4.2 Refugees from Nazism and the Second World War 1925-48 Flashcards
1
Q
Colour Bar
A
Not allowing people with dark skin access to employment, housing or education
2
Q
Anti colonial organisations
A
Groups set up to campaign for colonial independence
3
Q
Fascist
A
Extreme right-wing nationalism
4
Q
Merchant seamen
A
Men who work on trading ships
5
Q
Oswald Mosley
A
Leader of the BUF (British Union of Fascists)
6
Q
Enemy aliens
A
German people living in Britain during the first and Second World War
7
Q
Internment
A
Imprisoning someone for political reasons
8
Q
Who came and why?
A
- During the Great Depression that followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929, very few people came to see work in Britain
- Asian, African and West Indian seamen continued to form a large proportion of unemployed seamen, and many settled in the UK
- Men from West Africa also stowed away on ships sailing to Britain in search of work
- Child refugees from the Spanish Civil War were granted asylum. So were Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria after the Nazis came to power, though in small numbers
- People from countries occupied by Germany, including Poles, Czechs and French, escaped to Britain and joined the Allied forces
- Large numbers of Poles settled in the UK permanently after the war and were joined by their families
9
Q
What was their impact?
A
10
Q
The response of migrant communities to tensions between the wars - Merchant seamen
A
- Ship owners often preferred to employ ‘coloured’ seamen because they paid them far less than White sailors
- The National Union of Seamen argued that this was undercutting White wages and causing unemployment
- The Union wanted White seamen to get the jobs and ‘Coloured’ seamen to be forced out
- The government responded with the 1925 Coloured Alien Seamen Order, which forced them to register with the police, even though most were British citizens from within the empire
- This law was overt racial discrimination - a ‘colour bar’, as the government itself later admitted, aimed at men who had helped transport food and other vital supplies to the UK during the war
- The tension that had exploded in 1919 remained deep
11
Q
Why was the year 1919 seen as a year of crisis?
A
- Men were returning form war to find women and migrants in their jobs and migrant workers working for less wages
- Millions had no work and there was a wide gap between the wealthy few and the poverty experienced by the working classes
- Sections of the press and some politicians encouraged the idea that ‘aliens’ were partly to blame
- Rather than fighting for better wages for all, trade unions wanted ‘white’ men in work and ‘coloured’ men forced out
- They put pressure on the government who passed the 1925 Coloured Seamen Order
12
Q
Black British activism - LCP
A
- The League of Coloured People (LCP) was set up in 1931 by Jamaica-born family doctor Harold Moody in Peckham, South London
- It was active across the UK, supported members facing racial discrimination and organised community events
- There were LCP organisations in most cities
13
Q
Black British activism - Pan-African movement
A
- A Pan-African movement uniting all those of African descent emerged in Britain after the 1900 Pan-African conference
- Several Pan-African congresses were held in Britain between 1919 and 1939
- The fifth Pan-African Congress held in Manchester in 1945, prepared the way for independence from colonial rule
- It was attended by prominent African political activists including three future presidents of their countries
14
Q
Black British activism - anti-colonialism
A
- Many activists in the early twentieth century were committed to anti-colonialism and the interests of the British working classes
- These included Liverpool-born John Archer, of Caribbean ancestry, who had been elected the first Black mayor in a London borough in 1913
- He commented in 1918: ‘If we are good enough to be brought to fight the wars of the country we are good enough to receive the benefits of the country
15
Q
Evidence that Britain supported Jews
A
- The government allowed entry of Jewish children after 1938
- 10,000 children arrived
- British families offered to take children into their homes
