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Escape from Nazi–Austria and Germany to England through a Domestic Permit
| From 1933 until the final closing of the borders of the Third Reich in October 1941 about 500,000 people of Jewish origin were expelled from Germany (and former Austria) by the Nazi. In spite of the restrictive British immigration policy 55,000 persons later acknowledged as "refugees from Nazi oppression" got entry into England. About 55% of these German and Austrian refugees in England were women. Nearly 20,000 came into the country as domestic servants, with the vast majority of them being Jewish females. A very large number came from former Austria. This specific immigration can only be understood as a part of a longer tradition of German–speaking young women coming into British families as domestic servants: The "Domestic Permit" – issued by the British Ministry of Labour – enabled British employers to engage foreign domestic servants for an agreed–upon period of time. After the "Anschluss" – and especially after the November pogrom – this document emerged to be the only possible way to reach England, in particular for women.
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