Go to archive

Account by 'A Sieber' (in German) describing the fall of Tsingtau and 'The Raid of the Emden' (in English)

Text

Title
Account by 'A Sieber' (in German) describing the fall of Tsingtau and 'The Raid of the Emden' (in English)
Subject
World War, 1914-1918--Sources
Internment camps--Australia
Internment camp inmates' writings
Prisoners of war
War stories
German language--Writing
Category
3. World War I
Author
Sieber, A.
Current holder
Australian National Maritime Museum
Period of reference
1914 – 1918
Link
https://collections.sea.museum/objects/194311/account-by-a-sieber-in-german-describing-the-fall-of-tsi?ctx=cb4340f3-c2e4-4305-bf28-c92a17ca1e4e&idx=8
Item number
54305
Access rights
Digitised
Country of origin
Australia
Place
Holsworthy (Liverpool) Camp
Language
German
English
Description from source
Overall: 229 × 180 × 5 mm, 99 g (closed), Display dimensions: 229 × 360 × 5 mm, 99 g. Printing and handwriting inks on machine made paper. Graphite pencil. This school exercise book holds German sailors accounts taken down by prison guards in the Liverpool prisoner of war camp between 1914 and 1918.

These accounts of the fall of Tsingtau (Qingdao) and the raid of the EMDEN in late 1914 were written in an Australian school text book by German prisoners of war at the Liverpool camp, near Sydney, NSW.
Sieber's account of the fall of Tsingtau patriotically describes the defence of the German colony against an overwhelmingly superior Japanese force. At the same time EMDEN was raiding the Indian Ocean, the Germans held out in a 3 month siege that ended on 7 November, just before the Battle of Cocos on 9 November.
The 'Raid of the Emden' is in English and was recorded or transcribed probably by one of the Australian prison guards from the diary of an EMDEN crew member.
Collection of material relating to the German WWI raider SMS EMDEN and crew members who were taken prisoner and interned at Liverpool, NSW, during the war.
Physical format
Notebook
Related resources
https://omaa-arts.sydney.edu.au/texts/1958/