British deportations
Part 1

More than 70,000 Germans and Austrians were able to escape persecution by the Nazis on racial or political grounds by the beginning of the Second World War. They assumed they would be safe in British exile. Many wanted to contribute to the fight against National Socialism. After the conquest of Belgium and the Netherlands by the Nazi Wehrmacht and the capitulation of France in May 1940, the right-wing British press deliberately stirred up fears of a “5th column”, which was supposedly preparing an imminent attack by Nazi Germany on the kingdom. Soon afterwards, Winston Churchill ordered the internment of thousands of people of German and Austrian descent and a mass deportation. More than 10,000 men were deported to Canada and Australia in five transports until public and parliamentary criticism put an end to this.
I apologize for the fact that the poor treatment of Jews and anti-fascists who had fled by the British causes some resentment on these pages.

Peter Dehn January 2024.

“Unjust to treat our friends like enemies”?

Due to its proximity to Germany, Great Britain was a popular country of refuge for persecuted people, including those from annexed Austria. Solidarity was high – especially after the horrific acts of violence during the pogrom night of November 1938. Around 30,000 Jewish men were briefly deported to the Buchenwald, Dachau and Sachsenhausen concentration camps in the days that followed. In exchange for their release, they were forced to promise to leave Germany at short notice, meaning that this group was considered particularly vulnerable[1] Cf. Several biographies on dunera.de and other sources..

In Germany, the Jewish “Hilfsvereine” (aid associations) organized visas and travel for around 10,000 Jewish men. Around 4,000 were accommodated in the Kitchener Camp[2] Cf. Clare Ungerson „Four Thousand Lives. The Rescue of German Jewish Men to Britain, 1939“, The History Press Cheltenham 2019, page 16. See also Kitchener Camp online supervised by Clare Weissenberg.. The British colonial officer Herbert Kitchener[3] Wikipedia about Lord Kitchener, retrieved Aug 30, 2023. (1850 – 1916) is regarded as the inventor of the “scorched earth” tactic against freedom fighters and the “concentration camps” in which 26,000 African women and children died of hunger and disease during the Boer uprising.

The camp with the racist name was designed as a transit camp, as many refugees who arrived there after crossing the Channel had visas for third countries or good prospects of obtaining them. The former barracks at Sandwich near the Channel coast had lain derelict for almost 20 years. The conversion and ongoing operation were financed exclusively from donations. In the aftermath of „Kristallnacht“, a refugee fund[4] The amount collected in just three months in 2019 correspinds to 13.2 Mio. pounds or 15.44 Mio. Euros (as of 2023). set up by former Prime Minister Lord Baldwin raised the astonishing sum of 461,658 pounds sterling between January and March 1939. This amount would be equivalent to around 15 million (!) Euros today. Between November 1938 and the Nazi Wehrmacht attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, the Kindertransports[5] Wikipedia obout Kindertransporte, (German) retrieved Aug 20, 2023. brought around 10,000 Jewish children to safety, not all of whom were treated decently in their host country. Many boys born between 1920 and 1924 were deported to Canada or Australia in mid-1940, while girls were interned on the Isle of Man. Many were the only survivors of their families in the Holocaust.

Many boys born between 1920 and 1924 were deported to Canada or Australia in mid-1940, while girls were interned on the Isle of Man. They were the only survivors of their families in the Holocaust. Many of the 70,000 exiles would have liked to continue their journey. They had visas for the USA or South America or their applications were in progress. The war naturally made such journeys more difficult. In addition, Jews from Germany were only allowed to take 10 Reichsmarks and no other assets with them, so they were unable to finance a trip overseas. “Because the war is raging, these people are now like a bird in a cage”, is how Labor MP Davies described their situation in the House of Commons[6] Minutes of the House of Commons from Aug 22, 1940, retrieved Sep 2, 2023..

Thousands of Nazi victims were arrested

Immediately after the war began, many German citizens who worked as representatives of German companies or employees of international or British companies in England and its colonies were arrested and imprisoned in camps. From the end of September 1939 to February 1940, the Aliens Department of the British Home Office had 74,233 people[7] Blog of The National Archives (UK) from July 2, 2015, retrieved Aug 25, 2023. aged 16 and over interrogated in 120 tribunals who were assigned to the German Reich. These included Austrians and Czechs whose home countries had previously been occupied by the Nazis, which is why they were listed as Germans. This also applied to Jews who had previously been stripped of their citizenship by the Nazis.

The interviews led to the classification of interviewees into three categories. A report in The Times on a speech by Home Secretary John Anderson[8] The Times from Mar 2, 1940 quoted from Rainer Radok, „Von Königsberg nach Melbourne“, chapter 11, retrieved July 20, 2023. to the House of Commons, the later US chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg war crimes trial Robert M.W. Kempner[9] Robert M.W.Kempner „The Enemy Alien Problem“, 1942. Quoted from Stibbe/Wünschmann „Internment practises during the First and Second World Wars. A comparison“ in Anderl et. al „Interment Refugee Camps“ Bielefeld, 2022. ISBN 978-3-8376-5927-6 , retrieved Aug 20,2023. and other sources agree that there were 62,244 Germans and 11,989 Austrians registered with the police in the UK. Of these, 55,457 were assigned to category “C” as Jews and refugees from Nazi persecution. Only 569 people were assigned to category “A” and interned as Nazi sympathizers who were actually suspected or convicted. People in category “B” remained at large, but their movement rights were severely restricted and they were not allowed to own cameras or bicycles.

Questionable tribunals

However, several sources show that the tribunals judged according to different and sometimes contradictory criteria and made questionable decisions. In an extensive work, Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen[10] Louis Eleazar Gutmann-Polangen „Arandora Star Victims. A Supplement tot he White Paper“, 1941, pages 7f, retrieved Aug 20, 2023. calls the tribunals a “failure” that began with Home Secretary John Anderson not giving them precise criteria for classification. As a result, national security issues did not play a role. “They did not intern Nazis or their sympathizers who had previously been interned by Scotland Yard.” Gutmann-Polangen also reports on people who were declared enemies in Group “A” due to denunciations. “Young refugees were interned because they were unemployed.” Gutmann-Polangen describes the “A” classification of the Jewish film producer Friedrich Weiss from Vienna, for whose interrogation the admission of witness statements or documents had been refused, as a blatantly wrong decision.

According to his report, Gutmann-Polangen himself was questioned in a way that can only be described as clearly anti-Semitic. In Tribunal No. 8, a Ronald Burrows[11] Ibid page 8. asks him the following questions, among others: “Didn’t the Jews defend Hitler’s takeover of power?” “Why did you leave Germany in April 1933; the Jews were able to live in 1933 and 1934 as before?” and, with reference to the interviewee’s profession as a journalist: “When social democratic newspapers were banned, you could have written for Hitler.” The Gestapo would probably have formulated the clear pro-Nazi tendency in a similar way. The fact that this interrogation was conducted on November 9, 1939 – the anniversary of the Pogrom Night – reinforces the horror of the forces involved in the tribunals.

Eric Koch[12] Quoted from. Eric Koch, „Deemed Suspect. A Wartime Blunder“, Toronto 1980, page 9/10. is also critical of the tribunals’ activities: he puts the number of people categorised as ‘C’, i.e. freed from internment, at 64,200. He rightly asks why only 51,200 were labelled as „refugees from Nazi persecution“. Koch asks: “Why were some thirteen thousand ‚friendly enemy aliens‘ in Category C not stamped as ‚Refugees from Nazi Oppression‘? Who were they? Why was a sizeable number of genuine refugees in Category A? And who precisely qualified for a B?“

The tribunals did their job „conscientiously and with dispatch“, Koch comments. And they „no doubt accurately reflected the state of public opinion – or at least the state of opinion of the social class from which these King’s Counsels were drawn.“ Koch continues: „By virtue of the fact that the tribunals had large discretionary powers, some allowed, for example, their anti-Bolshevik bias to prevail, by declaring suspect all veterans of the International Brigade which had fought the fascists in Spain.“ This also happened to people who had been imprisoned in concentration camps because of their resistance to Hitler. Koch names a number of specific questionable decisions. These include a married couple who were categorised as communists and interned because they described themselves as supporters of the Weimar Republic.

According to reports an personal files, the tribunals made very different judgments. Some generally issued classifications in “C”, others only in “B”. In some places, women who had found jobs in private households were branded as suspicious in category “B”. After four years in concentration camps, the communist and former member of the Reichstag Karl Olbrysch was put on an equal footing with the Nazis in category “A”. For him and a number of Jews and anti-Nazis, this meant deportation[13] Peter and Leni Gilllman “‘Collar the Lot!‘ How Britain Interned And Expelled its Wartime Refugees“, London 1980, page 45. on the Arandora Star and for 146 of the Germans and Austrians and 453 Italians death as a victim of the German submarine U-47.

The true 5th column of the Nazi Reich

The term “5th column” entered the British debate as early as 1939. It was the title of a recently published novel by Ernest Hemingway about the civil war in Spain. The British historians Peter and Leni Gillman found the first “media” mention in the “Sunday Dispatch” newspaper of 4 February 1940, in which a left-wing party and a pacifist organisation were slandered with the propaganda lie[14] Ibid page 74ff. that 2,000 subversives were waiting in their ranks for instructions from Moscow.

The fact that this paper and the “Daily Mail” were not so much fighting the Nazis, but trade unionists, communists, pacifists etc. (after the start of the war, also the British fascists as an alibi) as enemies of the country. Both newspapers were owned by Lord Rothermere. In the 1930s, he had declared “his open support for Hitler, Mussolini and the British fascists”, led a campaign against international Jewry (“Israelites of international attachments”) and defended the Nazi invasion of Austria[15] Quoted after. Gillman, page 79..

Now he distracted the British public from the Nazi 5th column [16] Quoted after Gillman ibid, page 79/80. in the country by having his press more or less directly insult Nazi victims and anti-fascists under that label. For example, in the Sunday Dispatch on April 7, 1940, the financial support for refugees[17] Ibid, page 74ff. from Czechoslovakia was acknowledged with the headline: “The Great Foreigner Scandal – Our Money for Communist Propaganda”. This is how nsettled and manipulated the mood in Great Britain. The writer H. G. Wells commented that “the pro-Nazis In the British Press and Government had focused on the refugees so that the real fifth column[18] Quoted from „The Internment pof Aliens – Churchill’s „Mistake“? by Dunera Boy Peter Tikotin in Dunera News 22 (1991) page 22, retrieved Dec 15, 2023., made up of native Britons, could continue their treacherous work”.

But there were also serious voices of dissent. On April 23, 1940, The Times reminded readers that most “aliens” had sought refuge from Nazi persecution in Britain. Around the same time, the Daily Express compared the xenophobic campaign “to the witch-hunts of 17th century New England” and called for “all liberal-minded people, all who value freedom and peace, should stand against any revival of witch-hunts against any revival of witch-hunts[19] Quoted after Gillman ibid, page 79., whatever form it takes.”

The Gillmans linked the entry of politics into the Rothermere campaign with the Conservative Member of the House of Commons Eugene Ramsden. At a party meeting on April 19, 1940, he spoke of a “5th column” of people “who support the Nazis, or who would do so if they had the opportunity”. A few days later, a group of Conservatives raised the issue in the House of Commons. At the same time, Home Secretary John Anderson[20] Quoted after Gillman ibid, page 80. (1882 – 1958) got involved. On March 26, 1940, he anticipated the excuse for the government’s later actions in a private letter: “In wartime, people are easily aroused and a spy scare can be triggered at any time as a ‘stunt’.”

Nazi victims – a “malignancy in our midst”?

“But in May 1940 it (the internment issue, pd) disappears almost completely from public view. This is the time when arguments and motives were at their most disreputable and the maneuvering at the heart of the government was most sinister. (…) The demise of the Arandora Star lifted that secrecy and broke that power”, the Gillmans comment[21] Quoted from Gillman ibid, page 5..

The propaganda calm was short-lived. The Daily Mail[22] Quoted from Eric Koch, loc.cit. page 12/13. of 24 May 1940 shows how the right-wing press created a mood: “The rounding up of enemy aliens must be taken out of the fumbling hands of local tribunals. All refugees from Austria and Germany … women and men alike, should be drafted without delay to a remote part of the country and kept under strict supervision”. The author crowns his rather undisguised call for Nazi German-style concentration camps for foreigners with an alleged quote from a diplomat: “In Britain you fail to realize that every German is an agent.”

Winston Churchill[23] Wikipedia about  Winston Churchill (German), retrieved Aug25, 2023. (1874 – 1965) had forced Neville Chamberlain out of office as Prime Minister on May 10, 1940, the day the Wehrmacht attacked Belgium and the Netherlands.

Chamberlain had signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler in September 1938, thereby betraying the territorial integrity of Czechoslovakia and opening the door to the “Anschluss” of Austria by the Nazi Reich. As Lord President of the Council, the politician who was voted out of office, remained member of the War Cabinet and was involved in the internments.

Churchill, who could by no means be accused of political inexperience, implemented the “trick”, adopted the sweeping tirades of hatred and spread the insulting lie that all Germans – including refugees and those persecuted by the Nazis – were Nazis in disguise. On June 2, 1940, he stirred up the mood in the House of Commons:

“I feel not the slightest sympathy. Parliament has given us the powers to put down Fifth Column activities with a strong hand, and we shall use those powers, subject to the supervision and correction of the House, without the slightest hesitation until we are satisfied, and more than satisfied, that this malignancy in our midst has been effectively stamped out.

Winston Churchill on 4 June 1940[24] Churchill's speech quoted from June 4, 1940. Quoted from Richard M. Langworth „Churchill, Refugees, and Aliens“, retrieved Aug 25, 2023..

In November 1940, Governor General[25] Wikipedia about the Australian Governor General, retrieved Nov 28, 2024. Lord Gowrie informed King George VI[26] Cf. "Dunera Boys", National Museum Australia online, retrieved Mov 28, 2024. with restrain criticism: “We have received a large number of internees … dispatched in a great hurry … Some real injustices have been committed.” This initially remained without consequences in the British constitutional monarchy.

A symbol of slavery

The Prime Minister followed this with the much-quoted statement “collar the lot[27] England abolished slavery in 1833, the USA in 1865. Slavery was banned in Prussia 1857. The forced labor of prisoners and foreigners introduced by the Nazis can also be viewed as slavery in a broader sense. Cf. Wikipedia about Slavery (German), retrieved Aug 10, 2023.” or “collar them all”.  The term “collar” was used symbolically for the collar or choker made of iron, which was used to publicly mark slaves, witches or criminals[28] According Langworth loc.cit. neither one nor the other quote ist actually guaranteed verbatim. up until the 19th century.

The direct consequence of this political roundup was the arrest or internment of all Germans, Austrians and Czechs, regardless of the outcome of the tribunals and even of ethnic Germans of second or third generation living in the UK.

Mass internment

By “interning both men and women, irrespective of age and nationality, who are or may be of service to the enemy”, the aim was to “suppress the activities of the fifth column in this country”, Churchill’s minister Thomas Inskip[29] House of Lords, minutes from June 12, 1940, retrieved Aug 18, 2023., 1st Viscount Caldecote, in the House of Lords on June 12, 1940 increased the sweeping defamation with the outrageous insinuation that refugees “could be of service to the enemy”, even if (or precisely because?) nothing could be proven against them.

In the same breath, Inskip indirectly questioned the loyalty of anti-fascists who had fled the Reich and fought the Nazi state from Britain – for example as spokespersons for the German BBC service. The minister also demanded government control of the state-independent broadcaster[30] Ibid.. Both the imprisonment of “potential” enemies pushed for by Inskip and his demand for state control of broadcasting were known to have a role model in Europe at the time.

By lumping a large number of Nazi victims and a few Nazis together, Churchill and his allies reduced the assessments of the 120 “tribunals” to absurdity. The number of interned “enemy aliens” rose to around 27,000. Among the 16 to 60-year-old internees were quite a few who had escaped the Nazis with the support of aid organizations or on the Kindertransports and felt protected from persecution in Great Britain. Now they were “put in iron” there.

Critical voices, including those from the government, were ignored. Osbert Peake[31] Peake in the House of Commons May 29, 1940, retrieved Sep 2., 2023., Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office, had already described the problem in the House of Commons on May 29, 1940 – basically against his boss Anderson: “There is no known case of refugees carrying out hostile activities.” He contrasts this with “German agents posing as refugees.”

After the fascist Mussolini regime declared war on June 10, 1940 , Italians were also interned or imprisoned as prisoners of war. “We had a certain Martinez, who was head of the Pirelli cable and tire factory and who knew more about weapons than most – there were many who were rounded up without any questioning”, recalls the young soldier Merlin Scott . The Italians were forbidden to inform their relatives, so they only found out about the deportations months later.

From June 24, 1940, up to 27,200 people[32] Cf. Gillman loc.cit, page 175, mentions some names. were interned in temporary camps spread across the country. The BBC reported on the accommodation of the Germans and Italians imprisoned in Huyton near Liverpool, for example: “The conditions in this camp appear to have been very poor. The inmates lived in tents and had to make their own beds out of straw[33] Cf. BBC Liverpool from Sep 24, 2014, retrtieved Aug 20, 2023..” Another known camp was located in Seaton near Exeter on the eastern Channel coast. In several places on the Isle of Man[34] Wikipedia about internment in the UK (German), retrieved Aug 25, 2023., entire streets were cleared to serve as camps. Only straw sacks were available for the Jewish internees. The “view of the sea” was defaced with barbed wire. POW diplomats, on the other hand, were housed in the Dunluce House villa near Ramsey, which had its own beach, like a hotel. Women and children were accommodated in the south of the island.

Kitchener Camp was abandoned[35] Cf. Ungerson loc.cit. in May/June 1940 because it was claimed by the military due to its location near the Channel coast. The internees there were distributed to other camps, mainly on the Isle of Man.

Everything must go? Mass deportations with five ships

The British government was in a great hurry to get rid of the unwanted “enemy aliens”, even though most of them were friends of Britain. From June 1940, negotiations were held with Canada and Australia on the admission of thousands of civilian internees and prisoners of war. South Africa refused. On June 24, 1940, the first of five transports left for overseas. The British High Commissioner in Australia, Sir Geoffrey Whiskard[36] Sir Geoffrey Whiskard to Azstralian Menzie government, June 15, 1940. Quoted from Juden in Themar, retrievend Aug 30, 2023., informed the Australian government on June 15, 1940 that the total number of male German internees amounted to over 12,000, of whom 2,500 were openly sympathetic to or associated with the Nazis. They represented a source of danger in the event of parachute jumps or an invasion. In addition, there were already around 3,000 German prisoners of war, including those who had been captured on ships under German flag.

On July 1, the Australian government asked back what kind of people they could expect. “Provided we receive details of the first 4,000 people as soon as possible, we will be in a position to make the necessary preparations to receive them in about six weeks’ time.” Australia’s Prime Minister Robert Menzies declared the next day that he would accept a maximum of 6,000 people.

The British government could not move fast enough. Chamberlain had immediately informed the War Cabinet on July 3, 1940 of the plan to send a ship to Australia on July 7. It was the military transporter HMT Dunera (authorized for 1,500 soldiers). “Chamberlain informed the Cabinet that it would carry 3,000 internees to Australia[37] Gillman loc.cit., page 210.“.

On July 9, 1940[38] Ibid., Whiskard stepped up the pace and announced to the Australian government that “2,700 men will be sent to leave Britain on July 10”. “A further 2,600 men, women and children (to follow) on July 16. An additional ship will leave Britain on July 16, which will be able to take 1,700 people. Is the Commonwealth Government prepared to take 500 of these people? The Government of New Zealand will be asked to take more.”

Many of the later Dunera Boys were lied to every bit about the destination of the journey and their prospects by commanding officers of the British internment camps. „We were told that if we went on the ship we would be release das soon as we arrived“, remembers Dunera Boy Henry Teltscher[39] Ibid page 211.. This is how „voluntary registrations fort he deportations were tricked.

The wives interned on the Isle of Man were promised by the camp commander Dame Joanna Cruickshank (1875 – 1958) that they could soon follow their husbands to Australia with their children. Against this background, a group of husbands interned elsewhere on the Isle of Man sent a telegram to the Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, declaring their willingness to share the dangers of a crossing[40] Ibid pages 211/212. with their families.

Despite the fact that negotiations with Australia had not yet been concluded, the first transport there was well ahead of schedule. The Dunera was ready in Liverpool for the departure originally scheduled for July 7 (see above). The postponement was the result of Chamberlain’s wish to accommodate the wishes of Home Secretary Anderson[41] Ibid., it is said.

The internees intended for the Dunera had long since been selected and were on their way there or were waiting in the Huyton camp near Liverpool as a stopover for things unknown to them. So on July 10, 1940, the Dunera set sail on her scandalous voyage. The other transports planned by Whiskard did not take place.

Dramatizing figures

The authorities and media in both host countries had been informed that they were mainly dealing with prisoners of war or internees of categories “A” or “B”, i.e. not Nazi opponents. Around 11,000 men[42] Michael Hallerberg, „Darstellung und Wahrnehmung von deutschen Kriegsgefangenen in Kanada, 1940-46“, Dissertation, Osnabrück 2019, page  42f. were deported on five ships between June 24 and July 10, 1940. Of these, only up to 2,500 were in category “A”, i.e. men officially listed as Nazis or their party supporters.

Among the 6,753 internees of the SS Duchess of York, the SS Ettrick and the Arandora Star, there were “2,108 Germans and Austrians interned as civilians in category ‘A’, 2,290 Germans and Austrians interned as civilians in categories ‘B’ and ‘C'”, according to a memorandum from the British to the Canadian government dated July 28, 1940. It remains unknown why information on the SS Sobieski is missing. However, Hallerberg refers to the Chamberlain memorandum[43] Ibid. mentioned above.

However, this official document also shows how the nature of the mass deportations was concealed. The above information on the number of Category “A” deportees is three and a half times the 569 people officially categorised by the tribunals. The difference arose because all German merchant navy seamen arrested since the beginning of the war were automatically categorised as Nazis[44] Gillman loc.cit., page 169 under “A” without being checked. In this way, a large number of enemies were rounded up in order to dramatise the urgency and scope of the deportation of “enemy” persons in Canada.

Persecuted and persecutors in one pot

By July 15, 1940, around 1,700 members of the German merchant navy (category “A”), 2,700 internees (categories “B”, “C”), 400 Italians and 1,950 prisoners of war – a total of 6,750 men – had been deported to Canada. If the Arandora Star had reached its destination unscathed, there would have been 2,200 sailors, 1,700 internees, 1,100 Italians and 1,400 prisoners of war – a total of 6,400[45] Gillman loc.cit., page 205f., the Gillmans calculated. However, they also found that Chamberlain’s statements in the War Cabinet on July 3, 1940 were incorrect. Among other things, he had stated that only “B” internees had been on board the Ettrick. In fact, a number of “C” internees – i.e. Nazi opponents or friendly foreigners[46] Gillman loc.cit., page 206. proven by the British themselves – were taken overseas on this ship. This is underlined by the research of Gutmann-Polangen, who, according to his own knowledge, documented 130 biographical notes of those persecuted by the Nazis among the “passengers” of the Arandora Star.

Many of them felt threatened by their close proximity to the Nazis on the deportation ships. This was confirmed from the other side by Luftwaffe Colonel Georg Friemel[47] Michael Hallerberg cit.loc., page 61, who complained in Canada “that the honor of the German soldiers had been systematically insulted by being housed together with Jews, traitors to the fatherland (Nazi opponents, e.g. Communists or Social Democrats, pd)” . The British authorities showed the Nazi opponents no respect whatsoever and had no intention of not protecting them from attacks by Nazis.

Overall, these mass deportations violated international agreements in many respects – above all the Geneva Convention. Mass detentions and deportations based just on a blanket suspicion against a group of people and without judicial review of the individual cases are unlikely to stand up to scrutiny in terms of the rule of law.

Island instead of Australia?

But that was not all when it came to dealing with those persecuted by the Nazis. On 21 June 1940, the British War Cabinet discussed Churchill’s proposal to form a foreign legion of internees[48] War Cabinet, minute from June 21, 1940 page 544. National Archives, retrieved Aug 25, 2023.. However, he was not interested in a “partnership of equals”, as one would say today. On the contrary, the prime minister’s arguments read as a devaluation of the refugees and more like a version of deportation. The government minutes record the prime minister’s proposal as such: Many enemy aliens hat a great hatred ogf the Nazi régime, and it was unjust to treat our friends as foes Equipment might not be available for such a force immediately, but it could be found in due course. It would be as wellt o have these men under discipline in the meantime. Their services might be used in, for example, Iceland.”

In connection with the departure of the first internment transport three days later, the impression remains that, from the British government’s point of view, it was “unjust to treat our friends as enemies”. Rather, the impression remains that Nazi opponents and victims from Germany were not treated as friends by Churchill’s government, but as disliked persons. They wanted to get rid of them quickly, whether as internees or legionnaires and no matter where. On 3 July 1940, the day after the sinking of the Arandora Star, the War Cabinet discussed the “progress of the removal of internees and prisoners overseas”. The minutes[49] War Cabinet, minute from July 3, 1940, National Archives CAB-65-8-4, page 6. state, among other things: “With reference to the sinking of the Arandora Star, the War Cabinet recalled that the Ettrick was leaving for Quebec that day with 858 B Class Germans, 1,348 German prisoners of war and 405 young Italian singles on board. The ship is not escorted.”

The following information is interesting regarding the background to the British deportation policy and the cooperation between Canada and Australia: On 16 July 1940, the Australian Minister of the Army, G. A. Street, presented the following bill to his cabinet: Eight camps for 6,297 internees “including men, women and children” would be built in Australia at Britain’s request. The costs were estimated at 330,000 pounds. “This amount will be reimbursed by Great Britain[50] War Cabinet Australia, Papier des Armeeministers from July 16, 1940. Quoted from Bartrop/Eisen „The Dunera Affair“, Melbourne 1990, pages 34/35..” This also applied to one of the camps, in which a group of 270 people from Singapore were accommodated at the beginning of September 1940. They had also been promised a life of freedom in Australia. The 150,000 pounds for a reserve camp and two camps to accommodate “own” internees “will be paid into Commonwealth funds”. Great Britain also financed the operation of the camps and the costs

Between “utmost dedication” and “broodily watching”

Remarkable ist the – in contrast to other sources – very radical and critical assessment of the activities of the government ad the people responsible there by Leni und Peter Gillman. An excerpt:

“There ist he Joint Intelligence Committee, which at the crucial period committed every mistake to which intelligence-gathering bodies are prone. There is MI5, head by a field-sports enthusiast, which used ist unaccountablility to behave with ruthless inefficency. There ist he Home Defence (Security) Executive, with untrammeled power over life in Britain, headed by a Tory political boss whose deputy had been immersed in political intrigue for twenty years.”
“The Home Secretary, Sir John Anderson, has been vilified as one of the instigators of mass internment; the reality is diofferent. The Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, flits briefly and ineffectively past. Neville Chamberlain demonstrated his unswerving loyalty tot he man who just deposed him by enacting deportation with the utmost dedication. Finally there is Churchill himself, watching internment broodily, intervening to maintain his impetus, and uttering the words which led to the tragedy of the Arandora Star.”

Leni and Peter Gillman.[51] Gillman loc.cit., page 6.

The end of internments

The sinking of the Arandora Star and the Dunera scandal triggered a wave of criticism and protest among the British public and in the House of Commons. Churchill declared his internment policy a “regrettable and deplorable mistake[52] Wikipedia about HMT Dunera, retrieved Aug 31, 2023.“, although those affected did not have much of it. This meant that the issue was as good as settled for the government. No further ships carrying prisoners of war and foreigners – enemy or not – were sent overseas.

In 1941, court-martial proceedings followed against three members of the guards because of the events on the Dunera. The court refused to take note of statements made by the internees. The verdicts were relatively minor. The government provided £ 35,000 in compensation for up to a maximum of 2,500 Dunera internees who were robbed.

From 1941, a British officer was sent to organize the closure of the Australian camps. He ensured that more than 1,100 men were able to return to Britain. This was not self-serving, because they had to volunteer for the British pioneer troops or do other work useful for war efforts. The other internees were asked to “voluntarily” serve in an Australian army work unit in 1942 in order to achieve naturalization or acquire permanent residency. Many prisoners of war remained in Australian custody until 1947 and were then repatriated.

In Great Britain itself, around 8,000 of the 19,000 imprisoned foreigners were released by the end of 1940. According to government figures, 1,273 men joined the British Pioneer Corps – not counting those returning from Australia. By 1942, 5,000 people were still behind British barbed wire[53] Blog of The National Archives (UK) loc.cit., mostly on the Isle of Man. These figures blur the figures for civilian internees and prisoners of war.

Please Note: The information resulting from the book by Eric Koch was added in May 2024.

Footnotes