Activity 14: Seeking Asylum – A case study

Version 1

What follows is a case study of Mr Hans Jackson.  He came to England in 1939 seeking asylum from persecution in Nazi Germany.  

• Read through his story then discuss the points that follow.

 Why Hans came to Britain

In 1939, Hans Jackson came to England from Germany on a temporary visa.  He had originally wanted to emigrate from Germany to Australia but his visa application was lost by the authorities.  So he came to England on 8 March to work at the “Kitchener Camp 

The “Kitchener” Camp was to receive 4,000 Jewish refugees at high risk from Nazi persecution and was sponsored by the Organisation of the Jewish Communities of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.  Hans Jackson was part of a small group of skilled workers brought over to make the camp fit for occupation.

When he arrived in England, Hans was 18 years old.  He was Jewish and, like many other young German Jews, he had been trying for some time to leave the country of his birth where Hitler and his Nazi government had been enacting antisemitic measures since they came to power in 1933.  He had been learning a new trade at a retraining school run by the Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden (the Federal Representation of German Jews) because other countries were far more willing to accept Jewish refugees if they had a useful trade.

 ‘Enemy Aliens’

When the war started in 1939 there were 78,000 refugees in Britain who were termed ‘enemy aliens’ in the UK. 

‘Enemy aliens’ was the term used to describe all peoples living in the UK who were from Germany, Austria or Italy.  Even Jewish people who had emigrated from Germany to escape Hitler’s antisemitism were regarded as ‘enemy aliens’. 

The British government reviewed the security risk posed by all these people and classified them into three categories: 

A :to be interned [imprisoned without trial]

B :exempt from internment [imprisonment without trial] but subject to restrictions

C :exempt from internment and restrictions. 

In 1939 Jewish ‘enemy aliens’ were defined as category C.  By January 1940 only 528 ‘enemy aliens’ were interned.

Internment for all ‘enemy aliens’
But the situation changed in May 1940 after the Allied soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk. 

The British government now knew that the next target for the Germans was the UK and a snap decision was taken to inter [imprison without trial] all ‘enemy aliens’. 

Many were interned in hastily erected camps on racecourses, such as Lingfield, and on the Isle of Man.  Hans was sent to the Ramsay Camp on the Isle of Man. 

Deporting ‘enemy aliens’
As fear of invasion gripped the nation, a decision was taken to go one step further and send about 8,000 of the ‘enemy aliens’ to Australia and Canada where they could not possibly pose any kind of threat to national security.

It was not only those ‘enemy aliens’ in category A who were sent overseas. 

Hans, like many others, was given the option of going to Australia and jumped at the chance as this is where he had originally intended to emigrate to anyway.  The vast majority of internees who were shipped overseas in 1940 volunteered to go as a result of being promised a better life, greater freedom and that their wives and children would be able to join them there.

Making the Voyage
On 10 July 1940 Hans and nearly 2,600 other internees, arrived at Liverpool to board a ship called the Dunera, for the long voyage to Australia. 

On boarding the Dunera, they were searched and made to give up any valuables. 

A report was written by the internees of the voyage for the UK’s High Commissioner in Australia.   This official report called the Dunera Memorandum described the search of the first group of internees who boarded the ship:

“Everything carried in hand or loose in the pockets was taken off the internees.  All less valuable effects like gloves, toilet utensils, eatables, pipes etc, were thrown disorderly on the ground.  Valuables were stuffed into sacks or disappeared openly into the pockets of the soldiers.  Soon rows of empty wallets were lying on the floor, the contents of emptied attaché cases were roughly thrown about, and the officially provided kitbags could be seen all over the place.  Valuable documents, identity and emigration papers, testimonials of all kinds, were taken away, thrown on the ground or even … torn up before the eyes of their very owners.  No receipts were given, except by one single searching party.  Appeals to the officers standing by were fruitless.  Attempts of protest were roughly suppressed….Of all the articles taken away on the landing stage, only a very few were ever seen again.”

Persecution on the Voyage
Indiscriminate searches continued throughout the voyage.

Sometimes while the men were “exercising” on the upper decks, soldiers went below to search for any valuables they could find.  Sergeants, accompanied by privates with fixed bayonets, searched individuals at night.  Even religious items, including Jewish “vestments”, prayer books and bibles were seized, some of which had been saved from burning synagogues in Nazi Germany.  Trunks and suitcases were forced open and slashed with bayonets, their contents ransacked.  Soldiers were regularly openly witnessed removing belongings from them, the vast majority of which were never seen again.  For those who had been previously imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps, the 80lbs of baggage they were allowed to take on board ship represented nearly all their worldly goods.

The internees felt as if they were treated as prisoners by the country that they had gone to in order to seek refuge.  Conditions on board the ship were terrible.  In fact, Hans and the other ‘enemy aliens’ were locked in the lower decks and fenced off from the guards by barbed wire.  They were incredibly congested – the Dunera Memorandum states that the decks were overcrowded by at least 50%.  At night, some of the men had to sleep on mess tables or on the floor.  During the day, “every inch of floor space was constantly packed”.  If the ship had got into trouble, there would have been no way for them to escape and there were no life belts on board or emergency procedures.

The misery caused by the overcrowding was compounded by the lack of sanitation on board.  The hatches were kept battened down for weeks and there was no daylight or natural air on the decks.  The only portholes that were ever opened were those in the latrines, washroom and kitchen and even these were closed at 4pm every day.  Large groups of men could be found huddled around the open portholes in order to breathe what little fresh air was available.  There were only about twenty-five latrines for internees; some of which were impossible to use, as they were so filthy.  The floor was nearly always flooded with sewage.  The Dunera Memorandum stated that, “The air in the internees quarters defies description”.  It is not surprising, therefore, that as a result of these conditions many men suffered violent diarrhoea or chronic indigestion induced by sea sickness.

The military on board ship treated the internees as if they were prisoners of war.  They swore at them and being kicked or hit with a rifle butts was “a daily occurrence”.  One day, two internees were discovered out of bounds and were tied to a post by a drunken lieutenant who insulted them by calling them, “German Jewish swine” and “sons of German Jewish dogs”.  One was beaten until he bled. 

Arriving in Australia
Upon arrival in Sydney, Australia on 8 September the internees were taken on a two day journey to a camp in Hay.  Conditions in the camp were desolate but made bearable by the help and kindness of the Jewish communities in Australia. 

The government’s policy of sending internees to Canada and Australia did not last long.  On 2 July 1940, a few days before the Dunera set sail, the Arandora Star, one of the deportation ships, was torpedoed in the Irish Sea, with the loss of 700 lives.  The public backlash to this incident forced the government to reverse its policy.  But by this time, the internees on board the Dunera were on their way to Australia.

Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, the officer in charge on the Dunera, was subsequently court-martialled and sentenced to be “severely reprimanded”, effectively ending his military career.  His court-martial came about as a result of complaints by one or more of his own officers.  They objected to Scott’s antisemitism since he had said that if the internees had been searching British soldiers, “we would be lucky if we had our belly buttons left on”.

Coming back to England
In October 1941, Hans was one of approximately 1,000 of those who had been sent to Australia who decided to return to England.  In England he joined the Pioneer Corps and spent the rest of the war fighting to defeat and destroy Nazi Germany, “the murderers of my parents and so many of my family.”

• Read through his story then discuss the points that follow.

 Why Hans came to Britain
On 8^th March 1939, Hans Jackson came to England from Germany aged 18 to work at the “Kitchener Camp.  He was at high risk from Nazi persecution and was part of a small group of skilled workers brought over to make the camp fit for occupation.

Hans was Jewish and he had been trying for some time to leave the country of his birth where Hitler and his Nazi government had introduced antisemitic measures since they came to power in 1933.

 ‘Enemy Aliens’
When the war started in 1939 there were 78,000 refugees in the UK.  Jewish people who had emigrated from Germany to escape Hitler’s antisemitism were regarded as ‘enemy aliens’. 

The British government classified all people who arrived from Germany, Austria or Italy into three categories:
 

A :to be interned [imprisoned without trial]

B :exempt from internment [imprisonment without trial] but subject to restrictions

C :exempt from internment and restrictions.   

In 1939 Jewish ‘enemy aliens’ were defined as category C.  By January 1940 only 528 ‘enemy aliens’ were interned.

Internment for all ‘enemy aliens’
The situation changed in May 1940 after the Allied soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk. 

The British government now knew that the next target for the Germans was the UK and a snap decision was taken to inter [imprison without trial] all ‘enemy aliens’.  Hans was sent to the Ramsay Camp on the Isle of Man. 

Deporting ‘enemy aliens’
As fear of invasion gripped the nation, a decision was taken to go one step further and send about 8,000 of the ‘enemy aliens’ to Australia and Canada where they could not possibly pose any kind of threat to national security.

Hans was given the option of going to Australia and jumped at the chance.  The vast majority of internees who were shipped overseas in 1940 volunteered to go because they were promised a better life there.

Making the Voyage
On 10 July 1940 Hans and nearly 2,600 other internees, arrived at Liverpool to board a ship called the Dunera, for the long voyage to Australia.  On boarding the Dunera, they were searched and made to give up any valuables. 

Persecution on the Voyage
Indiscriminate searches continued throughout the voyage.  Sometimes while the men were “exercising” on the upper decks, soldiers went below to search for any valuables they could find.  Sergeants, accompanied by privates with fixed bayonets, searched individuals at night.  Even religious items, including Jewish “vestments”, prayer books and bibles were seized, some of which had been saved from burning synagogues in Nazi Germany.

The internees were treated as prisoners.  Conditions on board the ship were terrible. Hans and the other ‘enemy aliens’ were locked in the lower decks and fenced off from the guards by barbed wire.  The decks were overcrowded.  At night, some of the men had to sleep on mess tables or on the floor.  During the day, “every inch of floor space was constantly packed” [Dunera Memorandum – official report of the voyage].  If the ship had got into trouble, there would have been no way for them to escape and there were no life belts on board or emergency procedures.

The misery caused by the overcrowding was made worse by the lack of sanitation on board..  It is not surprising, therefore, that as a result of these conditions many men suffered violent diarrhoea or chronic indigestion induced by sea sickness.

The military on board ship treated the internees as if they were prisoners of war.  They swore at them and being kicked or hit with a rifle butts was “a daily occurrence”.  One day, two internees were discovered out of bounds and were tied to a post by a drunken lieutenant who insulted them by calling them, “German Jewish swine” and “sons of German Jewish dogs”.  One was beaten until he bled.

Arriving in Australia
Upon arrival in Sydney, Australia on 8 September the internees were taken on a two day journey to a camp in Hay.  Conditions in the camp were desolate but made bearable by the help and kindness of the Jewish communities in Australia. 

The government’s policy of sending internees to Canada and Australia did not last long.  On 2 July 1940, a few days before the Dunera set sail, the Arandora Star, one of the deportation ships, was torpedoed in the Irish Sea, with the loss of 700 lives.  The public backlash to this incident forced the government to reverse its policy.  But by this time, the internees on board the Dunera were on their way to Australia.

Lieutenant-Colonel Scott, the officer in charge on the Dunera, was subsequently court-martialled and sentenced to be “severely reprimanded”, effectively ending his military career.  His court-martial came about as a result of complaints by one or more of his own officers who objected to Scott’s antisemitism and treatment of the internees.

 Coming back to England
In October 1941, Hans was one of approximately 1,000 of those who had been sent to Australia who decided to return to England.  In England he joined the Pioneer Corps and spent the rest of the war fighting to defeat and destroy Nazi Germany.

For Discussion: Internment during World War Two

• Why do you think refugees from Nazi Germany, Austria and Italy were interned during the Second World War? 

Use the statements below to stimulate your discussion by deciding on which you agree and disagree with.

The British Government interned refugees from Nazi Germany, Austria and Italy because…

• they thought they might be spies
• they were xenophobic [hated foreigners]
• they did not want to upset Hitler
• they did not know who the refugees really were
• they needed to maintain law and order in Britain.
  
• In your opinion, was the government right to intern these refugees?  Explain your answer in light of Article 14 of the Declaration of Human Rights.
• What do you think of the treatment these refugees received by the British government?

Welcome to Britain

• Look at the following image:

This is Mooragh internment camp on the Isle of Man.  It was where many ‘enemy aliens’ – in other words, Jewish Germans and Austrians seeking asylum in Britain – were placed. 

For discussion

• Does this place seem welcoming to refugees?
• Does this seem a safe place?
• What does this camp remind you of?
• What do you think would have been the effect on refugees being placed here?
• What is your response to knowing this is what the British government did with refugees fleeing the Nazis?
• Does it surprise you or do you understand the government’s actions?  Explain your answer.