“Aktionsjuden”
“Dumped” in Bombay
“Sympathy and human kindness”
An appeal made by internees
“99,1 per cent british”
The “Polenaktion”
The „Fall Grün“
“Two Years in Nazi concentration camps”
British deportations
Part 1
British deportations
Part 2
When the sinking of the Arandora Star became known in Great Britain, the cabinet of Prime Minister Winston Churchill was in need of explanation for the bad treatment of friends of the country. What does a government do in such a situation? This is illustrated by a linguistic joke.. For by adding a single letter, the British “Parliament” becomes a “Parliarment” – a house in which people are lied to. This was the impression of a debate on July 9, 1940, in the British House of Commons. Already in the debate, the statements of a member of the government were strongly contradicted. As a further counter-image to the official account, here is information about 140 refugees who were to be deported to Canada on the Arandora Star.
Peter Dehn January 2024.
“… that none of them came to this land as a refugee”
A real tissue of lies was built by the British Minister of Shipping Ronald Cross in the House of Commons on July 9, 1940. A week after the sinking of the Arandora Star, he told parliamentarians and journalists
“that all the Germans on board were Nazi sympathisers and that none came to this country as refugees. None had category B or C certificates or were recognised as friendly aliens.”
Minister of Shipping Ronald Cross[1] Minutes from House of Commons, July 9, 1940, retrieved Aug 20, 2023. in the House of Commons on July 7, 1940.
Cross pulled himself out of the affair by citing his “most honorable friend”, Secretary of War Anthony Eden, as a source. The statement was based on the tribunals classification, which is critically appreciated elsewhere. The author was shocked to read this claim of the minister. Because by previous researches several names of Jews and Nazi opponents were already known, whom Great Britain wanted to get rid of by means of the Arandora Star.
About the procedure and the sources
Several sources were used for this page. First, the 251 names on the Dunera’s “Ex Arandora Star” embarkation list[2] National Archives of Australia (NAA), Embarkation List No. 1, NAA Item ID 657104, pages 4-6, retrieved Aug 30, 2023. The add-on "R" on the numbers stands for "Ringleader". and the Melbourne landing list[3] Disembarkation list Melbourne "Ex Arandora Star", ibid pages 95-99. were compared. The British authorities had misspelled a plethora of names on the first list. The disembarkation lists probably made on the Dunera and by Australians were obviously more carefully made. It was now possible to search for the individuals[4] Out of 251 men, one was disembarked at Cape Town. Another name on the British list could not be researched. in the Australian National Archives[5] Cf. Personal files at NAA, retrieved Aug 17, 2023. (NAA). From this, 22 names of Jewish internees[6] Even "dissidents" who had turned away from Judaism were persecuted by the Nazis for racist motives. emerged.
With the extensive “supplement” to the official British final report in the matter of Arandora Star by Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen[7] Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen, "Arandora Star Victims. A Supplement to the White Paper", 1941, retrieved Aug 20, 2023. an interesting source was found. The author, himself one of the survivors, named more than 130 internees of the Arandora Star transport from his own knowledge. For each person he included brief biographical note. This list includes other Jews and Nazi opponents among the 251 survivors of the Arandora Star who were subsequently deported to Australia on the Dunera.
Gutmann-Polangen also lists almost 80 internees who were deported to Canada on other transports. Gutmann-Polangen’s list contains 29 names of the 58 survivors[8] Cf. Notes on Rachel Pistol's presentation at the conference "Arandora Star Remembered", London, Nov 30, 2021, accessed on Aug 30, 2023. known to him who were not allowed to be deported for health reasons. However, he deliberately makes no claim to completeness in his memoirs.
Another basis is a directory of the British Army for processing the estate of fallen soldiers. It contains 31 pages of records on the German victims of the Arandora Star. A set of British index cards[9] Cf. data collection "Internees on SS Arandora Star. Germans", retrieved via ancestry.de (membership required) on 28 November 2023. on 143 German casualties was also found on ancestry. This data was compared with other research results on the family tree platform.
Almost every third person a Nazi persecutee
Based on Gutmann-Polangen’s information and his own research, at least 140 Germans and Austrians on the Arandora Star were Jews or political refugees. That is almost 30 percent of the 478 compatriots taken onto the ill-fated ship, 304 of whom survived, 251 of whom were deported to Australia on the Dunera. Because the known British documents contain no information about the reasons for internment or religious affiliation, no further details can be given about many of the names. Karl Olbrysch, a former member of the Reichstag for the Communist Party, was the most prominent of the political figures on board.
The fact that only a few of the more than 200 men named by Gutmann-Polangen were classified as friendly foreigners in category “C” is due to the often inappropriate and sometimes tendentious classifications made by the tribunals. Many people were not only denied recognition and protection as friends of England. The labeling as enemies or suspects meant that many Jews and Nazi opponents – as well as many refugees correctly classified in category “C” – were treated as prisoners and deported overseas. The above statement by the British government in the House of Commons insulted the victims of fascist persecution.
People were even deported who, according to British law, should not have been interned or even deported simply because of their age.
The resulting illegal deportations belied the violation of human rights and honor of thousands of Jews and Nazi opponents – and the damage to property, health, soul or even life these men suffered by Britain. The impression remains that in some tribunals decisions were made under anti-Semitic and politically right-wing colored premises in order to get rid of undesirable people. If there was a Nazi 5th column at work in Britain, then, among others, among the decision-makers of the tribunals.
The lists of names
Abbrevations:
- GP Names based on research by Gutmann-Polangen.
- PD Names based on research by Peter Dehn.
- NL Names from the British Army’s “estate list”.
- K Names from the British index card set.
Please note: The term “non aryan” (not Aryan) used by Gutmann-Polangen has been adopted. This biographical information was translated and edited by Peter Dehn. Please check for errors and transcription errors due to the sometimes poorly legible original. For all lists, a number of unreported cases is to be expected, as the available documents do not include all “passengers” of the Arandora Star.
To the name lists:
Of the 174 Germans and Austrians killed in the torpedo attack on the Arandora Star, at least 73 were refugees.
No refugee on board?
The torpedo shots fired by Günther Prien, hailed by the Nazis as a naval hero, at the Arandora Star on July 2, 1940, cost the lives of 800 men. Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen named numerous victims known to him. In 1941, he referred to them as “missing persons” to preserve for their relatives a “vague hope” that neutral ships might have recovered individual survivors.
Of the 157 entries in the British estate list, 41 correspond to the Gutmann-Polangen list. A packet of British index cards helped – in comparison with ancestry – to complete incomplete names and missing age details on the Gutmann-Polangen list and to discover further Jewish fellow sufferers (including those with the suffix “Israel” in the British records!). As a result, more than 70 names of victims of the sinking are known, to whom the official claim “that none of them came to this country as refugees” does not apply at all.
More than 70 other known victims who cannot be clearly categorised as refugees from Nazi Germany are not included. These include numerous businessmen interned in Great Britain and members of the German merchant navy, including the captain of the Adolf Woermann Heinrich Burfeind. Another victim of the Prien torpedo was the student Kurt von Wilmowsky from the Krupp family of industrialists.
Rolf Baruch (18) • GP, NL
Jewish refugee from Hamburg.
Max Baum (50) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Vienna with Czech roots. He was hospitalized at the same time as Gutmann-Polangen for a long time. Wife and child were categorized under “B” and later interned. The widow has Polish roots, her brothers are missing as soldiers in the Polish army.
Heinrich (Henry) E. Beck (42) • GP, NL, K
Engineer, worked in an aircraft factory in Newcastle. Gutmann-Polangen put a question mark after his note 2Nazi opponent from Austria“.
(Franz?) Ludwig Beck (?) • GP, NL
Tailor, Jewish refugee and Social Democrat from Vienna. He had been considered “extremely unfortunate” because of internment and housing together with Nazis. His release was refused without a hearing.
Hermann Emil Bergemann (30) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Germany, tap dancer.
Fritz Bieber[10] Cf. Fritz Bieber files via ancestry.de, retrieved Nov 10, 2023. (33) • GP, NL, K, PD
The Jewish author and journalist from Berlin was interned in Leeds with his wife and mother. According to Gutmann-Polangen’s information, he was deported on the Arandora Star. Not to be confused with his namesake, who was exempted from internment on 6.10.1940. In 1960, he died in England.
Bertold Bloch (40) • NL, K
He came from Randegg near Konstanz, where he worked as a tourist guide. As a Jew, he was deprived of his German citizenship by Nazi law.
Willi Blumens (?) • GP
Jewish refugee. Born in Vienna, he lived in Berlin. The Jewish Refugee Committee protested in vain against his internment.
Alfons Blumenthal (33) • GP
Jewish opera singer and reader in a synagogue in Frankfurt/M. Attempted suicide by hanging on board.
Franz Brandus-Nathan (46) • NL, K
The Jewish businessman, born in Magdeburg in 1894, lived with his wife Lieselotte in Cardiff, where he worked as the director of a metal factory. He was exempted from internment on November 1, 1939, which did not protect him from imprisonment in Camp Seaton and deportation to his death.
Erich Dangl (30) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Austria.
Steffen Dienes (17) • GP, NL
Dresden Jew, Romanian citizen, whose parents lived in Paris. He was classified “B” because he had not appeared in his quarters one night.
Hans Dobrin (47) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Berlin. Active in the Association of Jewish World War Participants, which was banned by the Nazis, and friends with the British sister organization.
Erwin Feinler (32) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Berlin who had managed to escape in August 1939.
Alexis Samuel Finkelstein (62) • GP, NL, K
The chemical engineer from Leipzig was interned despite his obvious Jewish origins and although he was “exempted from internment” on 3 October 1939.
Julius Frank (49) • GP, NL, K
The Nazis revoked the citizenship of the Jewish refugee and merchant from Nuremberg, whose last place of residence was Berlin.
Jüdischer Flüchtling from Nuremberg.
Rudolf Gellert (18) • GP, NL
Jewish refugee.
Alexander (Alec) Glaser (31) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Austria. Most recently worked as an advertising agent in Vienna.
Hans Walter Goldschmidt (59) • NL, K
The Jew taught as a lawyer and judge in his home town of Berlin. In England, he taught British law to foreigners.
Franz Gotfeld (?) • GP
German Zionist who lost his job in exile in South America due to malaria. Joined the British army in Panama. On the journey via Genoa recommended by the British consul, he was arrested in Gibraltar and taken to England for internment.
Hans Grabowski (30) • NL, K
He is listed in the estate list as “Hans Israel” Grabowski.
Walter Großkopf (50) • GP, NL, K
An apolitical German who traveled from Argentina to Italy for a job and was arrested on the way. His family stayed behind in Buenos Aires.
Rudolf Gerhardt Hartmann (27) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Germany, born in Stuttgart.
Ferdinand Hebelka (43) • GP, NL, K
Austrian engineer in an aircraft factory in Newcastle. It is unclear whether he was a Nazi opponent.
Simon Hermann (48) • GP
Jew with Polish roots. The waatchmaker was forced by the Nazis to leave Germany.
Frank Siegmund Hildesheim[11] Cf. Wikipedia about Hudtwalkerstrasse in Hamburg (German), retrieved Sep 10, 2023. (64) • GP, NL, K
Born in Glasgow in 1876, the son of German Jews should not have been interned due to his age (64). Member of the British Engineers’ Association as a civil engineer from 1907. Lived in both countries. Worked as an engineer and technical interpreter in Hamburg-Winterhude in the 1930s. [ii]
Solomon Hochmann-Littmann (43) • GP, K
Austrian Jew who lived in Great Britain before the Nazis came to power.
Friedrich Holdengraber (Fritz Holdengräber) (37) • GP
Jewish refugee from Austria. His parents were probably already naturalised under the name Holden.
? Höhne (?) • GP
Bremen Nazi opponent from Hanseatic tradition.
Heinrich Arthur Gustav Ho(l)mes (48) • GP, K
Nazi opponent with roots in Austria. British officer in World War 1.
Mor Jam (47) • GP, NL, K
ccording to Gutmann-O. Austrian Jew with Polish roots. Lt. Kartei born in Budapest. Lived for some time as an antiques dealer and interior designer in England, where he married Anna Malone.
Austrian Jew with Polish roots.
Franz Emil (Frantisek) Kirste (33) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent and socialist who came to England via the CSR. A gravestone on the Glencree German War Cemetery commemorates him.
Valentin Julius Adolf Klotzkowski (44) • GP, NL, K
The World War I deserter had found refuge in Venezuela. On the journey to his family in Holland he was arrested at sea. Not a Nazi.
Werner Kurt Siegfried Krein (Krain) (27) • GP, NL, K
Jew from Germany, foreman of a printing works in England. The British listed him as a refugee, the decision of 6 November 1939 against internment was reversed on 20 January 1940, which cost him his life.
Richard Kuba(c)k (35) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent who worked as a jeweller in his native Austria.
Konrad Lamberti (74) • GP, K
Nazi opponent from Belgium, born in Aachen. Married in Charlottenburg in 1909. Chemist who lived in the UK for 28 years before being expelled at an advanced age.
Heinrich Christian Langheck (43) • GP, NL, K
“Neutral” German from Esslingen, who had been living in the UK for 10 years as a civil engineer.
Johann Letzke (64) • GP, NL, K
The Nazi opponent from Krefeld had been living in England for 10 years. Due to a stay in hospital, he did not have a hearing. Nevertheless – and despite his age – he was deported on the Arandora Star.
? Liesauer (40) • GP
The Jewish refugee was interned on 9 November 1939 (!) without a hearing.
Hermann Richard Loeb[12] Cf. Introduction to "Biographisches Gedenkbuch der Münchner Juden 1933-1945" (Memorial Book Munich) with mentioning, retrieved Jan 28, 2024. (38) • GP, K, PD
Jew from Munich. In 1919, after the end of the First World War, he voluntarily joined the Epp Free Corps, which drowned the Munich Soviet Republic (workers council) in blood. While several of his officers (including Hess and Epp) made careers with the Nazis, Loeb was persecuted by the Nazis as a Jew despite his ultra-right-wing activities. In the 1930s, he sailed as a steward on the Far East routes of British ships.
Friedrich Anton Lüttke (28) • GP, K
Educated young man. Nazi opponent or neutral. Shoe retailer from Barmen. However, he had been living in Leicester since at least 1937, where he was married to Maisie Leah Garner.
Fritz Marcus (51) • K
Born in Münster, lawyer in Düsseldorf. Listed in the British civil registry as a retired German lawyer. Lived temporarily in the Netherlands with his wife and two sons.
Ludwig Kurt (Curt) Moll (64) • GP, K
Born in Breslau, he described himself in British documents as a civil servant, advisor and publisher.
(Reinhard Joachim) Patt Melchior (19) • GP, NL, K
Non-Aryan refugee from Germany, as a student in England.
Ernst Israel Moser (51) • GP, K
Like his “B”-classified wife, a Jewish refugee from Hanover. Worked in a paper factory.
Walter Moszkowski (63) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Germany, prominent journalist of the Ullstein press publishing house, who was married to a Catholic.. May have been interned because he worked as a secret agent for Germany during World War 1. Lived in the Netherlands for a time with his wife and son. His internment was questionable due to his age.
Leopold Nago(t)schiner (37) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Germany. His release was refused without a hearing. In Berlin there is an entry as an egg wholesaler, in British documents as a window dresser.
Fritz Neufeld (33) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Austria, clerk
Alfred Neumann (58) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Austria. He had helped Austrian Jews to escape to Northern Ireland.
Wilhelm Gustav Israel Neumann (29) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Germany, engaged to a British woman. Worked in the clothing industry in England.
Karl Olbrysch[13] ikipedia about Olbrysch, retrieved Aug 20. It is untrue that his wife or girlfriend was on board the Arandora Star. Both were classified as Nazis by the British tribunals - obviously deliberately incorrectly - so that they could be locked up. (37) • GP, NL, K, PD
Nazi opponent from the resistance, KPD deputy in the Reichstag. Came to the UK via the CSR. The Home Office index cards list „intern“, dated January 12, 1940 as the classification for him and his wife Charlotte. She was imprisoned on the Isle of Man until the end of May 1941. A stumbling block in Berlin-Schöneberg commemorates Karl.
Fritz Raab (45) • GP, K
Austrian Jew with roots in Hungary. States in England sailor on a trawler as hisprofession.
? Reichenberg (?) • GP, K
Jew of Austrian origin who had converted to Catholicism. Was member of the volunteer fire department in West London.
? Saemann (?) • GP
The British patriot with German roots had been working in London for 18 years.
Rudolf Schenk (28) • GP, K
The Nazi opponent from Vienna was married to a British Jewess; they had a baby. His release was refused without a hearing.
Heinz Schild (22) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Germany.
Dr. Ludwig Schild (49) • GP, K
The businessman, born in Magdeburg in 1891, was the director of a British office machine company. His British Home Office file card bears the handwritten addition “Died. 2.7.40”.
Fritz Schlamovicz (32) • GP, NL, K
The Gestapo imprisoned the Viennese Jew and his brother from June to December 1938, first in Dachau and then in Buchenwald concentration camp. According to the concentration camp register, he was a member of the ultra-right-wing Vaterländische Front party, which was persecuted by the Nazis after the Anschluss in 1938. Schlamowicz came to England illegally, was therefore imprisoned and later legalised by the Ministry of the Interior. He told the tribunal in April 1940 that he simply wanted to live freely without being hunted down.
Justus Israel Schönthal (52) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent. Dr jurist, lawyer in Munich, later journalist in Berlin.
Heinrich Johannes Schreiber (55) • GP, K
German Nazi opponent and resistance fighter (“partisan”). Live in the UK with wife and son.
Paul Erich Selka (21) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee with Hungarian roots from Austria.
Hans Christian Carl Siems (61) • GP, K
Not a Nazi. German worker, in London for years, were he was married in 1906. Hospitalized for angina pectoris.
Friedrich Sittner (25) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Germany. The trained foreign language correspondent worked as a private secretary and interpreter for a chemical company in Leicestershire.
Robert (nicht: Ernst) Spitzer (40) • GP, NL, K
Jewish refugee from Vienna, worked in the silk trade.
? Steinbrückner (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Austria.
Ewald Israel Stern (40) • GP, NL, K
Jew from Czernowicz (today: Ukraine). Supported Jews from Berlin who wanted to flee.
? Stürmer (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Austria.
Max William Waldowsky (48) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Münster/Westphalia. Apparently lived in England (Conway) for some time, where he married in 1928.
Lorenz Weber (29) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Germany. Sailor and leading unionist.
Paul Emil Weidlich (64) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Germany who should not have been deported because of his age.
Wilhelm Weil (26) • GP
German Jew and pacifist. Profession: teacherand journalist.
Julius Weiss (75) • GP, NL, K
Non-Aryan Nazi opponent who lived in the UK for 45 years, where he was married. Because of his age, he should not have been neither interned nor deported.
Karl Wiese (68) • GP, NL, K
Not a Nazi. The Hamburg man was a passenger on the Adolf Woermann and was interned – despite his age – with its crew.
Of the 251 survivors deported to Australia on the Dunera, at least 39 were refugees.
Escaped death on the Arandora Star, deported to Australia on the Dunera
The 39 Jewish and political refugees from Germany and Austria mentioned here were deported to Australia on the Dunera with a group of 251 survivors just one week after they had survived the sinking of the Arandora Star. In addition to many German merchants and seamen, this group probably included other refugees.
Ludwig Alfred Baruch[14] „Ludwig Baruch – Diary exerpts in Dunera News no. 39 (1997), page 8, continued in no. 40 and 41. (28) • GP, PD
Jewish tailor from Hamburg, living in Liverpool. Shop Steward, Member of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Ernst Borchardt (47) • PD
The Jew from Berlin was released from internment to England in 1942. He became a victim of the sinking of the Abosso on the way back to the UK.
Paul Crailsheimer (37) • GP, PD
Jew from Strasbourg. He was arrested in Cardiff, where he had to leave his wife behind.
Johannes Deutsch (51) • GP, PD
Jewish businessman from Vienna. Was imprisoned in a concentration camp. Worked in a London hotel.
Franz Eichenberg (41) • GP, PD
Lawyer and youth politician from Hamburg. Managing director in Norwich. As one of the Dunera’s deckleader and in Australia, demanded the separation of Jewish internees from Nazi prisoners. As Frank F. Eaton, he taught German language and literature in the USA from 1946, for which he was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit.
Erwin Frenkel (19) • GP, PD
The music student, son of a rabbi from Vienna, became an Australian citizen in 1946.
Michael Glas (48) (or: Glass) • GP, PD
Austrian, bank manager, born in Trieste. Nazi opponent. Fought against the Austrofascist government.
Felix Gutmann (32) • GP, PD
Austrian Jew. Aeronautical radio engineer. Jewish member of the Congregation of the Church of England. Engaged to a British woman.
Max Harmelin (45) • PD
ewish fur trader from Leipzig.
Peter Jacobsohn (24) • GP, PD
The Berlin Jew was the son of the founder and editor-in-chief of the left-wing cultural magazine “Weltbühne” Siegfried Jacobsohn. He called himself an advertising agent.
Peter Kaiser (22) • GP, PD
The Nazi opponent from Düsseldorf studied at Oxford.
Werner Kaldauke (31) • GP, PD
Non-Aryan refugee from Germany. Worked for a forwarding agency in Manchester. Was separated from his wife. Self-declaration: Protestant.
Kurt Kaminski (40) • GP, PD
Jewish socialist and trade unionist. Was in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Came to England through the Society of Friends (Quakers). Was classified “C” but interned by Scotland Yard. In Australia gives profession as “tractor driver” and religion as Protestant.
Gerhard Kripstaedt (27) • GP, PD
Protestant and teacher from Berlin. Convicted in Germany. Married to a Jewish woman who was interned on the Isle of Man.
Siegfried Lanziger (26) • GP, PD
Nazi opponent from Austria. Mechanic.
Gerhard Lewy (49) • GP, PD
Jewish business manager from Berlin. Divorced, daughter also in England.
Kurt Loewenstein (18) • GP, PD
Student from Bielefeld.
Karl Mayerhoefler (29) • GP, PD
Sozial democrat from Austria, political refugee, cook, catholic.
Gerhard Miedzwinski (29) • GP, PD
Jewish engineer from Kattowitz.
Johannes Moser (27) • GP, PD
Political refugee from Austria, textile engineer.
Baron Anatole von der Pahlen (24) • GP, PD
Student. Comes from a noble family that fled to Germany after the October Revolution, where he became a naturalized citizen. Conservative opponent of the Nazis, Russian Orthodox.
Gerhard Podbielski (26) • GP, PD
Non-Aryan writer with Polish aristocratic roots. Self-statement Catholic.
Jobst Radok (19) • GP, PD
Jewish export merchant from Königsberg. Self-declaration in Australia: Protestant. Was classified as “A”. In Australia (and later in Germany) he worked for VW for a long time.
Rainer Radok (20) • GP, PD
Jewish student from Königsberg. Self-declaration in Australia: Protestant. Mathematician and oceanographer.
Uwe Radok (24) • GP, PD
Engineer, Jew from Königsberg. Self-declaration in Australia: Protestant. Worked in Australia as a meteorologist. A lake in Antarctica was named after him. Was under surveillance there by the domestic secret service ASIO because of international contacts.
Kurt Regner (28) • GP, PD
Jewish lawyer from Baden, Austria. Leader of the Socialist Student Union.
Martin Schiessl (27) • GP, PD
Nazi opponent from Austria, shoemaker, arrested in Liverpool. Catholic
Gustav Schindler (31) • PD
Jewish shipbuilder and broker was not arrested in Lagos/Nigeria until January 1940 (other Germans in Africa were interned immediately after the war began).
Kurt (Willy) Schönmann (25) • GP, PD
Jew and Nazi opponent. Welder from Teplitz. Had to leave his wife behind in London.
Albin (Eugen) Schraml (38) • GP, PD
azi opponent from Austria, ski instructor.
Ernst Seemann (19) • GP, PD
Student from Vienna.
Leopold Spruch (33) • GP, PD
Jewish craftsman (painter) from Vienna. Was engaged to a British girl.
Paul Stephan (31) • GP, PD
Jewish hairdresser from Austria.
Israel Sufit (25) • GP, PD
Polish-Russian Jew. Metalworker from Warsaw. According to PG, he was a victim of racist-tendency interrogation by R. Burrows.
Martin Sulzbacher (44) • GP, PD
Orthodox Jew. Bookseller from Frankfurt am Main. He and his family were classified “B” by the Burrows Tribunal. Wife, children, parents and brother with family were victims of German bombs on London.
Wilhelm Weger (22) • GP, PD
German Nazi opponent. This is confirmed by his camp record from Tatura. Catholic. Worked in the camp kitchen. Trained as an electrician.
Kurt Winkler (38) • GP, PD
Visual artist who did not want to live and work under the Nazi dictatorship and went to the UK in 1933. Among other things, he portrayed the young princesses for the magazine “The Queen”, which was reported in the “Evening Standard”.
Valentin Wittke (36) • GP, PD
Catholic cabinetmaker from East Prussia. Trade union leader who had worked in illegality against the Nazis.
Fritz Zickel (53) • PD
Jewish art dealer from Haynau. His wife was interned on the Isle of Man
28 survivors who were still imprisoned in England.
Survivors behind British bars
The 28 internees about whom information is provided here are among the more than 50 men who were rescued after the sinking of the Arandora Star and were not allowed to be deported to Australia; their failing health saved them from deportation to Australia. According to Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen, they were first treated at Mearnskirk Hospital near Glasgow and later housed in the Prees Heath, Huyton or Isle of Man camps. Gutmann-Polangen mentions – without more detailed information – another ten names of men known to him who were held in the Paigston camp, among others. To his knowledge, only three men from this group were released.
? Bergehof (?) • GP
Nazi opponent, refugee from Germany.
? Ehrlich (?) • GP
Polish-Jewish refugee from Austria.
Kurt Feiler (?) • GP
Stateless Jewish refugee from Berlin.
Jim Felix (?) • GP
US citizen. Was released ill. Lived in England for a long time, was married to a British woman who had been interned with category “B“.
Ladislaus Fischer (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Austria who last lived in Leeds.
Kurt und A. Flandrak (?) • GP
Stateless Jew with Hungarian roots.
? Freund-Corvin (?) • GP
Jewish journalist from Germany. His wife was interned with Categry “B”.
Heinz Hirsch (?) • GP
Stateless Jewish refugee from Germany with Romanian roots. Was released from internment.
? Hamlisch (?) • GP
Nonaryan Refugee from CSR.
M.R. Irming-Geisler [15] Stateless Nazi opponent, born in France, came to the UK with the help of the Czech Trust Fund. Was active in the German Freedom Party. German journalist arrived in UK as a refugee in 1934. The German Freedom Front "was suspected of being inspired by communists." He was released in 1945 and deported in 1948. (?) • GP, PD
Stateless Nazi opponent, born in France, came to the UK with the help of the Czech Trust Fund. Was active in the German Freedom Party. German journalist arrived in UK as a refugee in 1934. The German Freedom Front “was suspected of being inspired by communists.” He was released in 1945 and deported in 1948.[i]
Dr. Arthur Königsberg (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany, born in France.
Joseph Kohn (?) • GP
Active member of the Jewish sports club HAKOAH in Vienna. Release refused without a tribunal hearing.
? Krebs (?) • GP
Jew from Berlin. Release refused without a tribunal hearing.
? Kroningk (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Germany.
Heinz Künstlinger (?) • GP
The Jewish refugee from Germany was detained without a tribunal hearing.
? Linsmeyer (?) • GP
Nazi opponent, Catholic and Bavarian nationalist.
Isidor Maas (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Berlin.
Erich Mankiewitz (?) • GP
Jew, in the UK for 20 years.
? Meyer (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany, had served with the British Pioneers.
Dr. Christian Ötvos (?) • GP
Non-Aryan Christian refugee from Vienna with Hungarian roots
T. Pulitzer (?) • GP
Non-Aryan and political refugee from Austria.
Dr. Camillo Reich (?) • GP
Polish-Jewish refugee from Vienna.
Dr. Dr. Rusche (?) • GP
Non-Aryan and political refugee from Germany. Philosopher and economist.
? Schmitz (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Düsseldorf.
Otto Heinrich Scholz (?) • GP
Non-Aryan refugee from Germany.
Dr. Striesow (?) • GP
Politischer Flüchtling aus Deutschland.
Edmund Weiss (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany.
Friedrich Weiss (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from. Film producer. Interned at Hutchinson Camp, Isle of Man, although he was exempted from internment. In 1960 he died in England.
Other Jews and Nazi opponents who were deported to Canada.
Internees who were deported to Canada
The almost 80 Jewish and political refugees from Germany and Austria mentioned here were deported from Great Britain to Canada in June and July 1940. In addition to the report by Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen, other sources were consulted in some cases and and other names added.
Kurt Adam (?) • GP
Came to the UK from Vienna on a Kindertransport. His socialist parents were imprisoned by the Nazis.
? Apel (?) • GP
Sailor and trade unionist, Nazi opponent.
Dr. Altstaedter (48) • GP
Jewish factory owner, born in Hungary. His release was refused without a committee hearing.
? Artelt (?) • GP
Sailor and Nazi opponent.
Kurt Barnett (36) • GP
The Jew was imprisoned in a concentration camp until 1938. His British father was interned in Germany during World War 1.
? Boening (?) • GP
A farmer and big game hunter from Mozambique who was arrested during a trip from there to Lisbon. A German with no interest in the Nazis.
Gustav Bonhorst (?) • GP
Foreman in the production of camouflage nets, Nazi opponent..
Heinz Böttger (23) • GP
rom Hamburg. Representative of Hanseatic traditions, similar to those of upper-class London families, which include a contempt for National Socialism.
? Brunner (?) • GP
Young Nazi opponent and freshman from Austria.
Herbert Cohn (?) • GP
Anglo-Jewish sailor (Borchardt[16] Lucy Borchardt (1877 – 1969) was the only Jewish shipowner in Hamburg. She enabled about 38 Jewish boys to receive a maritime education - as a prerequisite for immigration to Palestine. Cf. "Das jüdische Hamburg", retrieved Sep 2, 2023. shipping company) and refugee from Germany.
Colin ? (?) • GP
Sailor and Nazi opponent from Flensburg.
? Dobriner (?) • GP
Non-Aryan refugee from Germany.
? Dorn (?) • GP
French-born Nazi opponent from Germany.
? Dunkel (?) • GP
Factory owner from London, in the UK for years. Married to a British woman, British children.
? Eichelgrün (?) • GP
Jew from Germany classified as “C”.
Dr. ? Felber (?) • GP
Young Jewish lawyer from Vienna.
Emanuel (Manuel) Fischer (30) • GP
Nazi opponent and socialist from Stuttgart who swam the Rhine while escaping from Dachau. Fought in the International Brigades for the Spanish Republic. Incarcerated in Gurs concentration camp
Hermann Frey (?) • GP
Anglo-Jewish sailor (Borchardt shipping company).
? Fried (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Austria.
Richard Ganske (?) • GP
German seaman with 16 years of service. Stateless German, Nazi opponent, trade unionist.
? Giese (?) • GP
German sailor from Hamburg, opponent of the Nazis.
Dr. Hans Glaser (?) • GP
Jewish chemist from Vienna.
? Göhl (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Austria.
Werner Goerke (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany.
? Grünspan (?) • GP
Polish Jew (stateless), escaped from Germany.
? Guttsmann (30) • GP
Non-Aryan refugee from Breslau.
Werner Heymann (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Nuremburg.
? Hügel (?) • GP
Nazi opponent, had previously lived for a long time in Switzerland and Spain.
? Jansen (?) • GP
German nationalist, Nazi opponent.
Jungbluth (?) • GP
Non-Aryan refugee from Austria.
Fritz Kaiser (?) • GP
Nazi opponent. Member of the Christian Bruderhof communities.
? Kalb (?) • GP
Polish Jew who fled Germany.
Ernst Kleeblatt (?) • GP
Anglo-Jewish seaman (Borchardt shipping company). Previously in Kassel in the leadership of the Socialist Workers’ Youth.
? Koch (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Austria.
Otto Erich (Eric) Koch (20) • PD
Jew from Frankfurt/Main, studied law in Cambridge.
? Koppel (?) • GP
Jewish refugee, sailor from Bielefeld.
Manfred Korytkowski (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany.
Siegfried Krause (?) • GP
Ship’s cook for the British shipping company “Baltraffic” (United Baltic Corporation of London). In the UK for 12 years, not a Nazi.
? Krestenius (?) • GP
Schneider. Persecuted as a “Bible scholar” by the Nazis and fled.
Egon Th. Landsberg (?) • GP
Non-Aryan refugee from Germany.
Hans Lindenberg (?) • GP
Anglojüdischer Seemann (Reederei Borchardt).
? Lindenlaub (?) • GP
Nazi opponent and sailor, had served in the U.S. Army.
E. Magdeburg (?) • GP
Nazi opponent, married to a Jewish woman in Berlin.
? Marosch (?) • GP
Young non-Aryan refugee from Austria.
Helmuth Mayer (?) • GP
Was cited before the Tribunal in April 1940. Jewish refugee from Germany.
Moritz Meyer (?) • GP
Polish-born Jew who had his citizenship revoked by the Nazis. Escaped from the concentration camp. Repeal of internment was refused.
Dr. Mittler (50) • GP
Jewish lawyer from Vienna. Lived in Birmingham, where he was classified with category “B”.
Engelbert Müller (?) • GP
German Nazi opponent.
Max Mühlstock (28) • GP
Polish-born folk singer and clergyman from Vienna. Diabetic. His wife was interned in France after her escape. No hearing by a tribunal, no decision.
Dr. Natan (?) • GP
Non-Aryan refugee from Germany.
Hans Nass (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Austria. Editor of a Viennese newspaper, injured as a fighter for Spain’s republic. No tribunal decision.
Adolf Neuberger (16) • GP
Anglo-Jewish ship’s boy (Borchardt shipping company). Gutmann-Polangegen saw with him a letter from Otto M. Schiff (Reichsvereinigung) asking the Ministry of the Interior to refrain from interning the youth.
Heinz Newton (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Germany.
? Oettinger (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany.
? Osborn[17] It is probably the Jewish concert pianist and communist Franz Osborn, who fled in 1933. Cf. Gillman/Gilmann "Collar the Lot! ", page176; Wikipedia about F. Osborn, retrieved Sep 5, 2023. (?) • GP
The German had been living in the UK for several years.
? Paulsen (?) • GP
Nazi Opponent from Denmark.
? Posselt (?) • GP
Nazi Opponent from Germany.
Dr. ? Prinz (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany. Scientist, specialist in aviation radio.
Benjamin Rappaport (?) • GP
Polish Jew from Germany, was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp. After 7 months of British internment, still on the waiting list for the tribunals.
Sigmund Rappaport (?) • GP
Polish Jew from Germany, was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp. After 7 months of British internment, still on the waiting list for the tribunals.
? von Richthofen (?) • GP
Former Prussian officer, nationalist Nazi opponent.
? Rosenthal (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany. Reader in the camp synagogue.
? Rückersberger (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany.
? Schellhorn (?) (Vater) • GP
Nazi opponent and refugee from Germany..
? Schellhorn (?) (Sohn) • GP
Nazi opponent and refugee from Germany..
? Schlochau (?) • GP
Jewish lawyer from Breslau.
? Schmettau (?) • GP
Nazi opponent.
Johannes Schmitt (?) • GP
Sculptor. Nazi opponent, who was among others in a resistance group with Ernst Niekisch. Married to a Jewish woman.
? Schwarz (?) • GP
Young non-Aryan refugee from Austria.
Herbert Sielaff (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Danzig. Got into trouble with the Nazis as a trade unionist and seaman for a British shipping company.
? Simon (?) • GP
Middle-aged Jew. Born in Germany, he spent most of his life in the UK.
? Simon (26) • GP
Nazi opponent and deserter from the Wehrmacht.
? Taft (?) • GP
Jewish sailor from Danzig.
Jacob Trummer (?) • GP
Österreichischer Jude, seit 10 Jahren im UK.
Kurt Wangenheim (38) • PD
Jewish Lawyer from Berlin, born 1902. Was deported from Kitchener Camp on SS Sobiecki to Canada. Naturalized 1946. Co-author of a book about German-Canadians (1984).
Dr. Weidemann (?) • GP
Nazi opponent, Bavarian nationalist and Catholic. Honorary judge in Munich.
? Wenk (?) • GP
The socialist had worked in the German underground and came to England via the CSR.
? Windisch (?) • GP
Austrian Nazi opponent. Sailor who worked on German ships.
? Zickel (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany.
Footnotes
show
- [1]↑Minutes from House of Commons, July 9, 1940, retrieved Aug 20, 2023.
- [2]↑National Archives of Australia (NAA), Embarkation List No. 1, NAA Item ID 657104, pages 4-6, retrieved Aug 30, 2023. The add-on "R" on the numbers stands for "Ringleader".
- [3]↑Disembarkation list Melbourne "Ex Arandora Star", ibid pages 95-99.
- [4]↑Out of 251 men, one was disembarked at Cape Town. Another name on the British list could not be researched.
- [5]↑Cf. Personal files at NAA, retrieved Aug 17, 2023.
- [6]↑Even "dissidents" who had turned away from Judaism were persecuted by the Nazis for racist motives.
- [7]↑Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen, "Arandora Star Victims. A Supplement to the White Paper", 1941, retrieved Aug 20, 2023.
- [8]↑Cf. Notes on Rachel Pistol's presentation at the conference "Arandora Star Remembered", London, Nov 30, 2021, accessed on Aug 30, 2023.
- [9]↑Cf. data collection "Internees on SS Arandora Star. Germans", retrieved via ancestry.de (membership required) on 28 November 2023.
- [10]↑Cf. Fritz Bieber files via ancestry.de, retrieved Nov 10, 2023.
- [11]↑Cf. Wikipedia about Hudtwalkerstrasse in Hamburg (German), retrieved Sep 10, 2023.
- [12]↑Cf. Introduction to "Biographisches Gedenkbuch der Münchner Juden 1933-1945" (Memorial Book Munich) with mentioning, retrieved Jan 28, 2024.
- [13]↑ikipedia about Olbrysch, retrieved Aug 20. It is untrue that his wife or girlfriend was on board the Arandora Star. Both were classified as Nazis by the British tribunals - obviously deliberately incorrectly - so that they could be locked up.
- [14]↑„Ludwig Baruch – Diary exerpts in Dunera News no. 39 (1997), page 8, continued in no. 40 and 41.
- [15]↑Stateless Nazi opponent, born in France, came to the UK with the help of the Czech Trust Fund. Was active in the German Freedom Party. German journalist arrived in UK as a refugee in 1934. The German Freedom Front "was suspected of being inspired by communists." He was released in 1945 and deported in 1948.
- [16]↑Lucy Borchardt (1877 – 1969) was the only Jewish shipowner in Hamburg. She enabled about 38 Jewish boys to receive a maritime education - as a prerequisite for immigration to Palestine. Cf. "Das jüdische Hamburg", retrieved Sep 2, 2023.
- [17]↑It is probably the Jewish concert pianist and communist Franz Osborn, who fled in 1933. Cf. Gillman/Gilmann "Collar the Lot! ", page176; Wikipedia about F. Osborn, retrieved Sep 5, 2023.
