After Hitler's takeover of the German government, it was clear to many wizards that a storm was coming. German witches and wizards originally supported Hitler's rise to power, as did many. His ability to stabilize the economy made him almost like a savior to the German people. While this led to an improvement of living conditions in Germany for muggles, wizards, and witches of German descent; the rise of the Nazis led to horrid conditions for muggles, wizards, and witches of non-German descent, mainly Jewish muggles, wizards, and witches.

In 1936 there was a mass exodus of Jewish witches and wizards. However, almost no witches and wizards went to Austria. Austria was in some ways more anti-Semitic than Germany. There are reports of Jewish Austrian muggles being forced to scrub the sidewalks in Vienna. Consequently many of the witches and wizards did not flee to Austria. Most tried to flee to Britain and Switzerland.

Britain

The Ministry of Magic was reluctant to accept German refugees. There are allegations that the reason for the refusal to accept German witches and wizards stemmed from Anti-Semitic feelings and because of some familial ties between German pure-blood-centric wizarding families and British wizarding families. However these allegations have little wait. Most witches and wizards had no qualms with Jews. Wizards and witches had often been persecuted and burned at the stake (although many witches and wizards managed to avoid it by making the flames harmless). In fact many witches and wizards found common ground with these Jewish witches and wizards as Jewish witches and wizards faced nearly double the persecution from muggles.

Most of these refusals stemmed from post-war dislike and economic concerns. British wizarding families were not on the whole fond of Germany after the war. Economically, the British Minister of Magic was given a mandate by the British Prime Minister to try and take all measures necessary to maintain the wizarding community.

The Prime Minister feared that, should the wizarding community become sufficiently discontent, that they would go on a rampage. These fears turned out to be rather unrealistic. The economic situation of witches and wizards was far better than the economic situation of the muggle majority. However, the Minister of Magic didn't want to see a huge strike of unemployment hit the wizarding community. Not to mention that the British Prime Minister's feelings about Germany were not at all positive.

However, when put in desperate situations, German witches and wizards found ways in. Some attempted to use the Bubble-head charm and gillyweed to swim across the English Channel, others shipped devices similar to vanishing cabinets to try and transport their way across the channel, a select few managed to hitch a ride on a dragon, others used port keys. The more adept apparated into Britain. However the Ministry of Magic kept track of all those apparating into Britain using a spell similar to the Underage Wizard spell that alerts the ministry if any underage wizards use magic outside of school.

It should be noted that even though apparating into Britain was detected by the Ministry of Magic, many were less inclined to deport witches and wizards who had been caught. Though there was great pressure from Pure-blood-centric families to track them down, especially half-blood or muggle-born witches and wizards. As the pre-war period progressed, requests for asylum increased dramatically and reached a peak in 1939, after which request for asylum plummeted to almost zero.

France

France and the French wizarding community were very anti-German. As a result the French Ministry of Magic deported German wizarding refugees without mercy.

Germany

The situation in Germany progressed rather the same way it had since Hitler's rise. As mentioned before, German immigration dropped off after 1939. This is not because no one was trying to leave Germany or because most of the people who wanted to leave had left. In fact there were thousands upon thousands of desperate wizarding families who wanted out. It was Hitler's choice to take over the German Ministry of Magic and fill it with his choice of pure-blood centric wizards that led to this drop off. Suddenly all requests for asylum were monitored by the German government and any who attempted to leave were severely punished.

Recall the conditions under Voldermort's yolk and multiply the cruelty and hatred by a factor of ten and you get close to the conditions suffered by the non-Aryan and non-Pureblood wizarding community. These conditions were horrid for those non-Aryan wizards and especially for half-blood and muggle-born witches and wizards.

Those few witches and wizards who managed to escape used concealment charms to try and hide.

Switzerland

As Switzerland remained neutral in World War I, the Swiss had little hatred for Germany and were far more inclined to allow German wizarding families in to their country. Switzerland proved to be a hub of witches and wizards during the war.

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As the pre-war period progressed you had a massive exodus of non-Aryan wizards, and wizards of non-Pure blood status. The Swiss were the most welcoming while Britain was less so. France was absolutely intolerant of immigration as Germany became worse and worse. In the next chapter we'll cover the actual outbreak of war.