Canadian citizen Anton Krähn was travelling in Europe when the war began, and had to flee to Alsace, France where he stayed with relatives. Luckily, he was able to return to Canada in October and wrote about his experiences in Europe in the Berliner Journal.
Anton Krähn and his brother George travelled to France at the end of June to visit their relatives near Straßbourg. They were surprised by the war and couldn’t travel back to Canada because all of the trains in Europe were being used for mobilization. Thirteen nephews of Anton Krähn were conscripted as well as all of the family’s horses so they had to use cattle to harvest the crop. Krähm and his brother were eventually able to reach the Netherlands, from where they could board a ship which brought them back to Canada.
(“Dr. Anton Krähn…”, Berliner Journal, 14 October 1914; “Reise-Erlebnisse eines Berliners”, Berliner Journal, 21 October 1914)
