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to foster parents. Some later wrote about their love and admiration for
England-the wonderful atmosphere, the quiet courtesy, the freedom to
express any opinion, the sincerity and honesty of the people. But there are
also many accounts of profound unhappiness and depression caused by cir–
cumstances ranging from the weather to the alien lifestyle. They believed
that there was a class consciousness that could not be surmounted, and
were pleased when they could emigrate again (as Dorit Whiteman writes
in
The Uprooted).
Once war broke out the males were arrested as enemy aliens under
emergency regulation 18B (together with British fascists and other fifth–
column candidates) and a fair number were put on ships to Australia and
Canada which were torpedoed by German submarines (the case of the
Arandora Star)
and sank. Others were systematically robbed of their belong–
ings on HMS
Dunera
on the way to Australia. Eventually they were
released and even invited to join His Majesty's Forces, but only in the most
lowly capacity-in the unarmed Pioneer Corps. The attitude towards
them was at best condescending. The British had done their humanitar–
ian duty by saving them, but friendliness and openness towards the
immigrants was not the rule. Of course there were exceptions, those who
showed great hospitality and sympathy; but in the accounts of those days
such exceptions do not feature prominently.
The unpleasantness of the military bureaucracy, however, was often
matched by its inefficiency and lack of coordination. And so, as the war
continued, young immigrants found their way into combat and even com–
mando units; some managed to enlist in the Royal Air Force and the Navy.
Some became officers-but when they were demobilized, despite their
officers' uniforms, Sam Browns, and decorations, they realized that they
were still enemy aliens as far as the authorities were concerned. Having
served in the armed forces, however, they did get a chance to study or to
acquire a profession, though there was nothing so lavish as the G.
I.
Bill of
Rights. But opportunities did open up, and many made good use of them
as higher education became free in Britain after 1945 in the wake of
sweeping social reforms.
A few of the younger generation of refugees rose to key positions in
the civil service and the judiciary, but none, I believe, became a member of
parliament. (The same seems to be true with regard to the immigrants in
Canada and Australia.) There were certain fields in which no discrimina–
tion existed-in science, for instance, where only merit counted. Boris
Chain and Hans Krebs were already in their thirties when they arrived in
Britain, but Max Perutz was a mere twenty-two. All future Nobel Prize
winners, they quickly became members of a communi ty in which appoint–
ments were made and positions given in consonance with the talent and the
