Dunera

Arandora Star
Part 1

The Arandora Star was the second of five ships with which Great Britain deported around 10,000 Germans, Austrians and Italians aged between 16 and 60 overseas in June and July 1940. Winston Churchill’s deportation strategy, which was primarily used against Nazi victims, only became public knowledge after the sinking of the Arandora Star and the death of 800 men. Barely back on land, 451 surviving internees and prisoners of war were put on a ship to Australia.

Peter Dehn January 2024.

The sinking of the Arandora Star and the consequences

Two aspects seem worth mentioning before dealing with this second of a total of five deportation voyages. Firstly, the British had already lost 100 ships to torpedo attacks[1] Peter and Leni Gillman, „‘Collar the Lot!‘ How Britains Interned and Expelled ist Wartime Refugees“. London 1980, p 188. by the end of 1939 – i.e. in the first three months of the war. The British government was therefore well aware of the danger posed by German submarines – especially in the sea area north and northwest of Northern Ireland, through which all convoys to and from North America and the internment transports had to pass.

Secondly, the Arandora Star was equipped with anti-torpedo net[2] Wikipedia about anti torpedo nets, retrieved Aug 28, 2023. in December 1939. The technology proved to be successful against all torpedo test shots. In addition, the cruising speed was hardly affected. However, the nets and booms were removed in March 1940.  They were never widely used. It is possible that this defensive technology could have effectively protected the Arandora Star and the people on board from what was to come.

A German torpedo against prisoners of war and internees

The Arandora Star was the second ship to transport “enemy aliens” to Canada. She set sail from Liverpool on July 1, 1940. Her destination was St. Johns in the then still independent Newfoundland. On board were 734 Italian and 479 German internees as well as 86 German prisoners of war. The number of guards was given as 200 men and the crew as 174 sailors. The ship was not marked as a prisoner transporter. On the contrary: two 4.7 inch[3] Gillman loc. cit. page 189. (12 cm) guns were visibly carried on deck.

The ship is undoubtedly a luxury ship, but with twice as many people in each cabin as there are beds, the luxury ends there”, described the Jewish refugee Rainer Radok[4] Rainer Radok, „Von Königsberg nach Melbourne“ (German) chapter 11 p 16. who was on board with two brothers and other Jews and political refugees; a concrete problem of this deportation, which characterized all five mass deportations.

The journey ended abruptly on July 2. Lieutenant Captain Prien, stylized as a hero by the Nazis, discovered the Arandora Star, which had just rounded the northern tip of Ireland and was approximately near Londonderry. Prien had the last torpedo of his U-47 fired.

The Arandora Star on a ship parade. Source: Blue Star Line org.

An unofficial website about the history of the Blue Star shipping company, from which the British Navy had confiscated the ship, summarizes the further course of events:

  • The Arandora Star zigzagged at 15 knots, unescorted.
  • At 6:15 am. on July 2, the ship was torpedoed while heading west at a position about 75 nautical miles west of Bloody Foreland (56.30 north and 10.38 west).
  • The torpedo hit the engine room on the starboard side at 6.15 am. The inflowing water masses caused total damage to the turbines. The main and emergency generators had to be switched off, leaving the ship in the dark.
  • Communication between the bridge, engine room and radio station was not possible. First Officer F.B. Brown sent a man to the radio operator and ordered an SOS call, which was answered by the Malin Head[5] Malin Head ist he northermost point of the island of Ireland. station.
  • At 7.15 a.m. it was clear that the ship was lost. It sank within a few minutes.
  • At 9.30 a.m., a Sunderland seaplane dropped first aid materials[6] Cf. Blue Star Line online, retrieved Aug 25, 2023., food and cigarettes in watertight bags.
  • Under full steam, the Canadian destroyer HMCS St. Laurent reached the scene of the incident at 1 pm.
  • By 6.30 a.m. the next morning, 868 survivors had been taken in and cared for. It was particularly difficult to rescue those survivors who had survived clinging to rafts or wreckage.
  • Those rescued were brought ashore in Greenock (Scotland) the next day.

Insufficient rescue equipment

The condition of the rescue equipment is even described by the crew as critical. “The Arandora Star was carrying 14 lifeboats, with a capacity of no more than 1,000 people. There were 1,564 on board[7] Gillman loc. cit. page 198..” Two boats were disabled by the torpedo and another two were damaged during lowering[8] Radok loc. cit. Chapter 12.. A fifth leaked and sank. Of the 90 life rafts, at most half were successfully launched[9] Wikipedia about the Arandora Star, retrieved Aug 22, 2023.. The 1st officer of the Arandora Star, F.B. Brown[10] Gillman loc.cit., page 198., confirmed that around 20 rafts were thrown overboard, but qualified: “The three large rafts were overfilled and the small ones were practically unusable … It was impossible to save more.”

These critical undertones are underlined by further research findings: „The lifeboats were secured behind heavy wire mesh (some witnesses specified ‘barbed wire’ and reported lacerations to survivors) and sufficient only for the original cruising complement of 400.“ It was also reported, „that obstructing access to the lifeboats was ordered in spite of protests by the ship’s captain, who pointed out that it rendered the boat a death trap. Safe evacuation of prisoners in an emergency was clearly not a priority[11] Alastair Maclean „The Lonely Sea“, 1985, quoted from „Arandora Star“ on a privat Website fort he Scottish village of Knockan, retrieved Oct 15, 2023..“ The BBC reported[12] Cormac McGinley 2004, BBC-online-forum WW2 People’s War“, quoted from ibid. testimony to the effect that the British ‚shot holes in the lifeboats to stop internees from escaping‘“.

Contradictory reports from survivors

The British press was either not informed about the “passengers” or was misinformed. This led to tendentious reporting in the British press, with no differentiation between Nazis and refugees. “In interviews with British survivors yesterday, it was stated that the Italians showed great hostility to the Germans, not only because of the torpedoing of the passenger ship without warning, but also because of the reckless behavior of the Nazis[13] Glasgow Herald from July 4, 1940, quoted from National Library of Scotland, retrieved Aug 20, 2023. in trying to storm after the lifeboats.”

The national conservative “Daily Express” reported on the panic caused by the attack, including: “Everyone condemned the cowardice of the Germans, who fought like mad for the boats.” A British soldier is quoted as saying: “They punched and kicked their way through the Italians. We had to hold them back by force.” A British sailor[14] Gillman loc.cit. page 196f. was quoted: “The Germans made sure that no one would stand in the way of their rescue. But the Italians were just as bad. The whole crowd thought of their own skins first. The scramble for the boats was disgusting.”

But perhaps it also depends on which side of the barbed wire you were on. “German and English sailors worked on the top deck on the lifeboats to lower them into the water,” wrote the Jewish internee Rainer Radok[15] Rainer Radok loc.cit. chapter 11. later. Sailors said that prisoners of war, mainly from the Adolph Woermann, had helped their British colleagues with the evacuation. Captain Otto Burfeind, who played a leading role in the evacuation, had gone down with the ship alongside British Captain Edgar W. Moulton in all seaman’s honor.

Not just a numbers game about the survivors?

According to initial information from the War Office on July 4, 1940, 270 Italians and 243 Germans were victims of Prien’s torpedo. This was later corrected by the Prisoners of War Department of the War Office to 225 Italians, 292 Germans, one Pole and three stateless persons. The State Department[16] Gillman loc. cit., page 209. counted differently: of 478 Germans, 175 drowned and 303 were rescued. 486 of the 712 Italians drowned; 226 were rescued. According to marginally different official figures[17] Wikipedia about the sinking of Arandora Star (German), retrieved Aug 30, 2023., 248 Italians and 304 Germans survived.

According to the latter, 552 – or 42.5 percent – of all 1,299 internees and prisoners of war were lucky. If you differentiate between the individual groups on board, an interesting picture emerges. Of the 242 sailors from the Adolf Woermann (and other ships such as the Uhenhorst), 49 were victims. Of this group, 193 out of 242 men survived – that’s 80 percent! Of the German internees, 64 percent survived. However, only 32 percent of the Italian internees survived. 55 members (31.6 percent) of the crew and 37 of the 200 (18.5 percent) of the guards also remained at sea[18] Ibid.. They made sure that they themselves had the best chance of surviving.

The high survival rate of German seaman and guards was possibly greatly aided by the fact that they were accommodated on the upper decks of the ship. Some of the Italians, on the other hand, were quartered at the bottom on deck A, while German internees were quartered on deck B. Another eyewitness report confirms this impression: “Many people, especially the sick and elderly and those from the lower decks of the ship, could not reach the open decks or were unable to jump overboard.”

“Wire everywhere”

The loss of lifes also provoked the question of the barbed wire entanglements. According to First Officer F.B. Brown, Captain Moulton had criticized before departure that the work of the sailors would be severely hindered. “if anythings happens to the ship that wire will obstruct the passage to the boats and rafts. We shall be drowned like rats”, Moulton is quoted[19] Michael Kennedy, „‘Drowned like rats'. The torpedoing of Arandora Star off the Donegal Coast, 2 July 1940“, page 3. National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Online, retrieved Oct. 20, 2024..

A survivor of the crew later said that when he got to his lifeboat, there was “wire everywhere”. Among those who (for whatever reason) remained on deck instead of jumping into the water were many Italians[20] Gillman cit. loc. page 198f..

Another factor that may have contributed to the panic was that the prescribed distress drills were not carried out on the Arandora Star or during the other transports, so that once the internees had made it on deck, they did not know what to do.

Against the background of the figures, it seems as if the soldiers on watch and the German sailors, whose actions were described contradictorily, had the very best chance of escaping death.

In new Scottish quarters

The men rescued by the HMCS St. Laurent were soon brought ashore in Scotland. Rainer Radok reports [21] Radok loc.cit.page 19. that many men “not surprisingly fell asleep after thirty-six hours without sleep or food” on the bare concrete floor of assigned mass quarters. “It seems to be a fact that no provisions were made for our arrival. After hours, dry cookies and blankets are distributed among us. Later there is a woolen blanket for everyone.”

The authorities had already prevented the internees from having access to newspapers and news before they embarked, so they were not informed about the course of the war – including Italy’s declaration of war on June 10, the surrender of France and the evacuation of British troops via Dunkirk. Radok:

“Some of the windows of our big room are broken and allow us contact with the population. So we receive newspapers and read with astonishment that the whole ‘Arandora Star’ tragedy was our fault. We would have been undisciplined and panicked at the bravery and heroism of the crew and guards. Of course we were all Nazis. The facts that no rescue drills had been organized, even though we were already at sea for the second day, and that several of the lifeboats were unseaworthy, are not mentioned.”

His group of internees, who were housed separately from the Nazis in the same building, only received cards for notifying their relatives days later with the overprint “We are safe”, on which otherwise only signatures were permitted. Later, they were given uniforms from the First World War, which were then “decorated with a large cross in red oil paint”.

“Beside himself with joy” – Changing sides to U-47

In good weather and calm seas, a fast-moving passenger steamer was sighted, reported Hans-Werner Kraus[22] Estate of the naval writer Jochen Brennecke, interview with Hans Werner Kraus (German), not dated,  Bundesarchiv N852-32., 1st watch officer of U-47, in an unpublished interview. “I had it dived (…) It could have been a warship.” Jochen Brennecke mentions debates “after Frank[23] Probably meant is Wolfgang Frank. The Nazi journalist at Dönitz's staff and editor-in-chief of a newspaper from 1939 onwards published several articles about Prien. Wikipedia about Frank (German), retrieved Sept 15, 2023“, “after it was established that it was a passenger steamer”. Kraus did not want to remember this. Reference books were consulted “and then we came to the conclusion that it had to be either the ORAMA or ORMONDO or the ARANDORA STAR. (…) In any case, we knew that it was one of these ships, so it was also armed, you could see that. So it was under attack.” This happened with the last torpedo, although it was actually thought to be defective.

Prien greets from the tower of the U-47. Source: Federal Archives N825 30 004_b.

Kraus confirms that they heard Arandora Star was hit amidships. He continues his report: “And after quite a long time, there was a bang and Prien was beside himself with joy. (…) And then I think we dived for quite a long time, I would like to assume another hour, around this sinking site (…) until Prien saw lifeboats in the periscope. (…) However, we didn’t approach the lifeboats as we usually did, but because we were in a hurry, we wanted to get away from this area if possible, because it must have been radioed …”

By leaving the scene without helping the survivors, Prien violated nautical codes of honor. He also paid a kind of premature obedience to Karl Dönitz (1889 – 1980), then head of the submarine fleet, later Hitler’s successor and convicted as a war criminal: on September 17, 1942, Dönitz[24] Wikipedia about Dönitz, and his Laconia-Order (German), retrievend Sep 10, 2023. forbade the submarine crews to rescue members of sunken ships or to give them food or water if they were in lifeboats. “Rescue contradicts the most primitive demands of warfare.”

Naval officer Kraus concludes the episode as follows: “Prien was beside himself with joy… We left immediately.” It was therefore not possible to determine “that there were a large number of German prisoners of war in these boats”. But “we only heard about them afterwards through the radio report. But not at all on the way, we only heard about them when we arrived. (…) In any case, we heard it when we were in Kiel.”

If they had known this, they would have behaved differently, claims Kraus. But how do you check a ship’s cargo before an attack? How many (or which?) of the 800 survivors could U-47 have saved, and which would not have been saved?

A “tonnage success” for the propaganda?

The Naval War Leadership (Skl) of the Nazi Navy noted in its war diary[25] War diary of the German naval command, page 57. on July 5: “U 47 reports 10 steamers sunk with ‘Arandora Star‘. This increases the boat’s tonnage success to 66,600 GRT.” On July 8, 1940[26] War diary loc.cit. page 57., the Skl noted that, according to the British news agency “Reuter[27] This obviously refers to the British news agency Reuters.“, 143 Germans and 470 Italians (civilian internees and prisoners) were killed in the torpedoing of the ‘Arandora Star‘”. On July 9, the Skl considered whether the misery could be exploited:

“Following the sinking of the British passenger ship ‘Arandora Star‘ on its way to Canada, in which German and Italian prisoners of war on board perished, Skl is examining whether it is expedient to exploit the incident for propaganda purposes.”

SKL war diary[28] War diary loc.cit. page 99..

Of course, the naval map heroes at the chart table could have read about this in German newspapers beforehand. As early as July 3, the “Schwäbischer Merkur[29] Schwäbischer Merkur, July 3, 1940, p 1. Deutsches Zeitungsarchiv, retrieved Sep 1, 2023.” wrote on page 1 from the report of the Wehrmacht High Command: “Another submarine torpedoed the armed English steamer ‘Aran-Dora-Star’ (15,500 GRT) west of the North Channel.”

On July 8, 1940, the Nazi party newspaper “Westfälische Tageszeitung[30] Westfälische Tageszeitung, July 8, 1940, page 5. Deutsches Zeitungsarchiv, retrieved Sep 1, 2023.” reported under the headline “Ever new submarine successes” that the troop transport Ettrick had been sunk with 12,000 tons. The 15,000-ton steamer Arandora Star was named as one of the other ships involved in supplying the British Isles. “These are fast ships with considerable armament”.[

As late as October and November 1940 and later, the Arandora Star was still haunting the provincial newspapers in a list of “giant steamers” with more than 10,000 GRT that had been put out of action. The repeated mention of the Ettrick, which was still in service at sea, bringing internees to Canada. This shows how the battle was being fought on the propaganda front.

The fact that Lt. Günther Prien[31] According to British sources, U-47 was sunk with Prien on board in 1941. The German navy kept the myth alive for a long time and limited itself to the fact that Prien had not returned from a mission. (1908 – 1941), hailed by Nazi propaganda as the “hero of Scapa Flow” and a role model for young people, was responsible for the sinking and 800 deaths of the Arandora Star was generously ignored[32] Gillman loc.cit. page 201. by the Germans. In the knowledge of this, Prien was decorated with “Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz[33] Wikipedia about Günther Prien (German),retrieved Aug 8, 2023.” (Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross) on October 20, 1940. In Schönberg/Holstein near Kiel, there is still a Günther-Prien-Straße named after the Nazi icon.

Triple propaganda hero: Prien during his lifetime (Bundesarchiv 183-2006-1130-500), in 1939 on a propaganda postcard (Volksbund für das Deutschtum im Ausland, Deutsches Historisches Museum PK 90/5458) and in 1958 on cinema screen (Archiv Dehn).
The Schwäbische Merkur of 3 July 1940, page 1.

“A completely unforgivable performance in office” – the Arandora Star in the British House of Commons

After just a few days, the sinking of the Arandora Star became a topic of discussion in the British House of Commons. Minister of Shipping Ronald Cross claimed on July 9, 1940: “Lifeboats and rafts were available in more than sufficient numbers to accommodate all passengers and crew.” The British historians Leni and Peter Gillman categorized this statement by Cross, which contradicts the above information, as follows: “The implication, of course, was that the passengers were to blame for not saving themselves – and this was the decisive argument made by the Foreign Office[34] Letter of July 4, 1940 to the Embassys of Switzerland and Brasil, quoted from Gillman loc.cit page 197. Both countries were used for diplomatic communication between the warring parties as well as for correspondence between internees and prisoners of war..”

In the House of Commons, Cross[35] Minutes of Question Time in the House of Commons on July 9, 1940, retrieved Aug 20, 2023. foisted an even more blatant lie on his honorable cabinet colleague, War Minister Anthony Eden. Cross quoted Eden as saying “that all the Germans on board were Nazi sympathizers and that none of them came to this country as refugees.”

A few days later, Sir Kenneth Pickthorn MP rejects Cross’s statement in the same place, “who described himself as authorized by the Secretary of State for War”. Pickthorn continued:

“It seems to me to be a case of extreme incompetence that this statement was made. Even if all the records had been thoroughly sifted and it had been certain that there were no B or C aliens in that ship. I believe that an administrator would have said with the most elementary caution ‘We did the best we could, and we hope there were few or none.’ But to announce categorically that there were none is completely unforgivable official conduct, all the more so when you look at the individual cases.”

Pickthorn in the House of Commons[36] Debate in the House of Commons on Aug 22, 1940, retrieved Aug 20, 82023. on August 22, 1940.

Some of those deported were his friends, added MP Wedgwood, who reported on a group of students who were not even allowed to inform their parents.

“Perhaps some of these Jews, whom I myself saw in the Dachau camp a few years ago and who have been leading our struggle for years, are interned here and not allowed to fight for their country of choice,” criticized Victor Cazalet, MP[37] Ibid.. If the “B” classifications had been checked again, “many would undoubtedly have been classified in category C”, he is certain.

No refugees? Fake news!

The government’s claim is rendered absurd by what is probably the most prominent victim: Karl Olbrysch[38] 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. was a member of the Reichstag for the KPD; his life as a main political opponent of the Nazis was threatened even after his release from the concentration camp. His final escape route led to Great Britain.

In 1941, the internee Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen[39] Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen „Arandora Star Victims. A Supplement tot he White Paper“, undated, retrieved Aug 20, 2023., felt compelled to correct the official report on the Arandora Star to 29 pages on the basis of his personal experiences and knowledge. The official reporter Lord Snell[40] Henry Snell, a member of the Labour Party, was appointed Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords by Churchill in 1941. (1865 – 1944) had stated that the British War Office had deported the most dangerous people first. The list of Italians had been based “largely on membership of the fascist party”. It was not checked who really posed a threat. However, there had only been errors “in about a dozen cases”. “Lord Snell did not consider that the number of errors could be a reason for serious criticism” stated a newspaper report[41] The Guardian about the Italians on the Arandora Star, on Dec 20, 1940 page 6. Newspaper archive, retrieved Aug 31, 2023. at the time.

Snell thus absolved those politically responsible of any responsibility, despite known “errors”.

Stumbling stone for Karl Olbrysch in Berlin-Schöneberg. Photo: Peter Dehn.

In fact, the number of “harmless” persons on the Arandora Star was significantly higher than officially admitted. Gutmann-Polangen proves this, among other things, by dealing extensively with the tribunals for categorising the refugees. Among other things, he reports on numerous knowingly false categorisations[42] Own research on the 251 German survivors brought to the Dunera. of Jews and Nazi opponents (including Karl Olbrysch) in category “A”, which was intended for Nazis. He also quotes questions to refugees that were characterised by anti-Semitic prejudices. It is therefore not surprising that Gutmann-Polangen considers the tribunals a terrible failure. Nor can one deny the impression that some tribunals were more concerned with removing social democrats, communists, trade unionists, pacifists and other left-wing exiles from the English political landscape than with finding Nazis and put them out of action.

By no means only Nazis on board

It is therefore hardly surprising that numerous refugees[43] This can be seen, for example, in the digitized personal NAA-files of the 250 Arandora Star men sent to Australia; National Archives of Australia NAA. can be clearly identified among the 251 German survivors of the Arandora Star who were sent to Australia on the Dunera. Gutmann-Polangen supplements this with the names of survivors and drowned persons, whom he describes from his own knowledge as Nazi opponents. According to his estimates, only around half of the Germans and Austrians[44] Gutmann-Polangen loc.cit. on board the Arandora Star were actually Nazis.

Polangen further estimates that among the businessmen and seamen in the merchant navy, around one in ten in Australia explicitly disassociated themselves from the Nazis and demanded separate accommodation.

But of course there were also cases that were reversed. One example is the 4th officer of the blockade runner Uhenfels Heinz Roehrs, who acted as camp leader[45] Cf. Archives of the German Foreign Offices, RAV 26-1_4570; Roehrs-files, NAA_ItemNumber 32091758, retrieved Aug 30, 2023. in the Australian internment camp. According to Australian files, the Nazis openly ran an NSDAP foreign organisation in the camps and occupied the representative positions.

Among the survivors who were deported to Australia on the Dunera, Wolfgang A. Kittel[46] Wikipedia about W.Kittel (German), retrieved Aug 31, 2023. Article on dunera.de in preparation. stands out. The NSDAP member was interned as a Lufthansa representative in West Gambia. Because he also had diplomatic status, he was disembarked in Cape Town, taken to England and interned in a noble quarter on the Isle of Man until his exchange.

Kurt von Wilmowsky[47] Wikipedia about the sinking of the Arandora Star, loc.cit., a member of the Krupp industrial family, was one of the most prominent victims of the Arandora Star.

With the exception of 58 men[48] Cf. Notes on Rachel Pistol's presentation at the conference "Arandora Star Remembered", London, Nov 30, 2021, accessed on Aug 30, 2023. who were unfit for transport for health reasons, all the survivors of the Arandora Star were brought to the Dunera on July 10. The names of 200 Italians and 251 Germans can be found on the corresponding nominal roll[49] Cf. NAA_ItemNumber 657104.. At the second attempt, they were not deported to Canada but to Australia.

The Australian authorities initially followed the British instructions. After protests by Jewish internees, prisoners of war and potential Nazis were spatially separated from Jewish and anti-fascist internees. With the official end of internment by the British government, the status of the sailors and traders was changed from “internees” to “Prisoners of War”. According to the personnel documents, this was carried out on June 22, 1942[50] Cf. digitized personal files at NAA.. Many of these men were behind Australian barbed wire until 1947 when they were repatriated.

Sunk and forgotten?

The sinking of the Arandora Star and the 800 deaths in Great Britain initially had no consequences. Everything continued as usual. On July 3, 1940, aware of the sinking the day before, the British War Cabinet[51] Minutes of War Cabinet 174 of July 3, 1940, Top 12, file 7-69 page 542, British National Archives CAB 7-69 sheet 542f. decided to send the SS Ettrick to Canada as planned on the same day, with more than 3,000 men and expressly again without an escort. Quebec City, Canada was the destination for 1,838 internees on the SS Sobieski on July 7, 1940. The Dunera left for Australia on July 10, 1940; There were 2,500 internees on board, including 451 survivors of the Arandora Star.

Even before the Dunera docked in its first Australian port, Fremantle, the sinking of the Arandora Star reached the British public and the country’s parliament. The undignified treatment of those persecuted by the Nazis forced Prime Minister Winston Churchill to drop his deportation policy which was co-initiated by anti-Semitic forces. The politician, considered a master of verbal acrobatics, suggested how the government should get out of the affair with a tepid phrase: It is not politics that is responsible, but rather individuals who have implemented the policy incorrectly.

“I am not here to deny for a moment that most regrettable and deplorable things have happened. … They have been due partly to the inevitable haste which the policy, once decided upon, had to be carried out. Rthey have been due in some cases to the mistakes of individuals and to stupidity and muddle. These matters all relate to the past. So far as we can remedy mistakes, we shall remedy them.”

Winston Churchill[52] Winston Churchill in the House of Commons on Aug 22, 1941.quoted from Gillman/Gillman cit loc , p 231., Auust 22, 1941.

Less rigid deprivation of liberty”

The Canadian authorities in particular could have found facts about the internees that suggest incorrect classifications by the British tribunals from the British personnel dossiers. 7,950 files had been collected – they went down with the Arandora Star. The Gillmans criticize that the apology for the false information about the status of the internees was not very profound.

“The United Kingdom authorities deeply regret that the inclusion of category ‘B’ and ‘C’ internees among those sent to Canada was not communicated to you earlier, but I hope that no serious problems will arise with their internment in Canada. “

Thomas Inskip[53] Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote (1876 – 1947), Conservative career politician (1876 – 1947).

This is what the cabinet member responsible for the (former) colonies Thomas Inskip (1876 – 1947) wrote to Canada – according to the motto: See how you get on with it. He hypocritically goes on to say that he hopes that those now known as Nazi victims can count on a “less rigid system[54] Quoted from Gillman loc.cit., page 240. of deprivation of liberty” under Canadian responsibility.

Footnotes

show
  • [1]Peter and Leni Gillman, „‘Collar the Lot!‘ How Britains Interned and Expelled ist Wartime Refugees“. London 1980, p 188.
  • [2]Wikipedia about anti torpedo nets, retrieved Aug 28, 2023.
  • [3]Gillman loc. cit. page 189.
  • [4]Rainer Radok, „Von Königsberg nach Melbourne“ (German) chapter 11 p 16.
  • [5]Malin Head ist he northermost point of the island of Ireland.
  • [6]Cf. Blue Star Line online, retrieved Aug 25, 2023.
  • [7]Gillman loc. cit. page 198.
  • [8]Radok loc. cit. Chapter 12.
  • [9]Wikipedia about the Arandora Star, retrieved Aug 22, 2023.
  • [10]Gillman loc.cit., page 198.
  • [11]Alastair Maclean „The Lonely Sea“, 1985, quoted from „Arandora Star“ on a privat Website fort he Scottish village of Knockan, retrieved Oct 15, 2023.
  • [12]Cormac McGinley 2004, BBC-online-forum WW2 People’s War“, quoted from ibid.
  • [13]Glasgow Herald from July 4, 1940, quoted from National Library of Scotland, retrieved Aug 20, 2023.
  • [14]Gillman loc.cit. page 196f.
  • [15]Rainer Radok loc.cit. chapter 11.
  • [16]Gillman loc. cit., page 209.
  • [17]Wikipedia about the sinking of Arandora Star (German), retrieved Aug 30, 2023.
  • [18]Ibid.
  • [19]Michael Kennedy, „‘Drowned like rats'. The torpedoing of Arandora Star off the Donegal Coast, 2 July 1940“, page 3. National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Online, retrieved Oct. 20, 2024.
  • [20]Gillman cit. loc. page 198f.
  • [21]Radok loc.cit.page 19.
  • [22]Estate of the naval writer Jochen Brennecke, interview with Hans Werner Kraus (German), not dated,  Bundesarchiv N852-32.
  • [23]Probably meant is Wolfgang Frank. The Nazi journalist at Dönitz's staff and editor-in-chief of a newspaper from 1939 onwards published several articles about Prien. Wikipedia about Frank (German), retrieved Sept 15, 2023
  • [24]Wikipedia about Dönitz, and his Laconia-Order (German), retrievend Sep 10, 2023.
  • [25]War diary of the German naval command, page 57.
  • [26]War diary loc.cit. page 57.
  • [27]This obviously refers to the British news agency Reuters.
  • [28]War diary loc.cit. page 99.
  • [29]Schwäbischer Merkur, July 3, 1940, p 1. Deutsches Zeitungsarchiv, retrieved Sep 1, 2023.
  • [30]Westfälische Tageszeitung, July 8, 1940, page 5. Deutsches Zeitungsarchiv, retrieved Sep 1, 2023.
  • [31]According to British sources, U-47 was sunk with Prien on board in 1941. The German navy kept the myth alive for a long time and limited itself to the fact that Prien had not returned from a mission.
  • [32]Gillman loc.cit. page 201.
  • [33]Wikipedia about Günther Prien (German),retrieved Aug 8, 2023.
  • [34]Letter of July 4, 1940 to the Embassys of Switzerland and Brasil, quoted from Gillman loc.cit page 197. Both countries were used for diplomatic communication between the warring parties as well as for correspondence between internees and prisoners of war.
  • [35]Minutes of Question Time in the House of Commons on July 9, 1940, retrieved Aug 20, 2023.
  • [36]Debate in the House of Commons on Aug 22, 1940, retrieved Aug 20, 82023.
  • [37]Ibid.
  • [38]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.
  • [39]Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen „Arandora Star Victims. A Supplement tot he White Paper“, undated, retrieved Aug 20, 2023.
  • [40]Henry Snell, a member of the Labour Party, was appointed Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords by Churchill in 1941.
  • [41]The Guardian about the Italians on the Arandora Star, on Dec 20, 1940 page 6. Newspaper archive, retrieved Aug 31, 2023.
  • [42]Own research on the 251 German survivors brought to the Dunera.
  • [43]This can be seen, for example, in the digitized personal NAA-files of the 250 Arandora Star men sent to Australia; National Archives of Australia NAA.
  • [44]Gutmann-Polangen loc.cit.
  • [45]Cf. Archives of the German Foreign Offices, RAV 26-1_4570; Roehrs-files, NAA_ItemNumber 32091758, retrieved Aug 30, 2023.
  • [46]Wikipedia about W.Kittel (German), retrieved Aug 31, 2023. Article on dunera.de in preparation.
  • [47]Wikipedia about the sinking of the Arandora Star, loc.cit.
  • [48]Cf. Notes on Rachel Pistol's presentation at the conference "Arandora Star Remembered", London, Nov 30, 2021, accessed on Aug 30, 2023.
  • [49]Cf. NAA_ItemNumber 657104.
  • [50]Cf. digitized personal files at NAA.
  • [51]Minutes of War Cabinet 174 of July 3, 1940, Top 12, file 7-69 page 542, British National Archives CAB 7-69 sheet 542f.
  • [52]Winston Churchill in the House of Commons on Aug 22, 1941.quoted from Gillman/Gillman cit loc , p 231.
  • [53]Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote (1876 – 1947), Conservative career politician
  • [54]Quoted from Gillman loc.cit., page 240.

Danke für Ihr Interesse an dunera.de. Leider können aus rechtlichen Gründen keine Bilder oder Grafiken heruntergeladen werden. Bitte kontaktieren Sie uns bei Fragen zu Bildern/Grafiken!

Thank you for your interest in dunera.de. Unfortunately, images or graphics cannot be downloaded for legal reasons. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding images/graphics!

Table of contents
Scroll to Top