10,000 Germans and Austrians fought for Britain during the Second World War.
Their particular contribution to the Allied victory over Hitler and Nazism is largely unknown. One in seven of the 75,000 German and Austrian refugees who came to Britain between 1933 and 1939 enlisted in the British Forces, a surprisingly high percentage.
Under Nazi law they were stateless, but according to British law they were still Germans. They all took the unprecedented step of swearing allegiance to King George VI even though, with a few exceptions, they did not receive British nationality until after the war. The majority began their army life in the non-combatant Pioneer Corps, the pick and shovel on their cap badge emblematic of hard physical labour.
They became affectionately known as 'the King's Most Loyal Enemy Aliens'.
They had come to Britain as victims of Nazi oppression, mainly the Jewish intellectuals of central Europe but also Aryan Socialists and 'degenerate artists'; the political opponents of Nazism.
All had one thing in common – their lives and those of their families were at risk after the Nazis gained power in Germany in 1933 and Austria in 1938. Born and raised in those countries, the Jewish refugees saw themselves first and foremost as loyal German and Austrian citizens. Their Jewishness was secondary. A trace of Jewish ancestry or opposition to Nazism put thousands of ordinary German lives at risk. Many had relatives who had fought the British during the First World War or they themselves had done so and received the Iron Cross for bravery. All this counted for nothing.
So, just twenty-one years later, they found themselves on the other side in British uniform fighting their fellow Germans. Their story is unique in British history and all the more extraordinary because none of them could be conscripted. All had to volunteer. Each wanted a hand in defeating Nazism and to repay the debt to Britain for saving their lives.
Comments