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This always fascinated me. What happened to foreign nationals who found themselves 'stuck' in Berlin when Hitler invaded Poland? Were they allowed to leave? Whe

This always fascinated me. What happened to foreign nationals who found themselves 'stuck' in Berlin when Hitler invaded Poland? Were they allowed to leave? Where they imprisoned?

arbitrage 8y ago
If they were the right heritage and class, they were fine. Of course, that was at the beginning of the war. Near the end, when Germany knew it was losing the war, it would not have helped a foreign national.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
hh3k0 8y ago
Were foreign nationals in Washington not allowed to leave or imprisoned when America invaded Afghanistan or Iraq? Sure, two different political systems but I don't see the reason why the average foreign national should be arrested in times of war.
- bmmayer1 8y ago
  Well, certainly in WWII we imprisoned US citizens of Japanese descent...
  - hh3k0 8y ago
    But US citizens, regardless of descent, aren't foreign nationals to the US. On top of that, Japanese weren't your average foreign national but rather enemy aliens – as the US was at war with Japan. I must have misunderstood your previous question, I apologize. I assumed that when you referred to "foreign nationals" you meant it as in "travelers of uninvolved foreign nations".
pjc50 8y ago
Nationals (or people of family origin!) of belligerent countries were interned on both sides. They were also at risk of violence. Third country neutral nationals were generally left alone subject to wartime travel restrictions, unless they were also Jewish.
gumby 8y ago
They weren’t typically allowed to leave unless they were diplomats, but higher status people were not imprisoned. For example PG Wodehouse and his wife were allowed to stay at their home in occupied France in exchange for making some radio broadcasts.
AcerbicZero 8y ago
There is an excellent (true) account in "The Last Battle" by Cornelius Ryan of an Allied undercover agent who lived in Berlin up until the very end of the war. I don't recall which country he claimed to be from (A non-aligned one, I believe) and due to his extended presence in the face of the worsening situation post 1943 (and Berlins general apathy towards Nazism) he was considered almost "one" of them. I'd suggest all three of Cornelius Ryan's books to anyone look for a tightly knit story style of WW2 book, written mostly in the 1950's-1960's with real interviews of those involved and excellent anecdotes.

This always fascinated me. What happened to foreign nationals who found themselves 'stuck' in Berlin when Hitler invaded Poland? Were they allowed to leave? Where they imprisoned?

arbitrage 8y ago

If they were the right heritage and class, they were fine. Of course, that was at the beginning of the war. Near the end, when Germany knew it was losing the war, it would not have helped a foreign national.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

hh3k0 8y ago

Were foreign nationals in Washington not allowed to leave or imprisoned when America invaded Afghanistan or Iraq? Sure, two different political systems but I don't see the reason why the average foreign national should be arrested in times of war.

bmmayer1 8y ago
Well, certainly in WWII we imprisoned US citizens of Japanese descent...
- hh3k0 8y ago
  But US citizens, regardless of descent, aren't foreign nationals to the US. On top of that, Japanese weren't your average foreign national but rather enemy aliens – as the US was at war with Japan. I must have misunderstood your previous question, I apologize. I assumed that when you referred to "foreign nationals" you meant it as in "travelers of uninvolved foreign nations".

pjc50 8y ago

Nationals (or people of family origin!) of belligerent countries were interned on both sides. They were also at risk of violence. Third country neutral nationals were generally left alone subject to wartime travel restrictions, unless they were also Jewish.

gumby 8y ago

They weren’t typically allowed to leave unless they were diplomats, but higher status people were not imprisoned. For example PG Wodehouse and his wife were allowed to stay at their home in occupied France in exchange for making some radio broadcasts.

AcerbicZero 8y ago

There is an excellent (true) account in "The Last Battle" by Cornelius Ryan of an Allied undercover agent who lived in Berlin up until the very end of the war. I don't recall which country he claimed to be from (A non-aligned one, I believe) and due to his extended presence in the face of the worsening situation post 1943 (and Berlins general apathy towards Nazism) he was considered almost "one" of them. I'd suggest all three of Cornelius Ryan's books to anyone look for a tightly knit story style of WW2 book, written mostly in the 1950's-1960's with real interviews of those involved and excellent anecdotes.