Papers of Klaus Ernst Hinrichsen (internee)
Date(s): 20th century
Creator(s): various
Scope & Content: Contents comprise a summons issued by Hampstead Police Station, Metropolitan Police for Hinrichsen of 54 Glenloch Rd NW3 to attend an Aliens tribunal sitting at Moreland Hall NW3 on 30 October 1939 regarding possible exemption from internment etc (dated 21 October 1939); a pre-formatted postcard sent by Hinrichsen to Miss Margarete Levy, 48 Glenloch Rd, London stating he is well (stamped Hutchinson Internment Camp, Douglas 13 july 1940); covering letter to Hinrichsen from the Home Office, Bournemouth dated 19 July 1941 regarding Hinrichsen's application for a permit to visit R H Wings and C Pietzner with enclosed application form; letter to Miss Margarete Levy from the Home Office, Bournmouth advising her that instructions have now been given for the release of Hinrichsen under Category 23 of the White Paper, 12 June 1941.
Material produced during internment comprise Hinrichsen's copies of three editions of The Camp (6 October 1940 - no. 3, 24 November 1940 - no.10 and 27 February 1941); also a Christmas 1941 edition of The Camp in magazine format - issue no. 22. Present also are a photostated typescript illustrated poem of his entitled '24 lines', a typescript catalogue for the 2nd Art Exhibition in Hutchinson Camp on 19 November 1940 and a programme for a concert in the new hall, Hutchinson Camp on Sunday 2 February 1941 given by Professor Stefan Pollmann, accompanied by Hans G Furth (on the reverse is a pencil sketch by Hinrichsen of a smiling marine cartoon creature and the caption 'Survivor for a better world').
Administration / Biographical History: Dr Klaus Ernst Hinrichsen (1912-2004) was a wartime internee and art historian who championed émigré artists in Britain who, like him, had fled to Britain during the 1930s to escape Nazi persecution. While interned in Hutchinson camp on the Isle of Man during the early 1940s, he befriended other German and Austrian scientists, musicians and artists - most notably Erich Kahn and the dadaist Kurt Schwitters.
Hinrichsen helped to establish what became known as the 'Hutchinson University', where internees could while away the hours behind barbed wire in a creative spirit. As head of the cultural department, he curated art exhibitions that included work by Schwitters, on whom he became a leading authority and advocate in later years.
The eldest son of a family of four children, Hinrichsen was born and raised in Lübeck, a town with a long democratic tradition. His father, a lawyer, had converted to Christianity - his forebears were Sephardic Jews from Portugal - and brought his children up as Lutheran Protestants.
In 1931, Hinrichsen went to read art history, theatre history and archaeology at Munich University, and, during the following two years, spent time in Berlin, where he heard Hitler speak - the stage-managed entrance was mesmerising, he recalled, but the rhetoric was unimpressive. He completed his PhD (on the early baroque sculptor Tonnies Evers) in 1936, but being half-Jewish, found it difficult to get work. Nevertheless, the specialist art publisher Thieme-Becker continued to commission biographical sketches from him.
On November 9 1938, Kristallnacht, he was arrested by the Gestapo, along with his father and brother; his father was imprisoned but the sons, being "half-Aryan", were released. Later, he used this "privilege" to help other Jews to emigrate, by negotiating on their behalf with the German emigration and tax officials.
In May 1939, Hinrichsen asked his English relatives for an invitation, and obtained permission from the German army to go abroad for three months before his call-up came through. When war broke out, he sent a telegram to his parents stating that he had broken a leg and was unable to travel. On the strength of this, the German Red Cross later sent him biscuits in the shape of swastikas, but he was never to live in Germany again.
In London, Hinrichsen became part of a theatrical team sent by the Quakers to entertain East End workers in factory canteens. He was also appointed by a Swiss publisher of international medical periodicals to handle their affairs in Britain. On the day before war was declared, he met his future wife, Gretel, then working as a dietician and cook at Hampstead general hospital.
But British public opinion was turning against the newly arrived Germans and Austrians, and, under pressure, Churchill ordered the mass internment of some 30,000 refugees. Hinrichsen was interned for 11 months, though he was able to continue his publishing work. Later, this connection proved valuable to the intelligence services, as they were able to obtain, through Hinrichsen, classified technical and medical information which the Germans unsuspectingly supplied to neutral Switzerland.
Following his release, Hinrichsen joined the Home Guard, and, after the war, began a successful career in pharmaceuticals. He established an office in the City of London, becoming a freeman in 1962. He was, for eight years, chairman of the Highgate and Archway Liberal party, and supported the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.
He also became the chronicler of art in internment, writing the chapter Visual Arts Behind The Wire for the book The Internment Of Aliens In 20th-Century Britain (edited by David Cesarani and Tony Kushner, 1993). He spoke on numerous radio and television programmes and assisted with exhibitions of internee art.
Obituary from The Guardian, 27 September 2004
The Camp Newspaper:
Dr Klaus Hinrichsen wrote articles for The Camp (an internal magazine produced in Hutchinson Square). These include an article about how the windows were being decorated (The Camp, No. 6, p. 3, October 27 1940); how he succeeded Bruno Ahrends as chairman of the Cultural Department in the camp (The Camp, No. 7, p. 8 November 3, 1940); 'Cultural flashlights' (The Camp, No. 13/14, pp.11 & 12, December, 1940); 'Laurence Sterne Walks and The Fortescue Players' (The Camp, No. 5 2nd year, p. 7 16 March 1941); 'Internitis' (The Camp, No. 6 2nd year, p. 2, 6 April 1941). 'This he cannot protect' (The Camp, No. 9, Year 2, p. 9, Monday 19 May 1941); 'Verifying the Theory' (The Camp, No. 10, Year 2, p. 8, Monday June 2 1941); Released June 1941 (The Camp, No. 12, Year 2, p. 5, Monday June 30 1941). He was also a frequent contributor to the Sefton Review (an internal camp magazine).
Language: English, German
Extent: 10 items
Item name: correspondence, magazine,
Collection: Manuscript Archive
Level: FONDS
ID number: MS 12705
Record class: Private
Access conditions: No regulations or restrictions are implemented on this material. Advance notification of a research visit is advisable by emailing library@mnh.gov.im