History of the Jews in the Isle of Man

The Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin [ˈmanɪnʲ], also Ellan Vannin [ˈɛlʲan ˈvanɪnʲ]), sometimes referred to simply as Mann /mæn/, is a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland.

[8] During World War II, to escape the Holocaust some sources state that there were about 1,500 German-Jewish civilian internees, whose spiritual and material welfare was supervised by the British Chief Rabbi's "Religious Emergency Council".

Other sources state that it is estimated that about 2,000 to 3,000 people, mostly Jews, were interned on the Isle of Man during World War II as 'enemy aliens',[9] with frequent visits by Rabbi Dr. Solomon Schonfeld, who inspected internee camps on behalf of the Council.

[12][13] The BBC reported in 2016 on the background to this saga, that at the start of World War II there were around 80,000 people in Britain who were considered potential "enemy aliens".

The BBC report goes on to state that "political prisoners were detained in high security camps, but most internees - including many Jewish refugees - were free to go shopping, swim in the sea and attend classes.

[15] Reports of the time record that by August 1940, there were in total around 14,000 prisoners held on the Isle of Man, with thousands more transported to internment camps in Canada and Australia.