Kurt and Helma Schwitters decided to separate temporarily in 1937, a move that became necessary when the Nazi regime classified  Kurt Schwitters’ art as “degenerate”. Kurt travelled with the couple’s son to Norway, while his wife remained in Germany for a period, caring for her sick parents and her mother-in-law, while also organising the shipment of the couple’s furniture and art collection to Norway. She made repeated visits to Lysaker, near Oslo to be close to her husband and son. In the long term, the family hoped to emigrate to the USA.

The commencement of World War II and the Wehrmacht invasion of Norway in the summer of 1940 ruined these plans. Kurt Schwitters’ only option was to flee to Great Britain via Lofoten. In Britain he was immediately detained as an “enemy alien”. After moving through a series of internment camps he was transferred to Douglas on the Isle of Man in June 1940. The Red Cross made it possible for prisoners to send letters to their families. Kurt Schwitter could now carry out written correspondence with his wife.

This letter, written during Schwitters’ first Christmas without his family as a detainee, shows clear signs of a man in grave humour. Schwitters does mention, however, that he was once more able to work on his art: during his one-and- a-half-year internment, the multi-faceted artist produced a plethora of paintings and abstract art works. Friends of Kurt Schwitters continued their efforts to bring the artist to the USA but were unsuccessful. He was never re-united with his wife, who died in 1944.