| Notes |
- BIOGRAPHY:
Lorraine Lees (Stoebener): email 01.02.2005
email 02.02.2005
Thank you so much for your photos. Quite emotional really.
My father was the only Stoebener to come to NZ. He was sent from Germany
to become a Marist brother and did most of his training in Italy. He was
sent to Fiji during the second world war and interred there as a POW. He
was transferred to NZ in Dec 1941. The NZ authorities wanted to send him
back to Germany when the war ended and he went through a great deal to
stay here. My mum met him while he was interred on Somme's Island in the
Wellington Harbour. When the war was over my grandparents sponsored him so
that he could stay. He was watched and questioned continuously over the
next 5 yrs. I have a huge amount of documentation from the Defence Dept,
Internal Affairs and our Government Archive files. He was treated as an
alien and was never allowed to show any sign of being German. He would
never speak his own language around his children. Both his parents died
while he was on the island.
I am not particularly close to my siblings, but a few years ago I
organised a family reunion on Somme's Island. Some of the original
dormitories still remain although in desperate need of repair. It was a
very spiritual time and that was probably the closest I have felt to my
father since his death. The island is now protected by the Conservation
Dept of NZ.
Dad has one niece in NZ. I believe she is the daughter of Anna. Her name
is Cecilia Bruckner. But not much else I can tell you. Dad was 40yr old
and my mother only 18yr old when they married. Because of this age
difference we have almost skipped a generation. My second cousins are the
same age as me.
Lorraine Lees - stoebener.lees@xtra.co.nz
http://www.geocities.com/somesprisonersnz/somespows24121942.html
Somes Island, now officially named Matiu/Somes Island to include its pre-European name, served as New Zealand's main internment camp for 'enemy aliens' in both the first and second World Wars
Somes Island Internees as at 24 December 1942
The following list names the 182 internees held on Somes Island on 24 December 1942. They numbered 97 Germans, 29 Italians, 50 Japanese and Thailanders, and 6 of various other nationalities. Access to the personal files of these men is restricted unless the former internee applies himself, or proof is provided that the POW concerned is now deceased. (Source: National Archives, Wellington, NZ, File AAAR 493/3, J 1940/50/8, Hildebrand, Wilhelm Hugo)
Stoebener, P. 23.12.1941
17 November 1942 - Internees consist of 98 Germans, 30 Italians, 47 Japanese, 2 Austrians, 3 Thais, 1 Finn, 1 Pole, 1 Spaniard, 1 Frenchman, 1 Norwegian, 1 Hungarian. (McGill, p. 112)
31 January 1943 - The 185 internees were moved to a new purpose-built internment camp at Pahiatua. This was a result of the Swiss Consul complaining that under the Geneva Convention, having them on Somes Island meant NZ was in breach of that convention. This was because the armament on the island, plus the degaussing operation there (used to protect ships against mines) made the island a possible military target. Prisoners were not to be held in such situations under the Geneva Convention. (McGill, p. 112; National Archives file: letter dated 3/2/1943, AAAR 493/3, J 1940/50/8, Hildebrand, W.H.)
March 1944 - While still at Pahiatua, the Italian internees were given conditional release after Italy signed the armistice. (McGill, p. 112)
September 1944 - Internees are returned to Somes Island as their Pahiatua camp was needed for Polish refugee children. (McGill, p. 112)
October 1945 - The last approx. 40 internees still on Somes were released (McGill, p. 122)
29 October 1945 - Telegram notifying that all internees have been released. (National Archives file: AAAR 493/3, J 1940/50/8, Hildebrand, W.H.)
http://www.ozvocations.catholic.org.au/directory/religious/maristbrothers.html
The Marist Brothers were founded in France in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young sensitive and energetic priest. He wanted Brothers to respond to the spiritual and social needs of the young and poor, especially through education. Marcellin?s was known as a man of "strong mind and gentle heart." By the time he died in 1840 (aged 51), there were over 280 Brothers, and already some had left as missionaries to parts of Oceania. Since 1817, over 40,000 men have become Marist Brothers. Today, Marist Brothers live and work in 74 countries and number about 5,000. In Australia there are currently about 380 Brothers.
http://www.maristbrothers.org.nz/History%20of%20New%20Zealand%20Region.htm
The Marist Brothers
in the Region of New Zealand
Our History
In 1836 Bishop Jean-Baptiste Pompallier, four Marist Fathers and three Brothers left France for New Zealand, the first group of Catholic missionaries to come to this country.
After leaving two missionaries each at Wallis and Futuna Islands in the Western Pacific, Bishop Pompallier, Father Louis Servant and Brother Michel Colombon arrived in the Hokianga district of New Zealand in January 1838. As the numbers of Catholics in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands increased, they began to build Catholic schools with donated money and labour. Parents and teachers shared a vision of a school system which would teach their children the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Roman Catholic tradition while providing a general education in no way inferior to that of the state schools. From the 1850s the schools were staffed mainly by Catholic religious orders including Marist Brothers from France, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
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1908 - 1986 (77 years)
