Extensive sources have been reviewed and analysed to piece together for the first time a detailed academic study of civilian evacuation to Devon viewed against the national backdrop. The primary focus of this thesis is the large number of unaccompanied children who were officially evacuated to the County under the auspices of the Government Evacuation Scheme during the Second World War. However, Chapter Six discusses the evacuation of mothers and accompanying children, unofficial (private) evacuees and private school parties. The majority of evacuated children arriving in Devon originated from the London area and southeastern counties. In addition large numbers of children were also evacuated to the County from Bristol and within the County from Plymouth (Devon) during 1941 and briefly from Exeter in May 1942. Each of the three national evacuation waves is considered individually throughout the text as they are quite distinct in complexion, a fact frequently ignored in generalised accounts which tend to focus on reaction to the initial wave. This thesis argues that: 1. lack of regional and local research has resulted in evacuation largely being viewed in generalised and stereotypical terms without due regard for the socioeconomic and geopolitical variance between those areas involved or the particular localised features of the evacuation process 2. the acclimatisation of evacuated children was particularly successful in Devon and drift back less than the national average 3. local evidence supports the argument that contemporary national reports of impoverished, dirty and ill mannered evacuees were frequently exaggerated 4. evacuation was central in accelerating postwar reform in areas of education, child care and welfare The civilian evacuation during World War Two was a remarkable event in the history of modern Britain. Interest in the subject has recently increased but there is enormous scope and need for further research both to broaden our understanding of the nature and impact of evacuation and to test entrenched views. The over-arching aim of this thesis is to contribute to this exploration.

The air campaign conducted by the RAAF in the North-Western Area during the Second World War has been largely ignored by historians yet it contributed significantly to the outcome of the Pacific war. This thesis sets out to discuss the campaign by considering various factors that impacted on the RAAF in the lead up to and during the course of the Pacific war and their relevance to the campaign. It looks at the way air operations were conducted in the North-Western Area between 1942 and 1945 and describes the role played by the flying squadrons based in the area. Using primary sources such as operational record books, documents and files at archives and libraries and interviews with veterans and experts the thesis found that the campaign was conducted in several phases. It started with the defence of Darwin. In keeping with overall allied strategy the RAAF then went on an offensive into what was then the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) using medium and heavy bombers and mine laying sea planes flying from bases in Australia???s north west. The NEI was vital to the Japanese war effort as a source of essential raw materials such as oil, timber, and rubber. To defend this part of their new empire the Japanese had amassed large military garrisons on the islands. The vessels used to transport troops and materials became the most important targets for the RAAF???s bomber squadrons. As General MacArthur???s forces advanced along the north coast of New Guinea the North-Western Area based units conducted raids into the NEI to deceive the Japanese into thinking an invasion would be launched from Darwin. As the New Guinea campaign gained momentum the RAAF???s task was to protect its western flank, to prevent the Japanese from moving troops and aircraft east to the Philippines. The thesis concludes the campaign was successful because Darwin was defended, it denied the Japanese vital materials for the conduct of the war and it kept hundreds of aircraft and tens of thousands of troops away from the allied advance.

No description available.

Laurence Prempain consacre sa thèse de doctorat d’histoire aux Polonais-es et Juif-ve-s polonais-es venu-e-s vivre à Lyon (France) entre 1935 et 1945. Dans une première partie, elle présente le cadre géographique (Lyon) ainsi que sa méthodologie (approche par le genre, choix de la microhistoire, le silence comme source) et sa volonté de donner à entendre leurs voix afin de les placer au coeur de sa démarche. Pour cela, suite au dépouillement de quelque 600 dossiers administratifs constitués par le bureau de contrôle des étrangers (préfecture du Rhône), les lettres qu’ils-elles ont écrites ont été collectées pour ce qu’elles mettent au jour de la lutte de leurs auteur-e-s pour vivre et survivre. L’historienne part du postulat que les Polonais-es et Juif-ve-s polonais-es venu-e-s en France composent une population hétérogène n’ayant en commun qu’un rattachement à une citoyenneté, mais qu’ils-elles n’en demeurent pas moins des réfugié-e-s économiques, politiques ou de guerre. Ainsi, un temps considéré-e-s comme les bienvenu-e-s, les ressortissant-e-s polonais-es sont tous-tes, à un moment de leur parcours de vie, considéré-e-s comme indésirables. Aussi, la deuxième partie est consacrée à l’exploration des procédés auxquels la Troisième République, puis le régime de Vichy ont recours : expulsions, refoulements, exclusions, internements sinon déportation. Par ailleurs, l’auteure s’intéresse aux sorties de guerre et démontre l’existence d’une dimension genrée de l’épuration, comme expression d’une tentative de réappropriation de l’autorité. L’attention est également portée sur l’organisation du rapatriement des étranger-ère-s déporté-e-s raciaux et politiques. Enfin, dans une troisième partie, elle affirme que loin de subir, ces hommes et femmes agissent et développent des stratégies évolutives. Au travers des lettres qu’ils-elles ont écrites, de ce qui est dit mais aussi passé sous silence, elle établit que ces stratégies semblent relever de ce qu’elle choisit de nommer esquive et transgression. L’une s’accommode des limites quand l’autre s’y oppose délibérément. Esquive et transgression se complètent. Il est montré qu’à l’arbitraire sans cesse croissant du régime de Vichy, répondent des stratégies de plus en plus transgressives, dont relèvent notamment le passage de frontière, l’entrée en clandestinité et en résistance. Le passage d’une forme de stratégie à l’autre dépend de l’individu, du contexte, de ses habiti, de son parcours et de son identité. L’historienne conclut qu’en 2016, la crise des réfugié-e-s qui secoue l’Europe résonne des mêmes voix, de celles et ceux qui cherchent à protéger leurs vies et à vivre dans la dignité / Laurence Prempain dedicates her PhD (History) to the study of the Poles and Polish Jews who came to live in Lyon (France) between 1935 and 1945. In the first part, she presents the geographical framework (Lyon), her methodology (Gender approach, microhistory and silence as a source) and her will to understand their voices and place them to the heart of her work. For that purpose, upon the examination of approximately 600 administrative files amassed by the « bureau des étrangers » (préfecture du Rhône), the letters they wrote have been then systematically collected to shed light on their authors’ struggle to live and survive. The historian starts from the postulate that Poles and Polish Jews in France make up a heterogeneous population, only sharing a common citizenship, nonetheless they remain economic, political and war refugees. Thus, once considered welcomed, all Polish nationals are , at their life, considered as unwanted, « indésirables ». Therefore, the second part investigates the processes used by the Third Republic and then the Vichy Regime to get rid of them: expulsions, driving back, exclusions, internments or deportation. Moreover, the author raises the question of the war ends and demonstrates that purges have a gendered dimension, which can be seen as an attempt of reappropriation of the authority. She also focuses on the foreign deportees repatriation’s organisation. Finally, in a third part, she asserts that far from being subjected, these men and women have acted and developped evolutive strategies. Through the letters they wrote, through what is said and what is silenced, she establishes that those strategies are a matter of what she names sidestep and transgression. The first one adapts itself with the limits while the other is deliberately opposed to it. Sidestep and transgression complete each other. It is also showed that to the arbitrary of the richy regime respond strategies more and more transgressive, such as clandestinity, cross borders and resistance. The moving from a strategy to another one, depends on the person, the context, the habits, the life course and the identity. The historian concludes that in 2016, the refugees crisis that shakes Europe resonates of the same voices, of those who are looking for protecting their lives and to living in dignity..

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The study "Democrat Petr Zenkl (from teaching to the exile)" is a complex political monography of one of the most important Czechoslovak politicians, PhDr. Petr Zenkl. It focuses on his resistance to the rule of Austria-Hungary, his early activities and the beginnings of his political career, his municipal work in Prague, his participation in the governments of the First and Third Czechoslovak republic, his career in the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party and his leading role among anti-comunist exiles in the USA during the Cold War.

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No description available.

Denna uppsats undersöker Sveriges marinstrategi i händelse av krig med Tyskland respektive Sovjeteunionen våren 1941 utifrån Chefen för Marinens instruktioner för krigsfall I respektive II. / This paper explores Swedish naval strategy during the Second World War (1939-1945), an area that has not seen significant research. This paper focuses on how Swedish maritime forces were to be used in case of war with Germany (War Plan I; Krigsfall I), and with the Soviet Union (War plan II; Krigsfall II). This paper focuses on Swedish planning during the spring of 1941. The period after the fall of France (June 1940) and before the German invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941) was a period where both Germany and the Soviet Union possessed what could be described as strategic freedom of action. This means large parts of their armed forces could have been used for operations against Sweden. The basis for each potential conflict was different: Germany occupied Norway and Denmark and could launch a ground invasion of Sweden directly; meanwhile Sweden and the Soviet Union were still separated by Finland and the Baltic Sea. Maritime forces would therefore play very different roles in the two War Plans. No official plans in case of war with the western Allies existed at the time, and hence this has not been explored here. The conclusion of this paper is that Swedish naval strategy at the time was somewhat offensive and focused on gaining sea control, at least in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia, to maintain freedom of action to be able to conduct troop movements along the Swedish coast, to the island of Gotland, and to Finland.

The discursive and critical positions of the ‘classic’ nineteenth-century novel, particularly the woman’s novel, in the field of adaptation studies have been dominated by long-standing concerns about textual fidelity and the generic processes of the text-screen transfer. The sociocultural patterns of adaptation criticism have also been largely ensconced in representations of literary women on screen. Taking a decisive twist from tradition, this thesis traces the evolution of representations of masculinity in the malleable characters of Rochester and Heathcliff in film and television adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights between 1939 and 2009. Concepts of masculinity have been a neglected area of enquiry in studies of the ‘classic’ novel on screen. Adaptations of the Brontës’ novels, as well as the adapted novels of other ‘classic’ women authors such as Jane Austen, George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell, increasingly foreground male character in traditionally female-oriented narratives or narratives whose primary protagonist is female. This thesis brings together industrial histories, textual frames and sociocultural influences that form the wider contexts of the adaptations to demonstrate how male characterisation and different representations of masculinity are reformulated and foregrounded through three different adaptive histories of the narratives of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Through the contours of the film and television industries, the application of text and context analysis, and wider sociocultural considerations of each period an understanding of how Rochester and Heathcliff have been transmuted and centralised within the adaptive history of the Brontë novel.