Governments-in-exile, established during the Second World War in London, claimed to represent the populations in countries occupied by Nazi Germany. The essay presents a theoretical framework concerning the responses of the Governments-in-exile to the Nazi persecution of the Jews during the war. It argues that the governments need to be perceived as a special category among the so-called bystanders to the Holocaust and that their policies on Jewish matters were shaped by different influences to those that impacted on the major Allied powers. The essay argues that although contemporary historiography has not paid sufficient attention to this subcategory of bystanders to the Holocaust, the impact of exiles’ policies on the fate of the Jews during and after the war should not be marginalised. An analysis of the exiles’ treatment of the Jewish issues contributes to our understanding of the Allies’ responses to the Holocaust and provides new perspectives to hotly debated themes concerning Jewish/non-Jewish relations in Nazi-controlled Europe. © 2012, © Vallentine Mitchell, 2012.

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