Thomas Dworzak SINGAPORE, 2015/05. WW1, First World War, On the island of Pulau Ubin, German Girl Shrine, near Ketam Quarry at the western side of island.
A German girl become a deity on the island.
The story
(...) began in the 1910s, just before the First World War (1914-1918) broke out.
There was a German family living on Pulau Ubin at the turn of the 20th century, owning a coffee plantation on the northeastern island of Singapore. According to research, the plot of land used to belong to two German families, Daniel Brandt and Hermann Muhlingan, but the identity of the German girl remains unknown. On 4th August 1914, the United Kingdom declared war on the German Empire, and the colonial government in Singapore started seizing German ships, businesses and properties. On Pulau Ubin, the British military rounded up the German plantation owner and his family. His frightened daughter, around 18 years of age (said to be born in 1896), escaped into the woods. The rest of her family was sent to a detention barrack on mainland Singapore.A few days later, the girl’s body was found covered with ants by the Malay plantation workers. It was assumed she had lost her way and fell to her death from a cliff. © Thomas Dworzak | Magnum Photos