Mr Regan Ebsworth
PhD Student

Summary

Thesis working title: “Resistance, Collaboration and the Spaces in Between: the Internment of British Citizens in France, 1935-1955”.

The summer of 1940 was a major moment in the history of the Second World War, which saw a defeated France capitulate and succumb to German occupation. But what of the British civilians living in France at that time? Many fled back to Britain, whilst several thousand decided to remain on French soil and try to get on with their lives. However, this was not to last. In September 1940, the German authorities declared British citizens on French soil as enemy aliens, resulting in a wave of arrests. Any civilian with a British passport was to be interned. 

Families were torn apart, with men being sent to the camp of St Denis, near Paris, whilst women and children were sent to Besançon, close to the Swiss border. They suffered inhumane conditions, a harsh winter with no heating and they fought vermin daily. It was only in the spring of 1941 that their conditions were improved, as a result of international pressure and formal inspections. The men’s camp of St Denis saw a great improvement, whilst the women were moved to a new home in the spa town of Vittel, where they would live in a former hotel complex.

My PhD research explores the day-to-day experiences of British civilians in these internment camps in France. Monotony was the primary difficulty for the internees, who sought to busy themselves with a myriad of passtimes and persuits, such as sports tournaments, language classes and theatre, whilst lacking equipment and material for all three. The project takes an interdisciplinary approach, looking at how the British reacted to internment from different perspectives. This is a social history, which seeks to reveal the forgotten stories of British civilians in France during the Second World War.

This project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), via a Technē studentship. 

Supervisory Team 

• Dr Alison Carrol 
• Dr Ludivine Broch
• Dr Inge Dornan
• Dr Amanda Lanzillo (Research Development Advisor)

Qualifications

• Master's degree in History, University of Caen Normandy, 2020-2022.
• Politics and History BSc (Hons), Brunel University of London, 2016-2019.
• Diploma of Political Studies (Erasmus), Sciences Po Rennes, 2017-2018.