Enemy alien

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the United Kingdom had become a place of refuge for people who had fled Nazi persecution, including Jews and political refugees.

At first, with the outbreak of war, the British government – in accordance with its policy of Defence Regulation 18B – placed these refugees with other enemy aliens regardless of their political allegiances.

The Isle of Man, relatively isolated from the British mainland and with a useful amount of holiday accommodation, was used to provide housing for the "Alien Civilians" (as it had in World War I).

[citation needed] The Pioneer Corps was the only British unit that enemy aliens could serve in early on in the war.

Many thousands of Germans and Austrians joined the Pioneer Corps to assist the Allied war efforts and liberation of their home countries.

These were mainly Jews and political opponents of the Nazi regime who had fled to Britain while it was still possible, and included the cinematographer Ken Adam, writer George Clare and publisher Robert Maxwell.

[14] A well-known example of enemy aliens was that of the Japanese citizens residing in the United States during World War II.

Many of these Japanese and Japanese-Americans were imprisoned in internment camps by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during wartime, alongside many German- and Italian-Americans.