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Brantford Expositor, Canada
Dec 31 2009
'Mysterious group' subject of research
Posted By HEATHER IBBOTSON, EXPOSITOR STAFF
A local historical researcher is seeking to uncloak the mystery
surrounding a 1914 Brantford roundup of Turkish Muslim foundry workers
and their subsequent internment at a camp in Kapuskasing.
Bill Darfler, a researcher for the Ontario Visual Heritage Project,
has received a grant of $5,000 for the project from the Canadian First
World War Internment Recognition Fund.
The fund, established in 2008, was set up to support projects to study
and recognize the experiences of ethnocultural communities affected by
Canada's first national internment operations of 1914 to 1920.
In November 1914 about 100 men were rounded up by city police and
transported several days later to an internment camp in Kapuskasing,
Darfler said.
"This was a mysterious group of people and there are few records," he said.
The small Turkish community was comprised of men only, many of whom
boarded downtown in houses owned at the time by members of the city's
Armenian community, he said.
Some of the men had resided locally for about 10 years and some had
Canadian citizenship, which was stripped from them when they were
interned, he said.
The event is a largely overlooked incident in Brantford's history and
trying to delve into its reasons and consequences is a lot like
chasing ghosts, Darfler said.
"They were shadowy creatures," said Darfler, adding that only a
handful of the men's names were reported in the news coverage of the
time.
The best-case scenario would be to find a list of the men who were
interned but it is believed that any such records from the First and
Second World Wars were destroyed in the 1950s, he said.
The end result of Darfler's project depends on the scope and content
of information he is able to uncover over the course of the next year
but he hopes to prepare a presentation of his findings.
Can you help?
Researcher Bill Darfler is studying the roundup in Brantford in 1914
of Turkish Muslim foundry workers. He asks anyone with any
information, sources, or even vague family stories about the event to
contact him at [email protected] or 519-756-2805.
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/A rticleDisplay.aspx?e=2242551
Dec 31 2009
'Mysterious group' subject of research
Posted By HEATHER IBBOTSON, EXPOSITOR STAFF
A local historical researcher is seeking to uncloak the mystery
surrounding a 1914 Brantford roundup of Turkish Muslim foundry workers
and their subsequent internment at a camp in Kapuskasing.
Bill Darfler, a researcher for the Ontario Visual Heritage Project,
has received a grant of $5,000 for the project from the Canadian First
World War Internment Recognition Fund.
The fund, established in 2008, was set up to support projects to study
and recognize the experiences of ethnocultural communities affected by
Canada's first national internment operations of 1914 to 1920.
In November 1914 about 100 men were rounded up by city police and
transported several days later to an internment camp in Kapuskasing,
Darfler said.
"This was a mysterious group of people and there are few records," he said.
The small Turkish community was comprised of men only, many of whom
boarded downtown in houses owned at the time by members of the city's
Armenian community, he said.
Some of the men had resided locally for about 10 years and some had
Canadian citizenship, which was stripped from them when they were
interned, he said.
The event is a largely overlooked incident in Brantford's history and
trying to delve into its reasons and consequences is a lot like
chasing ghosts, Darfler said.
"They were shadowy creatures," said Darfler, adding that only a
handful of the men's names were reported in the news coverage of the
time.
The best-case scenario would be to find a list of the men who were
interned but it is believed that any such records from the First and
Second World Wars were destroyed in the 1950s, he said.
The end result of Darfler's project depends on the scope and content
of information he is able to uncover over the course of the next year
but he hopes to prepare a presentation of his findings.
Can you help?
Researcher Bill Darfler is studying the roundup in Brantford in 1914
of Turkish Muslim foundry workers. He asks anyone with any
information, sources, or even vague family stories about the event to
contact him at [email protected] or 519-756-2805.
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/A rticleDisplay.aspx?e=2242551