Cullen, Stephen Michael. (2009) Fascists behind barbed wire; political internment without trial in wartime Britain. The Historian, Volume 100 . ISSN 0265-1076

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Abstract

In the spring and early summer of 1940, the British government carried out a programme of mass internment without trial. On 11th May, the first of thousands of 'enemy aliens' were interned. Many of these internees were refugees from Nazi Germany, often Jews who had fled Germany in fear of their lives. Others were long time residents of Italian or German origin. By July, some 27,000 of these people had been deported to Canada, or interned in makeshift camps in the UK. But another group were also interned without trial, British citizens who were members of Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union (BU), and other, smaller, fascist and nazi groups. The historical study of internment has been slow to develop, and most attention has been directed at the internment of 'enemy aliens'.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) Faculty of Social Sciences > Institute of Education
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Political prisoners -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century, Fascists -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century
Journal or Publication Title:	The Historian
Publisher:	Historical Association
ISSN:	0265-1076
Date:	July 2009
Volume:	Volume 100
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
References:	1 David Cesarani, 'Camps de la mort, camps de concentration et camps d'internement dans la mémoire collective britannique', in Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire, no: 54, 1997, p. 16. 2 A.W. Brian Simpson, In The Highest Degree Odious; detention without trial in wartime Britain, (Oxford University Press, 1992), pp.70-94. Richard Thurlow, 'The Evolution of the Mythical British Fifth Column, 1939-46', Twentieth Century British History, vol. 10, no: 4, 1999, pp.481-484. 3 Thurlow, ibid., pp. 487-9. 4 Graham Macklin, Very Deeply Dyed in Black; Sir Oswald Mosley and the Resurrection of British Fascism after 1945, (I.B. Taurus, 2007), pp. 9-28. 5 Stein Ugelvik Larsen, 'Charisma from below? The Quisling Case in Norway', Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, vol. 7, no: 2, 2006, pp. 235-244. 6 The Mosleyite group, 'Friends of Oswald Mosley', have compiled a list of interned BU members. The list was originally compiled by John Warburton, and has been updated since Mr Warburton's death by Jeffrey Wallder, who has noted that 'the total numbers of British Union members known to have been detained under Defence Regulation 18b [is] 1,055. This includes 982 "definitely BU" and 73 "probably" BU'; The Defence Regulation 18B. British Union Detainees List; Second Addition to the Second Issue, London, 2007, p.2. 7 All the quotations from R.R. 'Dick' Bellamy are taken from the recorded interview with the author made on 4th June 1985. 8 Macklin, op cit, p.19. 9 This MS is in the possession of the author. There were, however, other copies made at the time. One of these is held in the special collections of Sheffield University Library. 10 Watts MS. 11 Thurlow, op cit, p.490. 12 Mason provided the author with an extensive written account of his escapades during internment, which, in Mason's case, lasted until 15th November, 1943. 13 Taken from the manuscript account by Arthur Mason, received by the author on 12th September, 1986. All further quotations are from the same MS. 14 See Robert Mackay, '"An Abominable Precedent": the BBC's Ban on Pacifists in the Second World War, Contemporary British History, vol. 20, no: 4, December 2006, pp. 491-510.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/36911

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