Vernon and Joan married in 1944. His father died in prison in Dusseldorf in 1937, but his mother, Martha, survived the war and finally joined her children in Britain in November 1946.

On 27th October 1940, a White Paper was issued listing categories of internees for release. This included students still studying at university at the time of their internment. Vernon was released on 10th December 1940. When back in Manchester, Vernon returned to his studies and was awarded a 1st in his degree.

During his imprisonment, Vernon kept a diary. It was originally intended as a gift for Joan for her 21st birthday (a diary of their relationship) but resulted in an intimate account of his period of internment.

When war broke out, in September 1939, Vernon was classed as an ‘enemy alien’ due to his German birth. His classification as ‘Category C’ – the level indicating the lowest level of threat to Britain – meant he had no curb on personal freedoms. But, from June 1940, the government declared that all male enemy aliens between 16 and 60 were to be interned. Vernon was arrested on 17th July 1940. He would be held in three camps during his internment, in Shropshire, Liverpool and the Isle of Man.

In 1933, foreseeing the impact of the Nazi party on their son’s life, his parents sent Vernon to school in Buxton, England. In 1938 Vernon moved to Manchester to attend university. It was here that he met his future wife, Joan Storey. Joan’s parents looked after Marianne when she and Felix arrived in England in December 1938.

Vernon (Werner) David was born in Dusseldorf in the German Rhineland in 1920. He was the eldest of three children, with brother Hans (Felix) and sister Marianne.