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Back to topMarx Memorial Library holds many items that tell the stories of people who have had to flee persecution or conflict in their home country and come to settle, as migrants and refugees, here in the UK. MML’s collections include material relating to political refugees – from socialist revolutionaries such as Lenin himself, expelled from Tsarist Russia, or victims of McCarthyite anti-Communist witch hunts in the USA - as well as Jewish people fleeing Nazi persecution, or Basque children escaping Franco’s Spain.
This 1939 leaflet celebrates the contribution to Lancashire's industry of skilled workers who have arrived as refugees from Nazi Germany - you can also read the whole text.
Collections and items relating to refugees include:
Spanish Collection
This material relates to the Spanish Civil War, the Aid Spain movement in Britain and the International Brigade of volunteers who travelled to Spain to fight Franco’s fascists in the 1930s. It also includes material from the Basque Children's Committee (BCC), part of the National Joint Committee for Spanish Relief (NJCSR) which arranged for almost 4,000 Spanish children to be evacuated to refugee camps (and later to homes) in Britain during the civil war. One treasured item in the collection is this scrapbook documenting the lives of some of these children, who were housed at Penstone House in Worthing.
Other items of interest include:
- Flyers appealing for aid to support the 4,000 Basque refugee children who arrived in Britain in May 1937, with a copy of Basque Home News produced by the Carshalton Basque Children's Association in April 1946.(REF: SC/EPH/2/1/4)
- Letters and memoirs of people involved with Basque child refugees in the Southampton area, including pages from an autograph book signed by some of the Basque children and a book, "The Basque Children in England" by Yvonne Cloud.(REF: SC/IND/JFY/1/2)
- Research papers, documentation and newspaper clippings relating to Basque child refugees, plus a Basque Songbook "Ene Hautia" (REF: SC/IND/JFY/1/6).
- BCC Leaflets such as “4,000 children saved from bombardment and famine” detailing the adoption scheme whereby British families can support Spanish refugee children (REF: IBA.2/2.3/400), and "Antolina", the harrowing story of one refugee child's journey. (REF: IBA.2/2.3/ANT)
- Eight black and white postcards believed to have been owned by Christopher Thornycroft, labelled "Postcards of Refugees - during Civil War" (REF: SC/VOL/CTH/21).
- A sketch by J.B. Priestley with a message in support of Basque Refugee Children (REF: SC/VOL/DGO/6/11).
- Flyers and programmes for cultural events performed by or in aid of the refugee children, such as:
- A programme for a concert of songs and dances performed by Basque refugee children at Wyndham's Theatre, April 1938 (REF: SC/ORG/BCC/2/2).
- A flyer for a Cabaret Dance in aid of the Basque children in England organised by the Basque Children's Committee at New Burlington Galleries in London. (REF: SC/ORG/BCC/2/1:)
- Souvenir programme for a Spanish Concert organised by the NJCSR on 30 April 1938 and a copy of the first issue of "Amistad," the magazine of the Spanish boys in England, 23 May 1940. (REF: SC/IND/JFY/1/5)
Second World War refugees from Europe
MML holds many items relating to Jewish and other refugees from Nazi occupied Europe who fled to Britain before, or during, the Second World War. Many Jewish refugees who became active members of the Communist Party are represented in the archives. Examples include:
- 1946 Correspondence between the Jewish Refugees Committee, the International Brigade Association and Mr. A. Neumann regarding Adolf Kordik who may have been a Czechoslovakian International Brigadier (REF: SC/IBA/3/1/1946/46).
- Ilse Meyer Papers: Meyer was a German Jewish Communist who fled Nazi persecution to settle in London in the 1930s, where she was active in the Association of Jewish Refugees, amongst others. The collection includes her personal papers, correspondence and other ephemera.
- Papers of Sir George Young relating to attempts to secure the release of refugees from occupied Europe during, and immediately after the Second World War (REF: SC/IND/GYO).
You can also visit a specialist collection of material from this era at the Wiener Holocaust Library in Russell Square.
Abhimanyu (Manu) Manchanda collection
Manchanda was a political activist from Lahore in India (later Pakistan) who was forced to emigrate after partition, and settled in Britain. Here he became involved in many political campaigns along with his partner, the Trinidad-born communist and activist Claudia Jones, who was deported from the USA in 1955 for her Communist activism. Jones continued to be an active Communist Party member here, becoming a leading anti-racism campaigner as well as a founder of the Notting Hill Carnival. This collection contains material relating to Jones, including photographs, letters and other ephemera.
Andrew Rothstein Collection
Rothstein was the son of Theodore Rothstein, a close associate of Lenin who was a political refugee from Russia, settling in the UK where Andrew was born in 1898. The collection of the MML's former President, includes personal papers and writings of Andrew, a prominent communist who died in London in 1994.
Williamson Collection
John Williamson was exiled to the UK from the US in 1955, having spent five years in an American prison for his leading role in the Communist Party (CPUSA). He was prosecuted under the anti-Communist Smith Act. MML holds all the legal appeal documentation relating to Williamson and his colleagues. On being deported to the UK he settled here, and continued to be an active member of the Communist Party, in addition to holding the post of Librarian durng the 1960s and 1970s.
MML holds a stunning collection of posters, some of which depict vivid scenes of refugees fleeing armed conflict.
Marx, Lenin and Radical Clerkenwell
Karl Marx himself was a political refugee who settled in London. The MML also holds some unique artefacts and documents relating to the historical presence in the building of I.V.Lenin, who was exiled in London and worked in the building from April 1902 to May 1903. During this period he edited and printed the journal ISKRA (The Spark), from an office which is now known as The Lenin Room.
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