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Rethinking Transnational and Devolved (Hi)stories: German-Speaking Refugees from National Socialism in Wales

Part 2: Artist Refugees in Wales

This is the second in a three-part series of blog posts. See also part one.

In the early years after 1933, and possibly also immediately after March 1939, most refugees tried to settle near either established Jewish communities or refugee or diasporic communities. Those with political affiliations sought to live where other members of the same political parties or groupings had established themselves. For religious Jewish refugees, a synagogue and an active congregation were obviously important. This meant that many areas of Wales were considered less attractive than the large urban centres of England. Only a few prominent refugees resettled in Wales—many of them after the outbreak of the Second World War, when pressures in the urban centres became unbearable.

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Rethinking Transnational and Devolved (Hi)stories: German-Speaking Refugees from National Socialism in Wales

Part 1: Refugees’ Work, Visas, and Lives in Wales

This is the first in a three-part series of blog posts on the migration history of Wales. In the first, I will set the scene, outlining the conditions under which German-speaking refugees lived and worked in Wales during the Second World War. In the second and third, I will focus on the experiences of two specific sub-groups: artists and children.

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The View from the Island: Britain’s Perception of the Franco-German Brigade

Formed in 1989, the Franco-German Brigade was the first operational military unit established in peacetime Europe whose soldiers were recruited permanently from two nations and whose units were constantly under binational command. It became an important part of multinational military cooperation in Europe, with the political ambition of Germany and France being the driving force behind European security and defence policy.

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The Spark of a Universal Uprising? Echoes of the Murder of Lord Moyne, 1944–5

Murder on Jabalya Street

Multiple shots were fired at Walter Guinness, better known as Lord Moyne, as his car was parking at his residence on Jabalya Street in Cairo. Later that day, on 6 November 1944, the British Minister Resident for the Middle East succumbed to his wounds. After a shoot-out with the Egyptian police, the two assassins, who had also killed Moyne’s driver, were apprehended. During their interrogation, they revealed their identity to be Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Beit Tzuri, Jewish inhabitants of Palestine in their early twenties. They declared themselves members of the militant underground organization Lehi—the Hebrew acronym for Loḥamey Ḥerut Isra’el or Fighters for the Freedom of Israel.

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