Collection of Letters and Paper Items from the World War II Period – Jewish-German Refugees in English Internment ...

Collection of Letters and Paper Items from the World War II Period – Jewish-German Refugees in English Internment Camps – Isle of Man, Mauritius, Victoria and Elsewhere
Thirty-three letters and paper items, exchanged between Jewish-German refugees in the English internment camps during World War II. Isle of Man, Mauritius, Victoria (Australia), Manchester, Dorking and elsewhere, late 1930s to mid-1940s. English and German.
Most of the letters in the collection were sent to Rabbi Heinrich Chajim Cohn, a Jewish refugee from Basel, who was deported in 1941 to the Mooragh internment camp on the Isle of Man. Items include:
• Two handwritten letters sent to Cohn by a detainee at Mooragh camp on the Isle of Man, in 1940. Marked with the camp's ink stamps (differing from each other).
• Two handwritten letters sent to Cohn by a family member named Sally Cohn who was held in the internment camp in Victoria (Australia). 1941 and 1942. Stamped.
•A letter sent to Cohn by Edith Meyer who was held in the internment camp on the island of Mauritius. 1945.
• Photographed Airgraph Service card sent to Cohn from the same addresser, from the internment camp on Mauritius. 1945.
• Shana Tova card, sent to Cohn during his internment at the Mooragh camp on the Isle of Man. Printed in the middle of the card is a blessing in German. Added in handwriting above the blessing are the Hebrew words "May you be inscribed for a good year" in gold ink. Inserted in an envelope with Cohn's name and address in the camp, typewritten.
• Four letters of warning, typewritten, sent to Cohn by the Trading With The Enemy Department following an attempt to transfer a package to a Jewish rabbi named Chameides in Poland. 1942.
• Ein Bilderbuch zur Chanukafeier 5701 [Book of Illustrations for Hanukkah 1941], booklet printed at the Mooragh internment camp on the Isle of Man. [11] leaves. Illustrations. Not in NLI.
• And more.
At the outbreak of World War II, 75,000 German and Austrian citizens were living in Great Britain; most had arrived during the 1930s, fleeing Nazi persecution. The British government, fearing infiltration by Nazi spies and collaborators, resolved on a policy of arrest and detention. First, all the German and Austrian men aged 16 to 60 were arrested; later the women were arrested as well. In July 1940 the detainees were sent to the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea (a Crown Dependency), where a number of internment camps were built. Out of the thousands of detainees on the Isle of Man, the majority were Jews; many had been in open opposition to the Nazi regime. 
Size and condition vary. Good-fair overall condition. Folding marks, stains, creases and blemishes. Dampstains to upper part of the letters from Mooragh camp (with damage to text). Tears reinforced with adhesive tape on the letter from the internment camp in Victoria. One letter has long tears and open tears to margins.