The Writers and Artists of the Hutchinson Camp

In the summer of 1940, British authorities classified thousands of German and Austrian refugees living in Britain—many of whom had fled Nazi persecution—as ‘enemy aliens’ and sent them to internment camps. Among the camps established across Britain, one of the most remarkable was Hutchinson Camp on the Isle of Man. Here, within the confines of around forty requisitioned boarding houses surrounded by barbed wire, a unique intellectual and artistic community emerged. The result was an extraordinary cultural life that produced lectures, performances, art exhibitions, and a newspaper.

Hutchinson Camp became known as the ‘artists’ camp’ due to the disproportionately high number of artists, writers, musicians, intellectuals, and academics interned there. Within days of the camp opening, architect Bruno Ahrends established a Cultural Department—soon nicknamed ‘Hutchinson University’ which organised lectures, seminars, and classes.

Soon after, around forty of the internees formed a semi-exclusive meeting place called the ‘Artists’ Café’, later known as ‘Café Chez La Dame Absente‘. Located in the laundry room of one of the boarding houses, this allowed members to gather for a few hours each afternoon to exchange ideas.

Initially suspicious of these activities, the camp authorities eventually became supportive. They allocated rooms for lectures and supplied the internees with a Gestetner duplicating machine, which allowed them to produce printed notices and publish a camp newspaper.

Among Hutchinson’s most notable figures was Kurt Schwitters, a leading figure of European Modernism. Schwitters had fled to Britain via Norway earlier in 1940 but was interned shortly after arriving. After several weeks in different camps, he was transferred to Hutchinson on 17 July 1940, where he would remain for sixteen months. During his internment, he remained extraordinarily productive. Schwitters gave performances of his famous ‘stutter poems’, made portraits of fellow detainees, and continued producing collages and assemblages using found and organic materials in the spirit of his celebrated Merz works.

The Camp Almanac 1940–41 was conceived as a showcase of the internees’  creative output and as a reflection on the first six months of camp life. The publication contains contributions from many leading artists and intellectuals in the camp. Schwitters contributed a portrait of the camp newspaper’s editor, Michael Corvin (pseudonym of Leo Freund). Other contributions include illustrations of camp life by Fred Uhlman, Fritz Krämer, and Erich Kahn, as well as sketches by sculptors Ernst Müller-Blensdorf and Paul Hamann. Bruno Ahrends contributed an illustrated article imagining how Douglas and other British seaside towns might be rebuilt after the war. 

Appropriate art materials were scarce in the camp, forcing the artists to improvise. Lavatory paper and wallpaper became surfaces for drawing and printing. Linocuts were carved from linoleum taken from kitchens and bathrooms, using kitchen utensils as tools. Ink was made from crushed graphite pencils or ground brick dust mixed with margarine or oil from tinned sardines. To print the images, inked blocks were run through a laundry mangle, which provided enough pressure to transfer the image onto a surface.

This particular copy of ‘The Camp Almanac 1940–41’ belonged to Siegfried Oppenheimer, an art dealer formerly associated with the Margraf firm in Berlin. Oppenheimer played an important role in supporting the camp’s artists. Acting as an advocate, he approached the camp commander to request studio space and materials for the artists. In return, the artists organised exhibitions of their work within the camp. Two such exhibitions were held in 1940, one in September and another in November. Many of the contributors, including Kurt Schwitters, signed or inscribed their pages to Oppenheimer in the days leading up to his release on 30 December 1940.

Today, ‘The Camp Almanac 1940–41’ is a remarkable testament to artistic resilience, capturing a moment when artistic practice became both a form of resistance and a means of sustaining community.