The responsibility of the West toward Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany during the period of the Third Reich is now one of the larger areas of Holocaust-related research and writing. Owing to the huge expanse of the British Empire, numerous studies have been undertaken with regard to the vastness of the self-governing dominions; the unknown potential of the colonies; and, of course, the special status of Mandate Palestine. In two areas, Africa and the Caribbean, comprehensive work is still being developed in relationship to Nazism and refugees from the Nazis, building on the pioneering efforts of earlier scholars who made a tentative start in this direction.

One who has attempted to address the lacuna in respect of the Jewish refugee issue relative to the British West Indian colonies is historian Joanna Newman, and in Nearly the New World, she has made a sterling effort at crafting as thorough a study of her topic as can be found. The story, as she shows, is multilayered and far from straightforward.

Legislative activity within the colonial empire regarding immigration matters, including Jewish refugees during the 1930s and 1940s, was complex. Colonial lawmaking was at all times conditioned by an act of the British Parliament dating from 1865, the Colonial Laws Validity Act. This gave self-governing colonies the right to amend any constitution that had been granted by the British Parliament, but only insofar as such changes did not conflict with British laws. This doctrine, whereby Westminster could overturn colonial legislation that was “repugnant” to British practice, ultimately determined the foundation upon which colonial migration policy was framed. In most cases, the control of immigration was an area that impinged on Britain's relations with other countries too closely to be left to colonial legislators. Consequently, migration was usually retained as an area of responsibility for the British-appointed governor, and the colonies were obliged to defer to Colonial Office rulings on immigration matters.

The result of this policy saw an uneven record of Jewish refugee migration to the colonial empire during the period of the Third Reich. Numerous considerations had to be taken into account by both Westminster and the colonial administration: the colony's geographical size and location, its proximity to likely enemies, relations between internal minorities, prevailing economic conditions, existing population size relative to land mass, and British estimations of the likelihood of refugee success in certain climatic conditions. Given the vastly different conditions determining activity throughout the empire, no firm principles could be laid down, much less applied. Each of the colonial administrations, taking their lead from what the Colonial Office would allow in view of specific circumstances, responded individually, and while many appeared similar, none was taken as a model for others.

What did these general principles signify for the Caribbean colonies? As Newman shows, each of the British West Indian colonies developed specific policies germane to their individual circumstances. With two important exceptions—Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago— Jews allowed to enter the British Caribbean and then remain there were far from numerous, notwithstanding the fact that many tried unsuccessfully to obtain entry. The attraction, of course, was not so much the beauty of the islands or their climate, but their proximity to both North and South America (particularly the United States and Argentina), given that these were social environments not too dissimilar to that which they were attempting to escape in Nazi Europe. Yet some permits for entry were granted.

According to a Colonial Office memorandum dated March 31, 1939, it was concluded that the following numbers could be calculated: Bahamas, nil (though a later estimate showed that ten Jewish refugees were in residence by September 1939); Barbados, two (nil in September 1939); Bermuda, nil (nil); British Honduras, twelve (twenty-three); Leeward Islands, one (one); and Windward Islands, nil (nil)—though it was observed that permission had been granted to five refugees to reside in Grenada, and that “20 persons could be admitted” to St. Vincent “provided that they did not seek employment.” In the six months prior to the outbreak of war, twenty-three Jews were listed as having entered British Honduras. In early 1939, a German ship, S.S. Koenigstein, arrived in the harbor at Georgetown, capital of British Guiana, with 165 Jewish refugees on board. They were not permitted to disembark, and shortly afterwards the British and colonial governments ceased all immigration to the colony. Despite this, during the 1930s and throughout the war years, some 130 Jews found refuge in British Guiana.

The situation prevailing in Trinidad and Tobago was of a different nature. With no visa requirement—merely a landing fee—it did not take long for desperate Jews from Germany and Austria to seek admission in significant numbers. By March 31, 1939, the Colonial Office already noted that 359 Jewish refugees had entered Trinidad through this visa-less loophole, and by the outbreak of war in September that year, it is possible that the Jewish population could even have topped six hundred altogether. The community they established in Port of Spain—given that many came with professional qualifications, were non-English-speaking, arrived without means, and had to be supported by Jewish refugee aid agencies—was culturally and religiously distinctive.

In Jamaica, the key part of the story relates to a refugee community of just over 200 Jews, of various backgrounds, who, as the result of a remarkable set of circumstances, managed to achieve safety in Jamaica in 1942. In danger of being stranded in Portugal and handed over to Nazi Germany, they were evacuated by the British from Lisbon and sent to Kingston, where they were interned in what was known as Gibraltar Camp until their release could be arranged.

Indeed, the war situation saw all Jewish refugees with German or Austrian passports deemed to be “enemy aliens” and placed in internment. Gradually, as Newman shows, releases took place, though the refugees were subject to certain wartime restrictions. By the end of the war, the majority of the refugees in Jamaica, Trinidad, and the other British West Indies colonies had left for the United States, Britain, or other British possessions.

In short, Joanna Newman has done a remarkable job of rescuing an otherwise little-known story of the Holocaust, and her book is to be recommended to those seeking to learn something of the history of Holocaust rescue beyond that reserved for the countries where immigration was a given and refugee resettlement was expected.