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Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany

In the 1930s Jewish refugees began to arrive in the UK from Germany and Austria. Entry was granted predominantly to those refugees who had the prospect of permanent immigration elsewhere. Camps were set up to house Jewish refugees temporarily pending re-emigration to other countries. A selection of Home Office files on refugees who did not settle in the UK for the period 1934-48 are in the process of being transferred from the Home Office in series HO 405 and include records relating to Jewish refugees. Those with surnames from ´A´ to ´M´ are already available. The Metropolitan Police, Aliens Registration Office: Sample Record Cards in MEPO 35 include cases from the late 1930s.

Most of the Jewish refugees settled in or around London and the records of the Jewish Temporary Shelter are available at the London Metropolitan Archives. Other personal files of approximately 400,000 Jewish refugees are still kept by the Jewish Refugees Committee. Further information on Jewish immigrants is available at the Hartley Library, University of Southampton, and at the Manchester Local Studies Unit. Access to these archives may be restricted.

The Moving Here website http://www.movinghere.org.uk includes in-depth resources, including exhibitions, galleries and online records both within and outside The National Archives, celebrating Jewish migration to England. The online records include many Alien Internee tribunal cards for Jewish migrants in HO 396.