Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719090790
- eISBN:
- 9781781707357
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719090790.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
The introduction outlines the overall subject of the book: the surveillance of anti-Nazi refugees from Hitler's Germany by MI5 during the period 1933–1950. It broaches the major themes pursued in the ...
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The introduction outlines the overall subject of the book: the surveillance of anti-Nazi refugees from Hitler's Germany by MI5 during the period 1933–1950. It broaches the major themes pursued in the narrative, such as the distinction between ‘racial’ and ‘political’ refugees and MI5’s preoccupation with the surveillance of Communist refugees throughout the 1930s and 1940s. It also evaluates the scope and content of intelligence in the security files which furnish the subject-matter of the book, including the files relating to the major refugee organisations – the Free German League of Culture, the Austrian Centre and the Czech Refugee Trust Fund. The introduction also poses the question: why has this extensive MI5 operation hitherto remained hidden from history?Less
The introduction outlines the overall subject of the book: the surveillance of anti-Nazi refugees from Hitler's Germany by MI5 during the period 1933–1950. It broaches the major themes pursued in the narrative, such as the distinction between ‘racial’ and ‘political’ refugees and MI5’s preoccupation with the surveillance of Communist refugees throughout the 1930s and 1940s. It also evaluates the scope and content of intelligence in the security files which furnish the subject-matter of the book, including the files relating to the major refugee organisations – the Free German League of Culture, the Austrian Centre and the Czech Refugee Trust Fund. The introduction also poses the question: why has this extensive MI5 operation hitherto remained hidden from history?
Charmian Brinson and Richard Dove
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780719090790
- eISBN:
- 9781781707357
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719090790.003.0023
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
The conclusion draws together the main questions which have emerged throughout the book. Firstly: why, in a period leading up to a war against Fascism and during the war itself, did MI5 remain so ...
More
The conclusion draws together the main questions which have emerged throughout the book. Firstly: why, in a period leading up to a war against Fascism and during the war itself, did MI5 remain so intensely concerned with the surveillance of Communists. Moreover, why did this surveillance continue and even intensify after the Soviet Union had entered the war in June 1941? Secondly, the chapter attempts to evaluate how successful, or indeed, how necessary, MI5's surveillance of German and Austrian anti-Nazi refugees actually was. If the first two questions are historical, the third brings us back to the present: why has this particular surveillance operation, undoubtedly a costly one in terms of manpower and effort, not become part of the official history of MI5, failing to find a mention, for example, in Christopher Andrew's official centenary study, The Defence of the Realm?Less
The conclusion draws together the main questions which have emerged throughout the book. Firstly: why, in a period leading up to a war against Fascism and during the war itself, did MI5 remain so intensely concerned with the surveillance of Communists. Moreover, why did this surveillance continue and even intensify after the Soviet Union had entered the war in June 1941? Secondly, the chapter attempts to evaluate how successful, or indeed, how necessary, MI5's surveillance of German and Austrian anti-Nazi refugees actually was. If the first two questions are historical, the third brings us back to the present: why has this particular surveillance operation, undoubtedly a costly one in terms of manpower and effort, not become part of the official history of MI5, failing to find a mention, for example, in Christopher Andrew's official centenary study, The Defence of the Realm?
