The majority of the people in the camp were British, but the population also included American, Canadian, Australian, Italian, Dutch, Belgian, Russian, and other nationalities.

Weihsien remained in operation until American paratroopers liberated the camp without opposition on 17 August 1945, although the last internee did not leave until October 1945.

"We suffered no extreme hardships of limb, stomach, or spirit...we were secure and comfortable enough to accomplish in large part the creation and maintenance of a small civilization, but our life was sufficiently close to the margin of survival to reveal the vast difficulties of that task.

[3] At that time tens of thousands of Europeans and Americans lived in China, mostly businessmen and Christian missionaries along with a sprinkling of scholars, artists, and White Russian refugees from the communist government of the Soviet Union.

A crowd of Chinese watched the spectacle of foreigners, laden with all the possessions they could carry, walk to the station, a symbol that "the era of Western dominance" in China was over.

A twenty-four hour train ride without food and water carried them to Weihsien where most of them were interned until the end of World War II.

[8] Internees at Weihsien were housed in a former Presbyterian mission compound that was called the "Courtyard of the Happy Way" (Chinese: 乐道院; pinyin: Lè dào yuàn).

There, they boarded the Swedish Mercy Ship, Gripsholm, on 19 October and, after several stops to release repatriates, arrived in New York City on 1 December.

[19] As the war wore on the Japanese in the Weihsien area were increasingly isolated and surrounded by communist and nationalist guerillas opposed to their occupation of China.

[20] Shortly after the arrival of most of the internees in March 1943, the Japanese commandant ordered them to create 9 committees for different functions in the management of the camp.

"While politically we became a democracy," Gilkey said, "economically our society remained completely socialist...all the means of production were managed by representatives of the community as a whole and not by private individuals."

[23] To survive, the internees created kitchens and a hospital, started a library, and educated their children without desks, chairs, or a classroom and with few books.

Since the internment camp was in squalid condition, people from all walks of life came together to cook and help in the kitchens, stoke the ovens, clean the latrines, and perform other tasks.

The most important was the issue by the Japanese of a small amount of locally procured meat and a more plentiful supply of vegetables such as cabbage, greens, radishes, and eggplants.

A second source was a canteen where people with money could buy luxury items such as fresh fruit and peanut oil procured from local farmers.

A monthly loan of 5 dollars called "comfort money" was provided to people of most nationalities among the internees by a Swiss diplomat who periodically visited Weihsien.

A third source was the thriving black market (of which more later) and fourth was the arrival and distribution in the camp of food parcels from the American Red Cross (also more later).

About 1500 parcels arrived, each of them weighing about 20 kilograms (44 lb) and containing canned meat, butter, cigarettes, cheese, powdered milk, coffee, and chocolate.

Langdon Gilkey, an American, said that "Had there been no Japanese guns guaranteeing order in the camp, we might easily have faced real strife.

"[32][33][31] Thirty-one people died during their internment at Weihsien, including Eric Liddell, a missionary and an Olympic gold medalist.

Within ten days, the doctors and nurses had the place functioning with an operating room, a laboratory, pharmacy, and a diet center.

[38] The length of the compound wall coupled with the paucity of Japanese guards facilitated extensive black marketing, especially for food and most especially for eggs.

After a hiatus, the black market started up again in July 1944 and, this time, the Japanese guards became the middlemen, facilitating the trade in exchange for a commission.

The produce brought into the camp via the black marketers, whose most successful practitioners were Catholic priests and monks, was important for the nutrition of the internees.

Later, as Japanese security tightened, de Jaeger volunteered to supervise the Chinese workers allowed inside Weihsien to empty the cesspools of night soil.

[41] Along with a British businessman, Laurence Tipton, de Jaegher made plans to escape Weihsien, but his superior discouraged him, fearing Japanese reprisals on the camp.

With the assistance of Chinese-American Roy Tchoo and black-marketer Tommy Wade, on the night of 9/10 June 1944, Tipton and Hummel successfully escaped over the wall and joined Nationalist Chinese guerrillas in the region.

[42][43][28] On August 17, 1945, two days after the official Japanese surrender to the Allies, a small rescue team parachuted from the 'Armored Angel', an American B24 Bomber.

[44] The team included six Americans (Major Stanley Staiger, Ensign Jimmy Moore, Lt. Jim Hannon, Raymond Hanchulak, Sgt.