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Product Description
Product Description
Many aspects of Britain's involvement in World War Two only slowly emerged from beneath the barrage of official secrets and popular misconception. One of the most controversial issues, the internment of 'enemy aliens' (and also British subjects) on the Isle of Man, received its first thorough examination in this remarkable account by Connery Chappell of life in the Manx camps between 1940 and 1945. At the outbreak of war there were approximately 75,000 people of Germanic origin living in Britain, and Whitehall decided to set up Enemy Alien Tribunals to screen these 'potential security risks'. The entry of Italy into the war almost doubled the workload. The first tribunal in February 1940 considered only 569 cases as high enough risks to warrant internment. The Isle of Man was chosen as the one place sufficiently removed from areas of military importance, but by the end of the year the number of enemy aliens on the island had reached 14,000. With the use of diaries, broadsheets, newspapers and personal testimonies, the author shows how a traditional holiday isle was transformed into an internment camp. Boarding houses became barrack blocks, and many hoteliers welcomed the means of earning extra income. Eventually the internees took part in local farm work, ran their own camp newspapers and even set up internal businesses. With inmates of the calibre of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, Lord Weidenfeld, Sir Charles Forte, Professor Geoffrey Elton and R.W. 'Tiny' Rowland, the life of the camp quickly took on a busy and constructive air; but the picture was not always such a happy one, as angry disputes flared between Fascist inmates and their Jewish neighbours, and a dangerous riot forced the intervention of the Home Office. Even now, there remains the persistent question never settled satisfactorily. Were the internments ever justified or even consistent?
About the Author
The author, a former editor of Illustrated magazine, lived on the Isle of Man. He died in 1984.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My mother was born and brought up in the Isle of Man and never referred to the internment camps except to say that the alarms went all night if an internee escaped. I didn't think much of it as a child. It is only recently that the full force of the British government's actions during World War II came home to me and I wanted to read more. This is an excellent book for describing the whys, wheres and whos of the internment camps. It gives an insight into the way people were rounded up in Britain indescriminately because of the their nationality, that, in the confusion and unpreparedness of the early days of the war, jews were interned with nazi sympathisers, and that there were many holding camps on the mainland too, some in unexpected places. But it isn't all negative. The camp occupants made the best of their lot; they ran businesses, had their own currency, put on theatre and musicals, published newspapers and supported the local farming community to mutual benefit. I am sure it was hard and scary for them; being parted from their husbands and extended families. But it must have been hard for the Manx people too. This book is a good, easy read and is one of the few around that offer any sort of insight into this never spoken about British aspect of WWII history.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
factually the book is perfect. There is, however, no passion, no human tales, no real point at which you get a perspective of the captives or the Islanders.
worth reading- but there are probably better books with a great human aspect. Reads a little like a report.
My German relations, already in England when wore broke out- did get sent here. although my Grandfather, oddly in a reserved occupation didn't.
worth reading- but there are probably better books with a great human aspect. Reads a little like a report.
My German relations, already in England when wore broke out- did get sent here. although my Grandfather, oddly in a reserved occupation didn't.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
Hidden history
16 July 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Island of Barbed Wire" (Connery Chappell) throws a spotlight on a formerly hidden aspect of the Second World War -- Britain's treatment of its so-called "enemy aliens". These were men and women mostly of German (and later Italian) nationality deemed to be a threat to British security. Thousands of them were interned on the Isle of Man in former seaside holiday homes, a role to which they reverted after the war ended in 1945. One of the most savage ironies here was that a large percentage of the thousands of internees were Jews who had simply neglected to take out British nationality in time for the outbreak of the war. An interesting story, interestingly told. I would like to see it fictionalized as a BBC series. Is anyone listening?
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