The Island of Extraordinary Captives
A True Story of an Artist, a Spy and a Wartime Scandal
-
- €3.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE WINGATE PRIZE
'Vivid and moving' Max Hastings, Sunday Times
'Excellent . . . a powerful tribute' Guardian
In the summer of 1940, faced with national paranoia, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the internment of all German, Austrian and Italian citizens living in Britain. Most were refugees who had fled Nazi oppression. They now faced imprisonment by the country in which they had staked their trust.
Among the inmates of Hutchinson Internment Camp, on the Isle of Man, were world-renowned artists, musicians and intellectuals: despite their unjust captivity, they remained resilient, transforming their prison into an artistic and academic community.
Meticulously researched and grippingly recounted, The Island of Extraordinary Captives tells the story of history's most remarkable group of prisoners - and how they found hope even in the most challenging of circumstances.
'Riveting . . . an account of cinematic vividness' New York Times Book Review
'Eye-opening, insightful and brilliantly written' Daily Mirror
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Simon Parkin—the talented author of A Game of Birds and Wolves—here tells a staggering true World War II story. In May 1940, Winston Churchill approved a wartime internment camp on the Isle of Man where a collection of German and Austrian musicians, artists and academics—refugees to Britain from Nazi Germany—were imprisoned. Parkin examines how this extraordinary group of people were treated with such paranoia and his research is extraordinary—the first-hand accounts and classified documents paint a astonishing picture of a situation so few people know anything about.
