The Island Of Extraordinary Captives. A True Story Of An Artist, A Spy And A Wartime Scandal

Cover Type: Softcover
Book Condition: Fine
Jacket Condition: None Issued
Publisher: Sceptre
Publisher Place: Uk
Publisher Year: 2022
Edition: First Edition

Description: 475 pages. Book appears to have hardly been read and is in Fine condition throughout.

Publishers Description: The remarkable untold story of a Jewish orphan who fled Nazi Germany for London, only to be arrested there by the British government and sent to an internment camp for suspected foreign agents on the Isle of Man, alongside a renowned group of refugee musicians, intellectuals, artists, andpossiblygenuine spies.Following the events of Kristallnacht in 1938, Peter Fleischmann evaded the Gestapos midnight roundups in Berlin by way of a perilous journey to England via the Kindertransport train. But he could not escape the British police, who came for him in the early hours and shipped him off to Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man, under suspicion of being a spy for the very regime he had fled.Peters story was no isolated incident. During Hitlers rise to power in the 1930s, tens of thousands of German and Austrian Jews escaped and found refuge in Britain. Once war broke out in 1939, the nation turned against them, fearing that Nazis had planted spies posing as refugees. Innocent asylum seekers thus were labeled “enemy aliens and ultimately sentenced to an indefinite period of internment.When Peter arrived at Hutchinson Camp, he found one of historys most astounding prison renowned professors, composers, journalists, and artists. Together, they created a thriving cultural community, complete with art exhibitions, lectures, musical performances, and poetry readings. The artists welcomed Peter as their pupil and forever changed the course of his life. Meanwhile, suspicions grew that a real spy was hiding among themone connected to a vivacious heiress from Peters past.Drawing from unpublished first-person accounts and newly declassified documents from the British government, award-winning journalist Simon Parkin tells the story of this unlikely group of internees. The Island of Extraordinary Captives brings history to life in vivid detail, revealing the hidden truth of Britains grave wartime mistake and showcasing how hope and creativity can flourish in even the darkest of circumstances.

ISBN: 9781529347197