Migranten und Internierte: Deutsche in Glasgow, 1864-1918

In recent decades, as the history of immigration has begun to receive serious attention from some British historians, if not the mainstream establishment, much of which has a blind spot when it comes to such issues, a series of groups has begun to receive considerable attention. Jewish and Irish migrants, with a serious historiography dating back to the nineteenth century, lead the way. Similarly, 'Black' people have also received attention for decades from a variety of scholars. More recently, a series of other, perhaps less obvious, minorities have also come to attract serious study from historians.

One of these is the Germans, which should not actually surprise because they have had a significant presence in Britain for hundreds of years. In fact, this group has reached its numerical peak in recent decades. Over the past two centuries this minority has consisted of variety of ethnic, social and religious components. Historians have increasingly turned their minds to them. While much of this has focused upon refugees from Nazism, since the early 1990s the migrants who moved to Britain during the nineteenth century have received increasing attention. Indeed, my own general studies on the nineteenth century and the First World War have been followed by more specialist studies.

Stefan Manz's volume might be said to fall into the latter category, except for the fact that it covers the fairly lengthy time period of 1864-1918. But it certainly offers new departures in at least two ways. First of all, it is the only substantial work on the history of Germans in Scotland. In fact, it is one of relatively few books to look at any individual minority in Scotland, other than the Irish and Jews, although most general works on Britain have tackled immigrants in the country as part of the broader picture. More importantly, from the point of view of the historiography of Germans in Britain, Manz's book is a focused city case study of the type that has characterized the historiography of immigrants in the USA during the nineteenth century.

Manz has actually produced an outstanding piece of scholarship, whose strengths lie in all its facets. In fact, there are no obvious weaknesses. The book describes the development of the German community during the nineteenth centur y, beginning with the reasons for migration to the town and the growth of the local community, moving on to its social and economic structure and then describing the way in which it developed as an ethnic community. Manz stresses the diversity of the community throughout his narrative. The stor y of the Germans who moved to Britain during the nineteenth century does not have a happy ending and Manz concludes his work by describing the consequences of the xenophobic hostility that destroyed German communities throughout the country. Without wishing to stretch the point too far, it is fair to draw parallels between the history of German Jewr y and the evolution of the German minority in Britain during the nineteenth centur y. Both emerged as successful groups and both faced destruction as a result of extreme wartime intolerance.

Before describing the course of events, Manz begins with a methodological introduction in which he tells us that he is taking a micro-historical and prosopographical approach. While he may not be the first person to have done the latter in the historiography of immigrants in Britain, he is probably the first to have constructed the history of a community by examining individual experiences, which he then brings together under the various themes which take his narrative forward. Manz is completely familiar with the small historiography of Germans in Britain and, more importantly, contextualizes his story within the extant literature on the history of immigration into the country.

The book is extremely thoroughly researched. Apart from a full acquaintance with the secondary literature, Manz travelled widely both in Scotland and beyond for the purposes of examining all of the relevant archival sources, which he cited. He also made much use of newspaper sources, especially the Glasgow Herald. Manz further travelled to German archives including various branches of the Bundesarchiv and the Evangelisches Zentralarchiv in Berlin containing information about German communities throughout the world.

One of the most original aspects of this work is the prosopographical approach taken. This is not one that has been used in any studies of immigrant communities in Britain before 1945. It allows detailed insights into how an ethnic community evolves though the experiences of individuals. The urban-based micro-historical approach also deserves mention. Certainly, this does not represent a new departure to the study of immigrants groups in Britain, as several studies of pre-First World War Jewry, especially in the East End of London, exist. Nevertheless, it is the first study of the German community in an urban location in Scotland.

Unfortunately, most of those who read this review will not have the linguistic ability to read the book it describes. This is a great pity because of the thoroughness of the research, the command of ideas and the richness of the narrative. It traces the rise and fall of an immigrant minority in Britain, describing the way in which the country both accepted and then rejected one particular immigrant group: Glasgow could be any other location which had a similar-sized German community, whether Bradford, Leeds, Liverpool or Manchester. The book really does represent a case study of a national picture. For non-German speakers, let us hope that it appears as an English translation for it is a very rich work of scholarship that deserves a very wide readership.