Prison Camps in WW2 Britain
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2022
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From the summer of 1940, approximately 30,000 so-called ‘enemy aliens’ were indefinitely sent to internment camps across Britain.
Gripped by spy fever and the panic over the fall of France, the British government adopted an aggressive internment policy targeting a broad cross-section of Austrian and German passport holders who were then living in the UK. Many of these people were refugees who had fled the Nazi regime, only to find themselves once again a target of persecution.
In this episode, we speak to Simon Parkin, author of Island of Extraordinary Captives, about the experience of the prisoners, the remarkable cultural and educational exchange within the camps as well as the campaign efforts that eventually led to their release.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I have a welcome dance and I see history. Today I'm going to find out more about a piece of history |
| 0:04.4 | that I've never done much about and I've first heard about it on this podcast where I get |
| 0:08.8 | most of my education need days. A podcast of the years ago was David Badeel, well known |
| 0:13.1 | British broadcast and comedian writer. He taught me about how from the summer of 1940, |
| 0:18.4 | so like 30,000 foreign nationals at the time that his enemy aliens were indefinitely sent |
| 0:24.0 | to internment camps across Britain. It was a fear that they might be fifth columnists |
| 0:29.4 | in the event of a German invasion. That's why I was thrilled there when I got sent |
| 0:33.5 | a book by Simon Parking, brilliant author. It's called Island of Extraordinary Captures |
| 0:38.9 | about the experience of these prisoners, but also the remarkable cultural educational |
| 0:44.4 | exchange within these camps as well as the efforts that eventually got them all released. |
| 0:49.0 | The British government so gripped by spy fever and panic about the fall of France and |
| 0:54.3 | potentially Britain being the next domino that anyone with an Austrian or German passport |
| 0:59.1 | who was then the UK was sent to the Isle of Man. If you're not familiar with the geography |
| 1:05.1 | of this North Atlantic archipelago, the Isles, the Isle of Man sits right to the heart of |
| 1:11.6 | it. It wants a Viking stronghold. It sits in the Irish Sea between Cumbery, Lancashire |
| 1:17.7 | and Ireland. It is technically not part of the UK. I think I'm right in saying I think |
| 1:23.2 | the Queen is not the Queen there. She is the Lord of Man, which I love. Anyway, so they |
| 1:31.2 | were sent to the Isle of Man, which is a pretty bleak place. And, bearing my most of these |
| 1:37.1 | people with German and Austrian passports in the UK were here because they were refugees. |
| 1:42.0 | They'd fled the Nazi regime. That was intent on imprisoning and would later want to kill |
| 1:47.6 | them. Many of them were Jews. So it was great chat to Simon Parking asking all about the |
| 1:52.7 | internment camps in Britain during World War II, in particular, of course, the Islander |
... |
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