Second World War internees

Internees were primarily enemy aliens but, during the first two years of the Second World War, other aliens were also interned, including many refugees who had fled Nazi Germany to escape persecution. Fears of invasion led to a general feeling of hostility towards all enemy aliens. Most internees had been released by the end of 1942. Of those that remained, many were repatriated from 1943 onwards. It was not, however, until late 1945 that the last internees were released. A small sample of 75 personal case files of internees survives for the Second World War. These records can be found in the series of records HO 214: Internees: Personal Files.

HO 396: Aliens Department: Internees Index consists of 307 sets of records which give details of mostly Germans, Austrians and Italians and their spouses who were interned or considered for internment by tribunals. The slips, which date from 1939 to 1947, are available on microfilm in the Open Reading Room. The records are usually grouped by nationality, and are in alphabetical order within each set. The slips within these binders give personal information on the front and sometimes details of the individual´s case on the reverse side. Details usually include date of birth, address, occupation and details of employers. Slips concerning aliens who were considered by internment tribunals to be exempt from internment are open without restriction. Only the front of slips where a decision was made to intern an individual is open without restriction. If researchers wish to have access to information recorded on the reverse side, you can access the link in the catalogue and ´Request Review´ of the information. The section of HO 396 relating to those aliens who were not interned and at liberty in the UK are available on the Moving Here website http://www.movinghere.org.uk/ where they can be searched for by name. These mainly relate to Jewish aliens who had fled persecution in Nazi Germany some years earlier.

Again, references to individual internees and internment camps may be found in the printed indexes of the general correspondence of the Foreign Office in FO 371, available in the Open Reading Room. Other Foreign Office records relating to interned enemy aliens are in FO 916. This series consists of general files relating to reports on internment camps and a number of lists of alien internees, arranged by location, name and number of camp. Information on enemy aliens and internees in the colonies can be found in CO 968, some records of which are subject to extended closure.

Nominal camp lists of internees can be found in HO 215: Internment: General Files. These records are arranged by name of internment camp and the documents record the internee´s name, date of birth and (if applicable) date of release. In addition, the Home Office Internment (General) Files in HO 215 contain a large amount of material on Home Office involvement with the internment of enemy aliens and prisoners of war (POWs), including correspondence between the Home Office and the Prisoners of War Information Bureau (PWIB).

HO 213: Aliens Department: General (GEN) Files and Aliens Naturalization and Nationality (ALN and NTY Symbol Series) Files also contain material relating to internment camps during the Second World War. Correspondence concerning the treatment of interned enemy aliens is in HO 213/494-8. Further information may also be found in the series HO 45 and HO 144 under the subject headings ´Aliens´, ´Nationality´ and ´War´.