Prisoners who died in the Amherst Internment Camp

What is an internment camp?

During WWI and WWII, the Canadian government invoked the War Measures Act, which allowed them to detain or imprison people without a trial. These people were put into internment camps alongside prisoners of war. During WWI, one of the largest internment camps was in Amherst, Nova Scotia. In this camp, Canadians of Austro-Hungarian and German descent were interned alongside German prisoners of war. Non-POWs in internment camps were seen as “threats” because of their cultural backgrounds, which tied them to the axis forces.

13 prisoners died while they were interned in the Amherst Internment Camp. Their cause of death and gravesite locations can be viewed below:

The Highland Cemetery also known as the Highland View or Amherst Cemetery is located at 83 Pleasant Street East in Amherst.

There were originally 13 internees buried in the Highland Cemetery, all were of German descent and subsequently moved to the Woodland Cemetery in Kitchener.

Kurt Becher/Becker

Becher was shot by a sentry while attempting to escape from the Experimental Farm in Nappan on August 25, 1916.  He was originally buried in Grave No, VIII, Lot #1, Section E with a granite monument marking his grave.

Fritz Claus

Claus was shot by a sentry while attempting to escape from the Experimental Farm in Nappan on August 25, 1916.  He was originally buried in Grave No, VIII, Lot #1, Section E with a granite monument marking his grave.

Alois Clement

Clement died on June 1, 1915 at the age of 29; the entry in the War Graves Registry states his cause of death as meningitis.  However, his death registration from the Nova Scotia Provincial Archives states he died within 10 minutes after suffering a bullet wound of the abdomen.    Mr. Clement was originally buried in Grave No. 1, Lot #1, Section E with a granite marker.

Joseph Fortmann

Fortmann died in the Camp Hospital on January 8, 1919 at the age of 36 from an ulceration of the stomach, a condition that he had for 18 months that resulted in a hemorrhage of the bowels.  He was buried in Grave No. X, Lot No. 1, Section E with a granite monument marking his grave.

Karl Gast

Gast was 51 years old when he died in the Camp Hospital on May 22, 1916.  He suffered from dementia and died from hypostatic pneumonia.  Mr. Gast was buried in Grave No. V, Lot No. 1, Section E with a granite marker placed on his grave.

According to his death registration Mr. Gast was a member of the Germany Navy.

Heinrich Harms

Harms died from influenza complicated by pneumonia on January 14, 1919 at the Temporary Hospital.  He was 45 years old.  Mr. Harms was originally buried in Grave No. 11, Lot #1, Section E with a granite monument marking his grave.

According to his death registration Mr. Harms was Sea Pilot (Warrant Officer).

Johann Jacobs

Jacobs in the Camp Hospital from neuritis or odema of the brain on June 29, 1919 at the age of 54 years.  He was buried in Grave No. 13, Lot #2, Section E with a wooden cross on his grave.

According to his death registration Mr. Jacobs was a Sailor.

Otto Jonischkeit/Janischkeit

Jonischkeit died at the age of 40 on July 21, 1916 from wood alcohol poisoning.  He was buried in Grave No. 6, Lot No. 1, Section E with a granite monument marking his grave.

Emil Kohnemann

Kohnemann died in the Camp Hospital on June 17, 1915 at the age of 39 years from uraemia caused by Acute Bright’s Disease.  He was buried in Grave No. 2, Lot No. 1, Section E with a granite marker placed on his grave.

According to his death registration Mr. Kohnemann was a Sailor.

Paul Prietzel/Frietzel

Preitzel was 24 years old when he succumbed to typhoid fever after nine days.  He died at the Highland View Hospital on August 31, 1917.  Mr. Prietzel was buried in Grave #8, Lot #1, Section E with a granite monument installed on his plot.

Herman Scheifhacken/Shiefhasken

Scheifhacken died from heart failure due to diabetes on April 17, 1916.  He died in the Highland View Hospital at the age of 35.  Mr. Scheifhacken was buried in Grave No. IV, Lot No. 1, Section E with a granite monument marking his grave.

According to his death registration Mr. Scheifhacken was a Sailor.

Joachin Rudolf Otto Tiedemann

Tiedemann died at the Temporary Military Hospital on November 18, 1918 at the age of 23 years.  He died from pneumonia following influenza.

Mr. Tiedemann was originally buried in Grace #9, Lot #1, Section E with a granite monument marking his grave.

William Wegener/Wegner

Wegener succumbed to pneumonia as a complication of influenza.  He died in the Temporary Military Hospital on February 15, 1919 at the age of 26 years.  He was buried in Grave #12, Lot No. 2, Section E with a wooden cross on his grave.

Special thanks to Lawrna Myers of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund for gathering this information.