12 Jun 1945, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp
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Doctors Gustav and Helen Canaval are re-interned, this time in Ma Tau-wai Camp, Kowloon.
On October 6, 1943 the two doctors were transferred from Stanley to act as Medical Officers in the Rosary Hill Home that had been set up by the Red Cross to look after the impoverished dependents of British internees and POWs and other indigents. Red Cross Delegate Rudolf Zindel claims he was forced to accept them because the Japanese refused to release any 'native' British medical personnel but allowed the Canavals out of Stanley because they didn't accept their status as 'naturalised' British (he was originally Austrian, she Hungarian). Zindel states the pair caused him huge problems by their high-handed attitudes and that matters came to a head when one of the victims of their behaviour posted an anonymous letter containing threats under Mrs. Canaval's door. She demanded he provide Gendarme protection, so Zindel consulted with the Foreign Affairs Department, and agreed with their idea that adequate protection could only be provided by re-internment. This infuriated the doctors, who responded, if the Red Cross delegate is to be believed, with the detailed critique of his policies at Rosary Hill that circulated after liberation and caused the Red Cross some embarrassment with its claims of mis-management and waste.
We don't have the Canavals side of this story!
Source:
Archives of the International Red Cross, Geneva: Zindel to ICRC, in BG17 07-074,
