The Politics of Citizenship in 1940s Britain: The British Nationality Act

The article examines the enactment of the British NationalityAct, 1948. The legislation created a legal status—Citizenshipof the UK and Colonies—that included Britons and ‘colonial’British subjects under a single definition of British citizenship,and entrenched their right to enter the UK. Between 1948 and1962, some 500, 000 non-white British subjects entered underthe legislation, despite documented evidence of elite suspicionof non-white Commonwealth migration. The article argues thatthis apparent contradiction can only be understood by examiningthe legislation in the context of past migration patterns andBritain's international position in 1948. The legislation wasonly marginally related to migration; it was rather an attemptto maintain a uniform definition of subjecthood in the faceof Canada's unilateral introduction of its own citizenship,and it was an affirmation of Britain's place as head of a Commonwealthstructure founded on the relationship between the UK and theOld Dominions. ^* For comments on earlier drafts, I owe my thanks to John Dorwin,Katie Goebs, Iain McLean, and Desmond King.     

The Rise and Fall of Radical Reconstruction in 1940s Britain

German air-raids during the early days of the Second World Wardestroyed a number of cities in Britain. At the same time, somecontemporaries regarded such destruction as an opportunity notonly for the reconstruction of the built environment but alsofor the creation of a fairer society. The replanning of theblitzed areas became a symbol of the aspiration to build a NewJerusalem. This article examines the fate of radical town planning ideasin the 1940s and the early 1950s with particular reference tothe rebuilding of heavily bombed cities. It analyses the visionswhich inspired reconstruction plans, examines their conceptionand studies the visionaries, both ordinary citizens and thepolitical elite. The process of postwar reconstruction in general has becomea much-debated subject in political, economic and social historyin recent years, but there has been a serious lack of detailedexamination of postwar urban replanning and redevelopment. Thisarticle, therefore, also considers how the rebuilding of war-damagedcities should be evaluated in the light of the contemporarypolitical, economic, and social realities and issues duringthe period of postwar reconstruction. ^* I am most grateful to Dr. Nick Tiratsoo and Ms Hannah Pandianfor their comments and encouragements during the preparationof this article. I am also thankful to the editors and the refereefor their comments and suggestions. References starting CABand HLG relate to files in the Public Record Office, London.     

Visual culture and geographical citizenship: England in the 1940s

This paper addresses the place of geography in England in the 1940s in relation to debates over reconstruction. It focuses on the ways in which a particular sense of geographical citizenship was promoted around questions of landscape and the visual. The paper addresses the aesthetic geographies developed in relation to debates on planning and preservation, and shows how they embodied a particular social aesthetic. The relational definition of citizenship in contrast to an “anti-citizenship” is discussed in connection with legislative moves for national parks and open-air recreation. The place of physical geography as a cultural practice is addressed in relation to issues of coastal survey and field study. The paper concludes by connecting these geographical imaginations into broader movements for visual education and the promotion of principles of design in modern life.     

The informer, the lover and the gift giver: female collaborators in Pau 1940-1946

In July 1940 the Armistice Commission sent a German delegationto Pau in south-western France. The delegation included AndréMüller, a Nazi who also worked for the German SecurityPolice. Müller's twenty-nine letters to a female collaborator,alongside the testimonies of those who knew the two friends,provide an unusual opportunity to recapture a sense of day-to-dayrelations between the occupied and occupiers. The Nazi officer'sletters reveal his reflections on the war, his hopes and, aboveall, his material needs. The cycle of epistolary exchange thatlinked the two friends entailed a unidirectional flow of giftsfrom the female collaborator to Müller. The letters, goodsand services they exchanged raise important questions aboutthe location of power, indebtedness and gratitude in Franco-Germanpartnerships; they also provide an opportunity to test assumptionsabout the inequality of such relationships in occupied France.The court testimonies in Pau also offer rare insights into femaleinvolvement in collaborationist movements, which were primarilya male sphere of activity and influence.     

New Britain,new heritage: The consumption of a heritage culture

Abstract

Each month in Britain marks a further, official, distancing from the past and its memorials, as we move closer to the selected Millennium marker. Heritage has a particularly low profile at present with policies for destruction of the House of Lords encouraging increasing ridicule aimed at legacies from the past. In terms of media coverage, at least, the heritage bubble has burst, as indeed it had to. As soon as modest, individual or community, breaths were marshalled into corporate puff, the sheer size of the national preservation and presentation enterprise hinted at its own demise. Nicholas Howard, he of Castle Howard, provided an appropriate caution in 1993, when he noted:     

Defence and Diplomacy: The British Foreign Office and Singapore, 1939-1940

Examinations of the defence of Singapore normally focus on therole the Royal Navy and antipodean cries of betrayal. In suchstudies, great attention is paid to such matters as how longit would take the Royal Navy to relieve Singapore and the degreeto which the British government misled Australia, New Zealand,and Singapore itself with regard to London's determination todefend the fortress. This study concentrates instead on Britishdiplomacy in the Far East, and contends that Britain intendedto defend its position in the region by means of creating theimpression in Tokyo that Japan faced a loose Anglo-Americancoalition opposed to any Japanese expansionist efforts. In asimilar fashion, the British attempted also to utilize Soviet–Japanesehostility to protect their interests in the Far East. By lookingat these matters, a greater understanding of the wider aspectsof British strategic defence policy can be found.     

The Ordre Des Medecins and the Jews in Vichy France, 1940-1944

This paper examines the way in which the Jewish question washandled by the Ordre des Médecins, a representative institutionfor the medical profession created by the Vichy government.It discusses the historiography of Vichy anti-Semitism generallyand goes on to analyze the background of anti-Semitism in theFrench medical profession in the 1930s, comparing it with anti-Semitismin other professions such as Law. The paper then discusses thereactions of the Ordre des Médecins and its governingbody, the Conseil Supérieur, to the Vichy anti-Semiticlegislation which affected the profession and compares its brandof anti-Semitism with the official Vichy policy. It focuseson the unequal battle between the Conseil Supérieur,whose members were typically traditional nationalistic and protectionistanti-Semites, and the Vichy government, where quasi-racial anti-Semitismwas official policy. It explains the inevitable defeat of theConseil Supérieur.     

The changing relationship between education and marriage in the United States, 1940-2000

In 1940, when gender specialization was high, there was a negative relationship between education and marriage for women. College-educated women were least likely to be currently married and most likely to be never married. Declines in specialization were accompanied by a transition in this relationship. By 2000, when gender specialization was low, there was a positive relationship between education and marriage for women. College-educated women were most likely to be currently married, in part because they were more likely to stay married or remarry after divorce or widowhood. This transition occurred earlier and more completely for black women than for white women. These changes suggest that the relationship between education and marriage is shaped in part by the gender-role context.