Internment in Britain in 1940: Life and Art Behind the Wire

Description

When the artist Hugo Dachinger asked to paint the portrait of diarist Wilhelm Hollitscher, a new friendship was born. Both men, refugees from the Nazis, were interned in the Huyton Internment Camp in 1940. However, they refused to let the experience daunt them, with Dachinger manufacturing his art materials from anything to hand and Hollitscher continuing his life-long habit of diary keeping. Hollitscher’s diary provides a vivid account of daily life in the camp along with wider political comment, while Dachinger staged exhibitions of his work in the camp entitled Behind the Wire. Both men found being interned as an ‘enemy alien’ traumatic, but were able to draw strength from the experience. The context is set by three chapters. Professor Charmian Brinson writes about the history of internment and Churchill’s shameful policy to ‘collar the lot,’ Rachel Dickson elucidates Dachinger’s work in the camp, and Ines Newman, the granddaughter of Wilhelm Hollitscher, provides a portrait of her grandfather’s background and life. The book reveals the true experience of life in captivity and is as relevant to today’s injustices as it is an account of unjust treatment in the past. Cover Front Matter Title Page Contents Preface and Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Chapter 1 The Internment of Aliens in Britain during the Second World War: A Tale of Panic and Confusion Chapter 2 Portrait of a Man: Wilhelm Hollitscher and Hugo Dachinger Chapter 3 Wilhelm Hollitscher: ‘Keep Smiling’ Plate section Chapter 4 Wilhelm Hollitscher’s Huyton Diary Index