During the First and Second World Wars many migrants who had arrived from countries at war with Britain were interned - that is held in special detention camps - by the British authorities who referred to them as 'enemy aliens'. Many internee records survive in The National Archives and in local archives.

1914-18
Very few records of individual internees survive for the First World War. A classified list of interned enemy aliens, normally of German, Austrian or Turkish origin, can be found in The National Archives, series HO 144/11720/364868. There are also some lists of male enemy aliens of the age of 45 and upwards - submitted to the Secretary of State by commandants of internment camps - included among a census of aliens in the United Kingdom from 1915 to 1924 in The National Archives, series HO 45/11522/287235.

Home Office records dealing primarily with policy relating to internees and internment camps can be found in The National Archives, series HO 45 and HO 144. Both series of records are arranged by subject matter and papers relating to internment and internees may be found under the headings 'Aliens', 'Nationality' and 'War'. Other material on internees is in correspondence of the Metropolitan Police in The National Archives, series MEPO 2. These include MEPO 2/1633 which consists of the records of administration of the Islington internment camp during the First World War. The National Archives, series FO 383, contains records of the Prisoners of War and Aliens Department of the Foreign Office for 1915 to 1919. Files include reference to aliens resident in the UK and interned in British camps.

Although internees mostly consisted of people from enemy countries - Germany, Austria, Italy and Japan - during the first two years of the Second World War others were also interned, including many central European refugees who had fled Nazi Germany to escape persecution in the mid-1930s. Fears of invasion led to a general feeling of hostility towards all enemy aliens. After the outbreak of war in September 1939, known Nazi sympathisers were rounded up. This was the start of a campaign which lasted until mid-1940, by which time 8,000 internees had been gathered into camps, to be deported to the Dominions. This harsh policy of internment overseas was gradually relaxed after the sinking of the SS Arandora Star by a German U-boat in July 1940, with the loss of 682 internees. This disaster led to vigorous protests about the British internment policy, which was changed so that enemy aliens were interned in camps in Britain. Most internees had been released by the end of 1942. Of those that remained, many were repatriated from 1943 onwards. However, it was not until late 1945 that the last internees were released.

A small sample of 75 personal case files of internees survive for the Second World War. These records can be found in the series of records The National Archives, series HO 214: Internees: Personal Files, and are particularly useful in depicting the life of an internee. The files were created whenever the Home Office became involved in an individual case for whatever reason. Some personal files for people whose internee personal files survives in HO 214 are gradually being transferred to the National Archives from the Home Office. These records are available in the series HO 405. There are also lists of internees in HO 215: Internment: General Files.

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