The torpedoing of the 32,000 ton Cunard Liner, the Lusitania, on the 7th March 1915 with the loss of 1198 lives so inflamed public opinion against the local German Community that they took the law into their own hands and torched the Liedertafel, the German Club, in Western Road.
This, together with other atrocious acts, forms a dark and an indelible stain on the history of Port Elizabeth.
Main picture: The Liedertafel after it was set ablaze by an enraged mob
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