Tatura Irrigation & Wartime Camps Museum
Photograph, Johannes Oskar "Hans" Muhlhaus, Camp 1
... ...Hans Mahlhaus...Johannes Oskar Muhlhaus Hans Mahlhaus Raimond Kaufmann Paul Wieting Georg Erler Camp 1 Tatura German internees Kiessling A group photograph of German internee taken at Tatura Camp 1. ...
Johannes Oskar "Hans" Muhlhaus (centre front wearing dark shirt) with Raimond Kaufmann (front right wearing shorts) worked with Hans in England. Between them are Paul Wieting and/or Georg Erler. The man partly hidden between the rows is Walter Kiessling.
Hans, an engineer, had been working in England since 1929, setting up and later managing a Manchester office of Siemens Schuckert GmbH which dealt with mining equipment. He later moved to Sheffield and in 1937 he met Nora, who he married in 1937. After the fall of France he and other people of German, Austrian and Italian origin were gathered up and interned in camps in Britain. On 2 July 1940 Hans was among 1200 German and Italian internees aboard the Arandora Star when it was torpedoed by German U Boat U-47; over 800 died in this incident which happened off the Irish coast. On 10 July he was sent to Australia aboard the Dunera, along with over 2500 internees. The voyage on the overcrowded ship was uncomfortable and difficult. Men who travelled on this ship became known as the Dunera Boys. During his period of internment in Tatura he taught English and engineering and kept up to date with mining engineering through books supplied by the Red Cross. Hans returned to Sheffield after the war but was not able to return to his previous job. He found employment at an engineering firm in Cornwall and stayed there until retirement. Hans Died in 1998.A group photograph of German internee taken at Tatura Camp 1. Black and white. The men are standing in front of a hut with another hut of to the left. Four men in the back row, seven in front and one in the middle between the two rows. Their are 3 copies of photograph in file one being donated by Walter Kiessling.johannes oskar muhlhaus, hans mahlhaus, raimond kaufmann, paul wieting, georg erler, camp 1 tatura, german internees, kiessling