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Rosary Hill Hong Kong |
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Source: Anne Ozario Dependent of former internees - Rosary Hill housed 1100 women and children dependents of the HKVDF and Colonial Service personnel interned in other camps in Hong Kong. Make no mistake, it was an internment camp under control of the Japanese. It was beneath Col.Tokunaga to deal with women and children so the ICRC delegate was ordered to find a place to house these worthless beings. An agreement was reached and the ICRC delegate rented the Dominican Monastary. The Japanese then decided to excuse the taxes and furnished the rations to feed these dependants. The records are available from the ICRC at the Archives in Geneva Switzerland. The British government may deny that this was an internment camp to avoid the "ex-gratia" payment to POWS, but even the War Crimes Tribunal saw this as a civilian internment camp. "THERE IS NOT ONE CONSISTENT DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERNMENT OF ALMOST 131,000 CIVILIAN MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN, THE CHARACTER OF INTERNMENT DEPENDED ON THE JAPANESE COMMANDER OF THE AREA." [Badger e-mail, 7 Aug 2003] [Note: Ms. Badger is preparing a book on this camp and when published, we shall make note on this site] It appears to be the only POW camp actually run by the International Red Cross. From reports, some internees behaved atrociously toward each other. No other information or verification available at this time |