Chapter 3 - Escape and Internment

Summary

This chapter describes in detail Neurath’s adventurous escape from The Hague with other refugees on a small boat that was intercepted by a British warship. He and his partner Marie Reidemeister were then interned as enemy aliens on the Isle of Man, due to the encroaching threat of German invasion. The internment camps were a microcosm of Central European culture, and Neurath participated in the ‘popular university’ organized by internees of his camp. The correspondence between Neurath and Reidemeister (in separate camps) reveals their optimistic determination to continue working together, as well as Neurath’s predisposal to British culture. The Society for the Protection of Science and Learning campaigned for their release but, despite intervention from Albert Einstein, their case was not simple.