These essays reveal the role of British intelligence in the roundups of European refugees and expose the subversion of democratic safeguards. They examine the oppression of internment in general and its specific effect on women, as well as the artistic and cultural achievements of internees.

In 1940, press hysteria and prejudice at government level led to the internment of over 20,000 Jewish refugees from Nazi-dominated Europe. Likewise, in l914-1918 Germans in Britain were brutally interred, and democratic safeguards were subverted.

Pp. vii-xxiv contain a new introduction by the author. This was the first book to deal with the British policy of arrest and internment of thousands of refugees from Germany and Austria - most of them Jews - in the summer of 1940. Internees were sent to camps in Britain, or to Canada and Australia. Points out that Nazis, Jews, and anti-Nazi Gentiles were interned together. Quotes official reports and newspaper articles to describe the situation of the refugees and public opinion regarding their internment. Suggests possible reasons for this British policy: panic, due to the occupation of Holland and Belgium by Germany; fear and ignorance, which led to xenophobia; and an authoritarian trend in the British government, aimed at removing the traditional civil rights of British citizens.

The internment of ‘enemy aliens’ by the British government in two world wars remains largely hidden from history. British historians have treated the subject – if at all – as a mere footnote to the main narrative of Britain at war. In the ‘Great War’, Britain interned some 30,000 German nationals, most of whom had been long-term residents. In fact, internment brought little discernible benefit, but cruelly damaged lives and livelihoods, breaking up families and disrupting social networks. In May 1940, under the threat of imminent invasion, the British government interned some 28,000 Germans and Austrians, mainly Jewish refugees from the Third Reich. It was a measure which provoked lively criticism, not least in Parliament, where one MP called the internment of refugees ‘totally un-English’. The present volume seeks to shed more light on this still submerged historical episode, adopting an inter-disciplinary approach to explore hitherto under-researched aspects, including the historiography of internment, the internment of women, deportation to Canada, and culture in internment camps, including such notable events as the internment revue What is Life!

A timely history of the entry, reception and resettlement of refugees to Britain across the twentieth century.

First published in 2006. The dynamics of ethnicity, diaspora, identity and community are the defining features of contemporary life, giving rise to important and exciting new interdisciplinary fields of study and literature on subjects that were previously seen as the exclusive domain of the social sciences. Connecting Histories is an important contribution to this trend. While using sociological and anthropological theories, its is an innovative historical and comparative assessment of ethnic identities and memories. Romain focuses on Afro-Caribbean and Jewish individuals and groups, investigating the ways in which 'communities' remember their experiences.

Analysing three cases of British colonial violence that occurred in the latter half of the 19th century, this book argues that all three share commonalities, including the role of racial prejudices in justifying the perpetration of extreme colonial violence. Exploring the connections and comparisons between the Perak War (1875–76), the 'Hut Tax' Revolt in Sierra Leone (1898–99) and the Anglo-Egyptian War of Reconquest in the Sudan (1896–99), Gordon highlights the significance of decision-making processes, communication between London and the periphery and the influence of individual colonial administrators in outbreaks of violence. This study reveals the ways in which racial prejudices, the advocacy of a British 'civilising mission' and British racial 'superiority' informed colonial administrators' decisions on the ground, as well as the rationalisation of extreme violence. Responding to a neglect of British colonial atrocities within the historiography of colonial violence, this work demonstrates the ways in which Britain was just as willing and able as other European Empires to resort to extreme measures in the face of indigenous resistance or threats to the British imperial project.

Published in 1998. This title brings together 18 essays by a selection of experts in the area of refugee and asylum law and policy. Each essay examines an issue of contemporary interest to those working in the refugee field in the UK. They have been selected from papers presented at a highly successful conference on Refugee Rights and Realities which was held at the University of Nottingham in November 1996, organized by the Human Rights Law Centre at the University and funded by the Airey Neave Trust. The essays are organised into two sections. The first covers issues of legal process and policy ranging from the development of asylum law and policy in the UK to the country’s obligations under international law. Special emphasis is placed on the most recent developments surrounding the 1996 Asylum and Immigration Act. The second section provides the context for a more detailed examination of the social, health and welfare issues relevant to refugees and asylum seekers. These range from access to health care, housing rights and the education of refugees in London to questions of language and of race relations.

In the opening decades of the twentieth century, Germany was at the cutting edge of arts and humanities scholarship across Europe. However, when many of its key thinkers - leaders in their fields in classics, philosophy, archaeology, art history, and oriental studies - were forced to flee to England following the rise of the Nazi regime, Germany's loss became Oxford's gain. From the mid-1930s onwards, Oxford could accurately be described as an 'ark of knowledge' of western civilization: a place where ideas about art, culture, and history could be rescued, developed, and disseminated freely. The city's history as a place of refuge for scientists who were victims of Nazi oppression is by now familiar, but the story of its role as a sanctuary for cultural heritage, though no less important, has received much less attention. In this volume, the impact of Oxford as a shelter, a meeting point, and a centre of thought in the arts and humanities specifically is addressed, by looking both at those who sought refuge there and stayed, and those whose lives intersected with Oxford at crucial moments before and during the war. Although not every great refugee can be discussed in detail in this volume, this study offers an introduction to the unique conjunction of place, people, and time that shaped Western intellectual history, exploring how the meeting of minds enabled by libraries, publishing houses, and the University allowed Oxford's refugee scholars to have a profound and lasting impact on the development of British culture. Drawing on oral histories, previously unpublished letters, and archives, it illuminates and interweaves both personal and global histories to demonstrate how, for a short period during the war, Oxford brought together some of the greatest minds of the age to become the custodians of a great European civilization.