Introduction

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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