Arandora Star
Part 2

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, 78 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 classified as refugees from Nazi Germany are not included. These are numerous businessmen interned in Great Britain or its Colonies 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.

In the case of almost all the victims, the absence of Home Office documents available for other internee groups is striking. The classifications made by tribunals and MI5 are therefore not comprehensible.

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“.
Ludwig Franz Beck (44) • GP, NL, RK
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[12] 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.
Siegfried (Willi) Blumens (47) • GP, NL, RK
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.
Richard Wilhelm Erbert (56) • NL, K, PD
The businessman and his wife Alice already had the British right to vote in 1931. Alice was classified in category “B” (Nazi sympathizers) and sent to prison.
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.
Rubin Glucksmann (41 oder 51) • PD, RK
The chernist and Jew, born in 1889 or 1899 according to divergent accounts, had resisted as a communist in Germany before fleeing to England and was then interned there and deported to his death.. He is the father of the philosopher André Glucksmann (1937-2015).
Hans Walter Goldschmidt (59) • NL, K
The Jew was classified as a Nazi (“A”) in England. He worked 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.
Gerhart Gutermann (39) (also: Gütermann) • RK
The only surviving Home Office document indicates that his classification was made by the British domestic intelligence service MI5. His body was not washed ashore on the island of South Uist (New Hebrides) until mid-August 1940.Rudolf Gerhardt Hartmann (27) • GP, NL, K
Nazi opponent from Germany, born in Stuttgart.
Curt Gutkind (44) • PD, RK
The linguist from Mannheim was fired in 1933 as a Jew from the interpreting institute he founded and directed. As a Mussolini sympathizer, he went to Italy, where he was naturalized in 1936. Because of his Jewish origins, his citizenship there was revoked in 1938. He believed he had saved himself by going to Great Britain.
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[13] 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.
Max Hirschfeld (51) • PD
Born in Berlin, he moved to Great Britain with his family at an early age; they were naturalized in 1891. As a citizen, he lived in England with his wife FLorence and their son Arthur in 1939. The fact that he was “exempt” from internment according to the tribunal did not help. About six months later, he was sent to the Arandora Star.
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, PD
Jewish refugee from Austria. His parents were probably already naturalised under the name Holden. His father Juda Leib, born in 1876, was interned on the Isle of Man for a year despite his advanced age.
Karl Albrecht Hoene (26) • 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
According to Gutmann-P. 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.
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.
Frido Lissauer (49) • GP, PD
Until his internment, he ran a wholesale business in London. His wife Edith was insultingly declared a Nazi with the letter “A” and imprisoned on the Isle of Man. It can be assumed that her son Paul, who was only eleven years old at the time, had to spend time with her behind the bars of the Rushen camp until March 1942.
Hermann Richard Loeb[14] 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[15] Wikipedia 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.
Karl Emanuel Gottfried (Charles) Plath (66) • RK, PD
The cook from Recklinghausen should probably not have been deported simply because of his age. The whole family had already moved to London in 1887. Karl had therefore grown up in Great Britain from the age of 13.
Fritz Raab (45) • GP, K
Austrian Jew with roots in Hungary. States in England sailor on a trawler as hisprofession.
Maxaimilian Reichenberger (44) • GP, K
Jew of Austrian origin who had converted to Catholicism. Owned a film company in Berlin. Was member of the volunteer fire department in West London.
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, from September 1938 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.The Nazi suffix “Israel” was added to his card by the British, on which his immediate internment was noted on November 2, 1939.
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.
Hans Steinbrückner (28) (also Steinbruckner) • GP, PD
Nazi opponent from Jena (GP: Austria). Was married to a British girl.
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.

Escaped death on the Arandora Star, deported to Australia on the Dunera

The 42 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.

Please note: After examining further documents, the existing entries were checked and supplemented where necessary. Some of the names added appear to be men who were deported as “enemy aliens” despite their British citizenship. (October 2024)

Gordon Alsleben (32) • PD, RK
Gordon’s paternal grandparents had emigrated from Germany to England and his father, who was born there, married a British woman. Gordon and his German wife were eligible to vote in the UK before their internment, i.e. they were citizens. He worked as a tailor and seaman. After returning from internment in Australia, they lived in England.
Ludwig Alfred Baruch[16] „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. He was classified as a Nazi in category “A” to justify the deportation.
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.
Frederick (21), Herbert (19) und Louis (23) Dressing • PD, RK
Their parents were British. The three brothers, born in London, were at least entitled to British citizenship. In the files of the Tatura internment camp, they were described as Nazi opponents. After serving in the 8th Employment Company, they remained in Australia.
Franz Eichenberg[17] Wikipedia about Franz Eichenberg (German), retrieved on 20 September 2024. (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.
Franz Gerson (21) • RK, PD
The Nazis revoked the Bern-born man’s German citizenship because of his Jewish origins. The assembly fitter was incarcerated in Dachau from July 1937, was transferred to Buchenwald as part of the Grün case and was listed there as a “political Jew”. In British exile, he was defamed in category “A” as an alleged Nazi. After his release in 1944, he remained in Australia.
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. Although the British Home Office had adopted the Nazi suffix “Israel” in its files, he was classified as an alleged Nazi in category “A”.
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. Classified as an alleged Nazi sympathizer in category “B”.
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.
Raymond Victor Kaufmann (26) • PD, RK
He was born in England, was eligible to vote there in 1939 and was therefore a British citizen. He was arrested on September 4, 1939 and imprisoned in a converted vacation camp.
Kurt Israel Kaminski (40) • GP, PD
Jewish socialist and trade unionist. Was in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Came to England through the Society of Friends (Quakers). Was fired because he refused to work below the pay scale. Was initially classified as “C”, but interned by Scotland Yard with category “A”. In Australia gives profession as “tractor driver”.
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
The Jewish managing director from Berlin was classified as a Nazi in category “A” by the British. Previously divorced in Germany, his ex-wife gave up her Jewish name.
Kurt Loewenstein (18) • GP, PD
The Jewish student from Bielefeld was also insulted in England as a Nazi (category “A”).
Karl Mayerhoefler (29) • GP, PD
Sozial democrat from Austria, political refugee, cook, catholic. British authorities also defamed him as a fascist with the categorization “A”, which legitimized the deportation.
Gerhard Miedzwinski (29) • GP, PD
Jewish engineer from Katowice, categorized by the British as a Nazi with an “A”. After internment, he remained in Australia, served in the 8th Employment Company and was naturalized with the Anglicized name Gerhard Mitchell.
Johannes Moser (27) • GP, PD
Political refugee from Austria, textile engineer. His deportation was made possible by a false “A” classification.
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.
Jobst Radok (19) • GP, PD
Jewish export merchant from Königsberg. Self-declaration in Australia: Protestant. Was classified as “A” with the assistance of the MI5 secret service. In Australia (and later in Germany) he worked for VW for a long time.
Rainer Radok (20) • GP, PD
Jewish student from Königsberg. Was classified as “A” with the assistance of the MI5 secret service. Self-declaration in Australia: Protestant. Mathematician and oceanographer.
Uwe Radok (24) • GP, PD
Engineer, Jew from Königsberg. Was classified as “A” with the assistance of the MI5 secret service. 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. Died during an escape attempt in Australia.
Gustav Schindler (31) • PD
Jewish shipbuilder and broker was arrested in Lagos/Nigeria only in January 1940 (other Germans in Africa were interned immediately after the war began). Was married, wife lived in London. Applied for British pioneers.
Kurt (Wilhelm) Schönmann (25) • GP, PD
Jew and Nazi opponent. Welder from Teplitz (Austria). Had to leave his wife behind in London. His brother Franz Josef also survived the sinking of the Arandora Star, but was not deported again.
Albin (Eugen) Schraml (38) • GP, PD
Nazi 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 (Austria). His wife was interned on the Isle of Man

Survivors behind British bars

The 30 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.

Siegfried Bergerhoff (30) • GP, RK
Nazi opponent, refugee from Germany, Dr of Philosophy. Released on September 29, 1944, remained in England (Manchester), where he died in 2001.
Nathan Peter Ehrlich (40) • GP, RK
Polish-Jewish refugee from Austria, born in Bielitz (Poland). Was improperly categorised as an alleged Nazi in category ‘A’.
Kurt Alfred Feiler (30) • GP, RK
Stateless Jewish refugee, salesman from Berlin. Was improperly categorised as an alleged Nazi in category ‘A’.
Ladislaus Fischer (32) • GP, RK
Jewish refugee from Austria who last lived in Leeds.
Kurt Flandrak (32) • GP, RK
Student, musician. Went to the USA in 1956.
Paul Flandrak (30) • GP, RK
Like his brother Kurt, had roots in Hungary; lived in Berlin before fleeing.
Leo Freund-Corvin (43) • GP
Jewish journalist from Germany. Was improperly categorised as an alleged Nazi in category ‘A’. His wife was interned with Categry “B”. He was released from Camp Hutchinson (Isle of Man) on March 26, 1942.
Ignaz Hamlisch (49) • GP
The non-Aryan refugee from the CSR was classified by MI5 as an alleged Nazi in category “A”. He was only released from internment in 1946, which he spent in Camp Hutchinson (Isle of Man), among other places.
Friedrich Hepner (50) • PD
The Jew (he left Judaism in 1910), who was born in Breslau and last worked for the Foreign Office in Berlin, fled to the UK in 1934 and was classified as a Nazi in category ‘A’ by MI5. He was held by the British in Camp Hutchinson until March 7, 1945 and returned to Germany.
Heinz Hirsch (29) • GP
Stateless Jewish refugee from Germany with Romanian roots. Was released from internment end of 1940.
Max Irming-Geisler[18] 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.
Dr. Arthur Königsberger (42) • GP, PD
Jewish refugee from Germany. Solicitor.
Joseph Kohn (26) • GP
Active member of the Jewish sports club HAKOAH in Vienna. Release refused without a tribunal hearing.
Hans Isidor Krebs (31) • GP, PD
Jew from Berlin, butcher. Release refused without a tribunal hearing.
Carl Philipe Kroning (47) • GP, PD
Nazi opponent from Germany.
Heinz Künstlinger (21) • GP
The Jewish refugee from Germany was detained without a tribunal hearing.
Paul Linsmeyer (36) • GP, PD
Nazi opponent, Catholic and Bavarian nationalist.
Isidor Maas (?) • GP
Nazi opponent from Berlin.
Erich Mankiewitz (38) • GP, PD
Jew, in the UK for 20 years. He was released from Hutchinson on September 30, 1943 and went to the USA.
? Meyer (?) • GP
Jewish refugee from Germany, had served with the British Pioneers.
Dr. Ekkehard Josef Christian Ötvos (45) • GP, PD
Non-Aryan Christian refugee from Vienna with Hungarian roots. He was released from internment (Camp Hutchinson, Isle of Man) on June 5, 1944.
Franz Heinrich Pulitzer (41) • GP, PD
Non-Aryan and political refugee from Austria. Was managing director of a company in London; engineer.
Dr. Kamil (Camillo) Reich (45) • GP, PD
Polish-Jewish refugee from Vienna.
Ern(e)st Adolf Ruhemann (43) • PD
Jewish doctor in Berlin, had studied in Munich. Was improperly categorised as an alleged Nazi in category ‘A’.
Dr. Dr. Georg Rusche (40) • GP, PD
Non-Aryan and political refugee from Germany. Philosopher and economist.
Gert Wilhelm Schmitz (31) • GP, PD
Nazi opponent from Düsseldorf.
Franz Josef Schönmann (29) • PD
The Jew from Vienna had been held prisoner in British internment camp no. 15 since the beginning of November 1940. Unlike his brother Kurt, he was not interned again on the Dunera.
Otto Heinrich Scholz (?) • GP
Non-Aryan refugee from Germany.
Dr. Johannes Goeg Heinrich Striesow (31) • GP, PD
Political refugee from Germany unlawfully categorised as an alleged Nazi in category ‘A’.
Edmund Weiss (40) • GP, PD
Jewish refugee from Germany, textile merchant. Was improperly categorised as an alleged Nazi in category ‘A’.
Friedrich Weiss (36) • GP, PD
Jewish refugee from Vienna. Film producer. Initially exempted from internment and then classified ‘A’ to legitimise internment at Hutchinson Camp, Isle of Man.

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[19] 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[20] 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.

• [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]↑The difference between the 253 names on the British embarkation list and the 251 men who disembarked in Australia arose because Heinz Scheither, who was listed by the British, was not taken on board and Wolfgang Kittel was allowed to leave the Dunera in Cape Town.
• [9]↑Cf. Notes on Rachel Pistol's presentation at the conference "Arandora Star Remembered", London, Nov 30, 2021, accessed on Aug 30, 2023.
• [10]↑Cf. data collection "Internees on SS Arandora Star. Germans", retrieved via ancestry.de (membership required) on 28 November 2023.
• [11]↑F. Lafitte published the first non-fiction book with 256 pages on The Interment of Aliens at the end of 1940.
• [12]↑Cf. Fritz Bieber files via ancestry.de, retrieved Nov 10, 2023.
• [13]↑Cf. Wikipedia about Hudtwalkerstrasse in Hamburg (German), retrieved Sep 10, 2023.
• [14]↑Cf. Introduction to "Biographisches Gedenkbuch der Münchner Juden 1933-1945" (Memorial Book Munich) with mentioning, retrieved Jan 28, 2024.
• [15]↑Wikipedia 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.
• [16]↑„Ludwig Baruch – Diary exerpts in Dunera News no. 39 (1997), page 8, continued in no. 40 and 41.
• [17]↑Wikipedia about Franz Eichenberg (German), retrieved on 20 September 2024.
• [18]↑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.
• [19]↑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.
• [20]↑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.