This is an unusual book, telling a story which has hitherto remained hidden from history: the surveillance by the British security service MI5 of anti-Nazi refugees who came to Britain fleeing political persecution in Germany and Austria. Based on the personal and organisational files that MI5 kept on political refugees during the 1930s and 1940s which have only recently been released into the public domain this study also fills a considerable gap in historical research. Telling a story of absorbing interest, which at times reads more like spy fiction, it is both a study of MI5 and of the political refugees themselves. The book will interest academics in the fields of history, politics, intelligence studies, Jewish studies, German studies and migration studies; but it is also accessible to the general reader interested in Britain before, during and after the Second World War.

A matter of intelligence: MI5 and the surveillance of anti–Nazi refugees, 1933–50

History

Brinson, Charmian

Dove, Richard

Europe

Manchester University Press

This is an unusual book, telling a story which has hitherto remained hidden from history: the surveillance by the British security service MI5 of anti-Nazi refugees who came to Britain fleeing political persecution in Germany and Austria. Based on the personal and organisational files that MI5 kept on political refugees during the 1930s and 1940s – which have only recently been released into the public domain – this study also fills a considerable gap in historical research. Telling a story of absorbing interest, which at times reads more like spy fiction, it is both a study of MI5 and of the political refugees themselves. The book will interest academics in the fields of history, politics, intelligence studies, Jewish studies, German studies and migration studies; but it is also accessible to the general reader interested in Britain before, during and after the Second World War.

A rare insight into how refugees from Nazi Germany kept their communities alive throughout the world through postcards and letters The Jewish flight from Nazi Germany was one of the largest diasporas the world has ever seen. Imagine leaving everything you love behind you and being separated from your family and friends without knowing when or if you will ever see them again. The only lifeline these refugees had was short postcards and letters to let each other know they were still alive. Many of these were sent from internment camps which were established worldwide to deal with the overwhelming number of asylum seekers. Fleeing the Führer is a unique collection of correspondence that shows the incredible nature of this worldwide emigration and the indomitable spirit of these Jewish refugees. Each postcard is reproduced in full color, making this a fascinating resource for the general reader, as well as those interested in Jewish history or postal history.

Fleeing from the Führer: A Postal History of Refugees from Nazism

Biographies & Memoirs

Kaczynski, William

Leaders & Notable People

The History Press

An extraordinary history told through postcards and letters provides rare insight into how refugees kept their culture and communities alive throughout the world Written by a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, this unique history and collection of correspondence shows the incredible nature of this worldwide emigration and the indomitable spirit of these Jewish refugees. The Jewish flight from Nazi Germany was one of the largest diasporas the world has ever seen, sparking an international refugee crisis that changed society and continues to shape cultures and communities today. The only lifeline these refugees had was short postcards and letters to let each other know they were still alive. Much of this mail was sent from internment camps which were established worldwide to deal with the overwhelming number of asylum seekers. Each postcard is reproduced in full color, making this a fascinating resource for the general reader, as well as those interested in Jewish history or postal history.

Fleeing from the Führer: A Postal History of Refugees from the Nazis

Kaczinski, William

Military

Politics by Other Means traces the development and historical significance of the Free German League of Culture, the foremost organization representing anti-Nazi German refugees in Britain during the years of the Second World War. During its lifetime (1939-46), the League held a regular program of cultural events ranging from concerts and theatre performances to publications and art exhibitions, as well as a 'university in exile.' Because of the restrictions on refugees imposed by the British authorities, this cultural program served very much as a surrogate for direct political activity: the continuation of politics by other means. The study concludes by tracing the fate of those who returned to a now-divided Germany and the post-war integration of those who remained into British arts and society. The book is based largely on primary sources, using documentary material held in Frankfurt and Berlin which historians have hitherto neglected, thus most of the content and findings are new. Though based on scholarly research, the book is written in a readable and accessible style.

Politics by Other Means: The Free German League of Culture in London, 1939-1945

Müller-Härlin, Anna

World

Vallentine, Mitchell

His Majesty's Loyal Internee: Fred Uhlman in Captivity

In May and June 1940, when the war seemed to be going badly for Britain, thousands of German and Austrian refugees from Nazi oppression were rounded up and put into internment camps on the Isle of Man and elsewhere. Fred Uhlman, a Jewish refugee from Stuttgart, a lawyer and an artist, was one of them. Uhlman, who was deeply affected by the experience, set out to record it in word and image. This volume reproduces his original internment diary from 1940 alongside another version of the same text from 1979, compiled retrospectively. These texts are complemented by sixteen haunting drawings and linocuts that Uhlman produced during internment. The volume also contains the letters, highly moving personal documents, exchanged to and from the internment camp between Uhlman and his wife Diana; correspondence between Uhlman and his disapproving aristocratic father-in-law Lord Croft; and documents from the daily life of Hutchinson Camp, Douglas, Isle of Man, where Uhlman was held for seven months. Chapters on Uhlman's biography and on his artistic and literary output set his writings and drawings within the wider context of his life and work. In addition, a chapter outlining the internment crisis of 1940 also sets out to recreate the extraordinary cultural and intellectual life that the internees managed to make for themselves in Hutchinson Camp, in particular the activities of the sizeable group of artists, such as Kurt Schwitters, who happened to find themselves there.

Arts & Photography

Winckler, Julia

History & Criticism

The Austrian Centre was established in London in 1939 by Austrians seeking refuge from Nazi Germany, of whom 30,000 had reached Britain by the outbreak of World War II. It soon developed into a comprehensive social, cultural and political organisation with a theatre and a weekly newspaper of its own. A Communist-influenced organisation, it also followed a distinct political agenda. In the first book on the cultural and political life of Austrian refugees in Britain, "Out of Austria" assesses and evaluates the Austrian Centre's activities and achievements, while also examining the Austrians' often fraught relations with their British hosts. It gives a fascinating insight into such figures as Sigmund Freud, who became the Centre's Honorary President during his final months and the poet Erich Fried, then an unknown seventeen-year-old, k and sheds light on the interaction of politics and culture against the background of exile in wartime Britain.

Out of Austria: The Austrian Centre in London in World War II

TAYLOR, JENNIFER

Grenville, Anthony

Bearman, Marietta

Bloomsbury Academic

Innocence and Experience: Childhood and the Refugees from Nazism in Britain (Exile Studies)

Literature & Fiction

Peter Lang

The Czech Refugee Trust Fund in Britain 1938–1975: Lifeline to Freedom

Buresova, Jana Barbora

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