25 Dec 1943, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Christmas 1943 was not so good {as 1942}. Residential Kowloon had just undergone its worst air raid of the war and planes were overhead nearly every day. Every other house in Tsimshatsui was housing a bomb that had failed to explode. The Gendarmerie reign of terror was touching the Christmas celebrating communities. Christmas at Stanley Goal was far worse than at the internment camps. There was little food and no medicinal alcohol. The news was much better. Nerves were very much on edge and the great majority had discovered that familiarity breeds contempt. The best way to express the latter feeling was by snubbing all invitations for Christmas Eve.

Franklin Gimson disagrees: he feels that the day was spent in a religious rather than a festive spirit, though he admits the internees made the best of the rations provided. He claims that there was a general air of bonhomie noticeable among all.

In any case, Stanley does its best to celebrate: 'a spice loaf was turned out  by the camp bakeries as a special treat' and the Japanese are asked for something extra and at the last minute donate a little margarine and some tins of beans.

Sources:

Wartime Christmases: China Mail, December 25, 1945, page 2

Gimson: Diary, December 25, 1943 (Weston House).

Loaf, Japanese: John Stericker, Captive Colony, 1945, Chapter X, page 7