Hjelmar von Danneville
von Danneville pictured between 1914 and 1917.
Born1860
Denmark
Died17 February 1930
San Francisco, CA
Other namesHjelmar von Dannevill; Hjelmar Danneville

Dr. Hjelmar von Danneville (1860-1930) was a prisoner in New Zealand suspected of being an imposter during World War I due to her gender non-conformity.

Life

Born in Denmark in 1860, she arrived in Wellington in 1911, claiming to have studied medicine in Switzerland.[1] She also claimed to have been a correspondent working on the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.[2]

Because of her short hair, masculine style of dress, and foreign accent, von Danneville was suspected of being a German imposter by the New Zealand authorities during World War I.[2] She was subjected to a forced medical examination by the military to determine her sex, and was interned for six weeks on Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour in 1917.[3][4] She was the only woman to be interned on the island.

von Danneville moved to San Francisco in 1918, where she continued to fight with local authorities - including her arrest in 1925 "for masquerading as a man" - but ultimately obtained a permit to wear masculine clothes. She died in San Francisco in 1930.[5]

Based on her personal letters, modern historians have suspected that von Danneville may have been a lesbian.[6]

von Danneville was the subject of an exhibition at Wellington's Enjoy Public Art Gallery in 2018.[7][8]

Her story was featured in a 2019 non-fiction book by historian Jared Davidson, Dead Letters: Censorship and Subversion in New Zealand 1914–1920.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Great War Stories: Somes Island's only female prisoner". Newshub. 22 April 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Keeping the home fires burning | WW100 New Zealand". ww100.govt.nz. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "Seeing red | Blog | National Library of New Zealand". natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  4. ↑ Stone, Andrew (27 August 2017). "Dissenters in wartime felt state's anger". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  5. ↑ "Woman Who Masqueraded As Man 12 Years Dies". Vol. 16, no. 265. The Austin American. 18 February 1930. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Wood, Katie (18 December 2019). "Dead Letters: Censorship and Subversion in New Zealand 1914–1920". The Journal of New Zealand Studies (NS29). doi:10.26686/jnzs.v0iNS29.6272. ISSN 2324-3740.
  7. ↑ "Art - In Between". Salient. 81 (1): 41. 3 March 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  8. ↑ "hardening". enjoy.org.nz. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  9. ↑ Davidson, Jared (2019). Dead letters : censorship and subversion in New Zealand, 1914-1920. Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago Press. ISBN 9781988531526.
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