Impression sketch
of bust shown being fished out of Victoria Park pond - by Jamie. To read more information on Berlin Ontario and to see an
original image see article “We Germans…are British Subjects” The First World
War and The Curious Case of Berlin, Ontario, Canada by William J. Campbell:
<http://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1654&context=cmh>
Accessed: 27 January 2016].
11 January 1916, noted a surprise
Announcement from the New York
Evening Journal,
with Canadian
Recruitment of a
Germen brigade.
The Ottawa Despatch informed
How German-Canadians
would
Fight for the
allies - all prompted
By officers with
German descent.
The Dominion
Minister of Mailitia,
General Sir Sam
Hughes, let it be
Known how these
officers who had
German origins,
wanted to fight.
The idea of a
specialist brigade
Was given by
General's consent -
With his chief
intelligence officer
Captain Hahn, being
German born.
Having Canada become his home,
Hahn would fight
for that country,
Although back in
native Germany,
He had family in
the German army.
It was known how many Germans
Of Canada were
loyal to Canadian
Territory, came
from Berlin, Ontario -
Where the Germans
supported allies.
Seen as a majority with German
Connections, these
peoples patriotic
Meetings, worked collectively
with
The Berliners, giving to war funds.
Living within
Canada's German
Capital, these people's confidence
Had in 1914, given
celebration
To their Kaiser
Wilhelm’s Birthday.
Their pride, as
British subjects,
Steadfast by that
summer date
Of August 1914, saw the Kaiser's
Bust thrown into Victoria park lake.
A guilty trio of
three youths,
Led to bust's watery
recovery -
To be returned to
it's pedestal,
Facing a
precarious existence.
Bubbling below
these events,
Grew a
disassociation in their
City's name
Berlin - to desire
Something less
controversial.
With many people
of this Berlin,
Holding beliefs
of Anabaptists -
Their faith held
them as pacifists,
Leading to loyalty suspicions.
Amid pacifists
and many German
Descendants grew a growing strain
Within Berlin, Ontario - their heritage
Formed enmity in Waterloo
county.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. German
Canadians - To Fight For Allies. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 27 January 1916. P.10.
Col.6. Available at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12120440/Daily-Telegraph-January-27-1916.html
[Accessed: 27 January 2016].
Source: Campbell,
W., 1916. File: “We Germans…are British Subjects” The First World War and The
Curious Case of Berlin, Ontario, Canada.
Available at: <http://scholars.wlu.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1654&context=cmh>
Accessed: 27 January 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 27 January 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Canada
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