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The Island of Extraordinary Captives: The British Wartime Internment of Jewish Refugees Suspected of being Nazi Spies

Approximately 73,500 German and Austrian refugees from Nazism fled to Britain when war broke out. Initially, these refugees were received under such lauded schemes as the Kindertransport. But in the following months, the British media stoked national paranoia that a network of spies, posing as refugees, lurked among their ranks. The British government embarked upon a policy of mass internment of the very same people they had welcomed to our shores, and of the so-called 'enemy aliens' living in Britain, approximately 30,000 were sent to camps indefinitely.

Using exclusive new archive material, letters and diaries, Simon Parkin tells the story of history's most extraordinary prison camp, where Britain interned thousands of refugees during World War II

Simon Parkin is a contributing writer for the New Yorker, regularly writes for The Guardian and The Observer newspapers. His previous nonfiction book, A Game of Birds and Wolves, shortlisted for The Mountbatten Prize, and optioned for film by Steven Spielberg. Named a finalist in the Foreign Press Association Media Awards and recipient of two awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Simon Parkin lives in West Sussex, England.

Jul 11, 2022 08:00 PM in London