This official Army sketch shows how Field Punishment No. 1 was administered in principle. Photo / Supplied
This official Army sketch shows how Field Punishment No. 1 was administered in principle. Photo / Supplied
World War I dissenters, objectors and a little-known traitor who left his New Zealand unit for the German forces are on the agenda at an unusual conference in Wellington.
At a time when the Government is spending millions of dollars commemorating century old battles where New Zealand lost thousands of soldiers, the Stout Research Centre - based at Victoria University - has arranged a conference looking at those who opposed the war, often at great personal cost.
Though New Zealand plunged into WW1 a day after Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, resistance to the conflict - and conscription when it was introduced two years later - was always present.
Opposition to conscription was so intense that Mt Eden jail held inmates who opposed the conflict throughout the war.
Four leading socialist activists - Peter Fraser, Bob Semple, Tim Armstrong and Paddy Webb - all were jailed for rejecting conscription, yet went on to form a Labour ministry after the great depression which imposed military conscription at the outbreak of World War II.
Details included in the conference programme provide a flavour of the topics - and individuals - under discussion.
One largely unknown figure whose background will be explored by retired archivist Ray Grover is William Nimot, the son of a German immigrant, who struggled in uniform as other soldiers taunted him about his heritage.
Nimot disappeared late one night in June 1916 after he complained to his corporal that he felt ill.
In August that year Prime Minister William Massey announced that Nimot had deserted to the enemy, a statement which created strife for his Carterton family with threats of reprisals from soldiers at the nearby Featherston military training camp.
This official Army sketch shows how Field Punishment No. 1 was administered in principle. Photo/supplied
With anti-German sentiment running high, patrols were arranged to protect the Nimot family farm.
Nimot, who stayed in Germany after the war and avoided execution, was struck off the Expeditionary Force register as a deserter. His online service record states the 26 year old was "ineligible to receive medals."
Suspicions about Germans extended to the scientific community. Astronomer Gustav Angenheister, a German, was based in New Zealand-occupied Samoa in the war. He was permitted to remain - but under the scrutiny of NZ military forces.
On the home front, the state maintained an intense watch on the domestic postal service for signs of subversion. Historian Jared Davidson estimates that over 1.2 million letters were opened and reviewed by military authorities between 1914 and 1920.
Davidson says the censorship led to surveillance, raids, arrests and even deportations as the state came down hard on dissenters.
The story of Hjelmar Von Dannevill provides a view of dissenting women in the war years. Historian Sally Maclean found that Von Dannevill, a Dane, came to the attention of the authorities because of her dress and appearance, besides her intriguing background as a war correspondent in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905.
In Wellington, though she and her business partner, Edith Huntley, supported the British war effort, the liberated Von Dannevill - she campaigned against venereal disease - found herself under official suspicion and was interned on Soames Island in Wellington Harbour "as a source of public danger".
Maclean is exploring whether in isolating the unconventional Von Dannevill the wartime authorities were acting to protect New Zealand from a security risk - or society's social and sexual boundaries.
Archibald Baxter, pictured with his wife, Millicent, was subjected to Field Punishment No1 torture. Photo / University of Otago
Events in Dunedin show that pacifism still arouses strong feelings. For some years a trust has tried to create a memorial to Archibald Baxter and 13 conscientious objectors sent against their wishes to Britain in July 1917.
Eight of the men, including Baxter - father of the acclaimed poet James K Baxter - were forcibly transferred to France, where behind the lines they were subjected to harsh military discipline. The brutal treatment included Field Punishment No 1, which involved trying soldiers to a post, with their arms bound behind. Trust member Alan Jackson is to outline the battle to build the memorial, which has now got the green light.
Professor Richard Hill, who has helped organise the conference, said the fact that the Ministry of Culture and Heritage was a sponsor showed there was a broader story to New Zealand's involvement in the war.
What: Dissent and the First World War When: 31 August - 2 September Where: Pipitea campus, Victoria University
