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Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE Incarceration & Legal Restrictions on European Refugees in the UK during the 1930s and 1940s Refugee experiences in the UK before & during WW2 Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE 7 August 2018 © [email protected] 1 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE Historical Backdrop • Between 1880 and 1914, about 1 million Jewish transmigrants arrived at the British ports. • Most crossed Britain quickly and left onwards to the USA. • This migration came to a halt in 1914 with the outbreak of WW1. • In the run up to WW1, some British people had been concerned about immigration, employment, housing etc. • These concerns were investigated by a Royal Commission in 1903 and led to the Aliens Act 1905, after which immigration controls were introduced. • Until 1905, a foreigner could spend his (or her) life in Britain without permit or informing the police. © [email protected] 2 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE (Archived) Website has lots of useful information and resources for Jewish migration to the UK Legalised Anti-Semitism? • The 1905 Aliens Act was moderate in comparison with subsequent legislation. • David Pannick QC noted in The Times on 28 June 2005, that if the 1905 Act had remained in force, a large proportion of the European Jews murdered by the Nazis would have been entitled to find refuge in Britain. • The day after WW1 started in 1914, Parliament approved the Aliens Restriction Act which prohibited and restricted Aliens from landing. This was in force for many years afterwards. • https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/enemy-aliens-great-britain-1914-1919 © [email protected] 3 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE The 1938 Evian Conference • Discussed the Jewish refugee problem and the plight of the increasing numbers of Jewish refugees fleeing persecution by Nazi Germany. • Convened at the initiative of US President Roosevelt • Did not discuss Emigration to Mandate Palestine • Attended by representatives from 32 countries, and 24 voluntary organizations also attended as observers • The conference was ultimately doomed because aside from the Dominican Republic, delegations from the 32 participating nations failed to come to any agreement about accepting the Jewish refugees fleeing the Third Reich. • Led to agreement to allow Jewish children to leave mainland Europe. ‘Allo ‘Allo! Listen very carefully; I shall say this only once! • Good Moaning! - I was pissing by the door, when I heard two shats. You are holding in your hand a smoking goon; you are clearly the guilty potty. © [email protected] 4 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE Seriously - What a difference a generation makes 1939 Trading With the Enemy Act • The Trading with the Enemy Act 1914, amended 1914, 1915 x 2, 1916 x3, 1918 • 1939 Act to impose penalties for trading with the enemy, to make provision as respects the property of enemies and enemy subjects, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. • Also applied in Mandate Palestine and other British territories. © [email protected] 5 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE Main UK Internment on Isle of Man http://enemyaliens.ca/accueil-home-eng.html Collar the Lot! – Winston Churchill • Response to public anti- German Sentiment • Initially Nazis and non-Jewish Germans were interned alongside the Jews who had fled to the UK seeking refuge from Nazism • British women marrying non- British husbands assumed their nationality on marriage – this didn’t help • Many examples at TNA of women seeking to reclaim their British nationality © [email protected] 6 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE Civilian Internment 1939 – 1945 - 1 • Internment of civilians on opposing sides was carried out by all belligerent powers in WW2. • Also the fate of servicemen in the wrong place at the wrong time. • At the outbreak of WW2 there were around 80,000 potential enemy aliens in Britain. • It was feared they were spies, or willing to assist Britain's enemies in the event of an invasion. • All Germans and Austrians aged 16 or over were called before special tribunals and divided into 1 of 3 groups: • 'A' - high security risks, numbering just under 600, who were immediately interned; • 'B' - 'doubtful cases', numbering around 6,500, who were supervised and subject to restrictions; • 'C' - 'no security risk', numbering around 64,000, who were left at liberty. More than 55,000 of category 'C' were recognised as refugees from Nazi oppression. The vast majority of these were Jewish. • www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6651858.shtml Isle of Man - Internment • WW1 & WW2 • Records online • AJR Journal articles www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/famhist/genealgy/intern.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchinson_Internment_Camp © [email protected] 7 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE Civilian Internment 1939 – 1945 - 2 • The situation changed in spring of 1940 when many Germans and Austrians were rounded up. Italians were also included, even though Britain was not at war with Italy until June. • The internees were sent to camps set up at racecourses and incomplete housing estates, such as Huyton outside Liverpool. • The majority were interned on the Isle of Man, where internment camps had also been set up in World War One. • Facilities were basic, but it was boredom that was the greatest enemy. Internees organised educational and artistic projects, including lectures, concerts and camp newspapers. • At first married women were not allowed into the camps to see their husbands, but by August 1940 visits were permitted, and a family camp was established in late 1941. • That many of the 'enemy aliens' were Jewish refugees and therefore hardly likely to be sympathetic to the Nazis, was a complication no one bothered to try and unravel - they were still treated as German and Austrian nationals. • In one Isle of Man camp over 80 per cent of the internees were Jewish refugees. Barbed Wire - 10 Camps on Isle of Man • Mooragh Camp, Ramsey • Peveril Camp, Peel • Onchan Camp, Onchan • Rushen Camp, Port St Mary and Port Erin (for female and family internees only) • Central Camp, Douglas • Palace Camp, Douglas • Metropole Camp, Douglas • Hutchinson Camp, Douglas • Granville Camp, Douglas • Sefton Camp, Douglas © [email protected] 8 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE Civilian Internment 1939 – 1945 - 3 • More than 7,000 internees were deported, the majority to Canada, some to Australia. • The liner Arandora Star left for Canada on 1 July 1940 carrying German and Italian internees. It was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of 714 lives, most of them internees. • Others being taken to Australia on the Dunera, which sailed a week later, were subjected to humiliating treatment and terrible conditions on the two-month voyage. Many had their possessions stolen or thrown overboard by the British military guards. • An outcry in Parliament led to the first releases of internees in August 1940. • By February 1941 more than 10,000 had been freed, and by the following summer, only 5,000 were left in internment camps. • Many of those released from internment subsequently contributed to the war effort on the Home Front or served in the armed forces, e.g. in the Pioneer Corps. Where were UK’s WW2 Internment Camps? • Cyprus - After WW2, British efforts to prevent Jewish emigration into Mandate Palestine led to the construction of internment camps in Cyprus where up to 30,000 Holocaust survivors were held at any one time to prevent their entry into the country. They were released in February 1949 after the founding of Israel. • England – during WW2 initially, refugees who had fled from Germany were also included, as were suspected British Nazi sympathisers The British government rounded up 74,000 German, Austrian and Italian aliens. Within 6 months the 112 alien tribunals had individually summoned and examined 64,000 aliens, and the vast majority were released, having been found to be "friendly aliens" (mostly Jews). • Isle of Man - During WW2 IoM was used as the primary site for the internment of civilian enemy aliens, both male and female. The camps were predominantly in commandeered hotels and boarding houses in seaside towns on the island. Around the camps for males, barbed wire fences were erected and military guard was brought over from England. The low-risk internees were, however, allowed to work on farms on the island and to go on excursions such as for walks or to swim in the sea. The camps were in operation from 27 May 1940 to 5 September 1945. The largest recorded number of internees on the island was roughly 14,000, reached in August 1940. There were ten camps on the island • Scotland - During the Second World War the British government allowed the Polish Government in Exile to establish and run its own internment camps in Scotland. © [email protected] 9 Presentation Incarceration and Legal 07/08/2018 Restrictions Jeanette R Rosenberg OBE http://archives.jdc.org/sharedlegacy Isle of Man Internment – How it worked • Camps located in Ramsey, Douglas, Onchan • The men were allowed responsibility for some and other seaside locations. day-to-day operations at camp, including • Victorian rooming houses and private hotels ordering food, cooking and cleaning, and were grouped together and ringed with working the land on island farms, under the barbed wire to form compounds. In some, supervision of armed soldiers. Jews and Nazis shared the same spaces.

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