that was made between those who were "
British citizen British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...
s" and those who were "
British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
s". In reaction to this, former Stanley internee Diana Elias launched a
civil action - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
case against the British government, alleging the distinction of "bloodlink" made by the compensation scheme was discriminatory, and that the Japanese authorities had made no such distinction in their treatment of the internees. Elias' family, including her parents and her grandparents, were all holders of British passports. The "bloodlink" distinction, however, made her ineligible for compensation because she is of
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ancestry. In July 2005, the High Court in London ruled in her favour, and was subsequently backed by the
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when the
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appealed the High Court's decision. This allowed for hundreds of surviving civilian internees to collect the compensation earlier denied to them by the "bloodlink" distinction.


Post-war

St. Stephen's College was re-opened in 1945 after the war. St. Stephen's Chapel was built on the grounds of the school in 1950; the memorial window over its west door was a donation, serving to remember the suffering at Stanley Internment Camp.


Notable internees

* Sir
Mark Aitchison Young Sir Mark Aitchison Young (楊慕琦, 30 June 1886 – 12 May 1974) was a British administrator who became the Governor of Hong Kong during the years immediately before and after the Japanese occupation of the territory. Early life, service in ...
– Governor of Hong Kong *Captain
Mateen Ansari Captain Mateen Ahmed Ansari GC (15 December 1916 – 29 October 1943) of the 5th Battalion, 7th Rajput Regiment, in the Indian Army during World War II, and member of the British Army Aid Group. He was awarded the George Cross posthumously. Th ...
GC ( – 29 October 1943) of the 5th Battalion,
7th Rajput Regiment 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...
* Sir C. Grenville Alabaster – Attorney General of Hong Kong * Morris Abraham Cohen * Kenelm Hutchinson Digby *
Geoffrey Herklots Dr Geoffrey Alton Craig Herklots (1902 – 14 January 1986) was a British botanist and ornithologist. From 1928 he was a reader in biology at Hong Kong University until the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941, during which he was interned in ...
*
Elly Kadoorie Sir Eleazer "Elly" Silas Kadoorie (1867 – February 8, 1944) was a Baghdadi-born Jewish businessman and philanthropist active in Shanghai and Hong Kong. He was a member of the wealthy Kadoorie family that had large business interests in the F ...
*Sir Atholl MacGregor – Chief Justice of Hong Kong *
Lewis Morley Lewis Frederick Morley (16 June 1925 – 3 September 2013) was a photographer. Biography Morley was born in Hong Kong to English and Chinese parents and interned in Stanley Internment Camp during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between 1941 ...
*
Hilda Selwyn-Clarke Lady Hilda Alice Selwyn-Clarke, née Browning, (1899-1967) was a British socialist activist. Born in Sevenoaks as Hilda Alice Browning, she was educated on a scholarship at a local grammar school, then studied teaching at Goldsmiths College.S ...
* Andrew Lusk Shields * Francis Arthur Sutton *Sir
Franklin Charles Gimson Sir Franklin Charles Gimson (10 September 1890 – 13 February 1975) was a British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Singapore from 1946 to 1952. Gimson assumed the post of the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong in December 1941. ...
KCMG KStJ – Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong and later Governor of Singapore


See also

*
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...
*
History of Hong Kong The region of Hong Kong has been inhabited since the Old Stone Age, later becoming part of the Chinese Empire with its loose incorporation into the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC). Starting out as a farming fishing village and salt production site, ...
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Japanese occupation of Hong Kong The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the Governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of British Hong Kong, Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 December 1941. The surr ...
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List of Japanese-run internment camps during World War II A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
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North Point Camp North Point Camp was a Japanese World War II Prisoner-of-war camp in North Point, Hong Kong which primarily held Canadian and Royal Naval prisoners. History Built by the Hong Kong government as a refugee camp before the war, it was severely ...
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Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
* St. Stephen's College massacre *
Battle of Hong Kong The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the ...


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Further reading

* * * * * * * * {{Authority control Japanese occupation of Hong Kong Stanley, Hong Kong Japanese prisoner of war and internment camps