Somes Prisoners NZ
Book: Dark Sun: Te Rapunga & the Quest of George Dibbern
In brief: The biography of one of only two men who managed to get interned on Somes Island in both World Wars, having been deported back to Germany with most of the internees in 1919. A very intriguing character. See the NZ Herald review dated 21 June 2004.
FACT SHEET
TITLE: | Dark Sun: Te Rapunga & the Quest of George Dibbern |
Author: | Erika Grundman |
RRP: | $NZ49.99 |
Category: | Biography |
ISBN: | 0-908990-93-6 |
Publication: | June 2004 |
Publishers: |
David Ling Publishing Ltd., Auckland, NZ |
About the book: |
Dark Sun is the remarkable story of self-confessed
‘vagabond’ George Dibbern. Following internment on Somes Island in
Wellington Harbour in World War I, he returned to his native Germany where
for ten years he struggled unsuccessfully to find employment and to adapt
to the role of husband and father. In 1930, with his thirty-two foot
ketch, Te Rapunga, he broke free from the impending scourge of Nazism, and
the constraints and conventions of society.
He was to roam the Pacific for the next thirty
years, interrupted only by a second internment on Somes Island in World
War II, and died in Auckland in 1962 while preparing to return at last to
his wife and three daughters in Germany. (240 x 165mm, 544pp, ppr with flaps, 100 black and white photographs) |
About
the Author: |
Erika Grundmann was born in Montreal, Canada, of German immigrant parents. Though the early years of her working life were associated with scientific research, her love of language remained with her. In 1989 she completed an MA in French language and literature. The combination of both facets of her training and interests well equipped her to assume the monumental challenge presented in writing George Dibbern’s story. She and her husband live on a northern Gulf Island of coastal British Columbia. |
More Information: | Visit Erika Grundmann's website: www.oocities.org/georgedibbern |