The Dark Dad: War and Trauma – A Daughter’s Tale

Abstract

World War Two may have ended in 1945, but this did not mean that returned soldiers left the darkness and violence of those years behind. Many continued the war on a new front – home and family. This was the case with Mary Kisler’s father, Jack Arnott, who had been an Allied Prisoner of War (POW) in Italy and Germany from late-1941 to 1945. Fighting with the 2nd New Zealand Division, Jack was captured by the Germans after the two month campaign and battle of Sidi Rezegh in Libya. Little has been written about this, which is surprising because the number of dead, injured and captured is greater than that of any other campaign by New Zealand soldiers during World War Two.