Britain Widens Round-up of Germans; 1,600 More Refugees Interned

About 1,600 refugees were affected by today’s Home Office emergency order providing for temporary precautionary internment of all German and Austrians between the ages of 16 and 60 in Class B–those hitherto exempted from internment but required to comply with special restrictions.

Category B is estimated to include about 3,000 males, of whom 900 are non-refugees. A few hundred in this category had already been interned as a result of Sunday’s round-up in coastal districts. Altogether 42,000 Germans over 16 years of age were living in the London area on Dec.31, 1939, according to the Police Commissioner.

Following issuance of the internment order by Home Secretary Sir John Anderson, officers of the Criminal Investigation Department set out this morning in 400 police cars and arrested 1,400 in the London area, the remainder in other parts of the country. Most of those arrested in London are German nationals, only a few of them being Austrians. Those rounded up in the London area will be interned in a concentration camp new the capital.

The Home Office announcement ordering the internment follows: “The Home Secretary has, as a further measure of precaution, directed the temporary internment throughout Great Britain of all male Germans and Austrians over the age of 16 and under the age of 60 whose recent classification as a result of examination by local tribunal or regional advisory committee is B–that is to say who, although exempted hitherto from internment, have been required to comply with special restrictions.”

These restrictions included a prohibition on traveling more than five miles from a person’s residence and on ownership of motor cars or cameras.