Figure 1.-- During the pre-mass murder phase of NAZI rule (1933-40), some 7,000-8,600 mostly German Jewish refugees appear to have found refuge in Australia. We are not sure about the detaols, but believe most did so after getting to Briain first. Here a German Jewish family sets sail for Australia from Britain during the late-1930s.

Australia before World War II had a small Jewish community of some 30,000 individuals. Australia had a White Only immigration policy. And there was some opposition to even white immigration, especially Jews. Anti-semitism was wide spread and played a role in this feeling. The Depression and unemployment furthered these deelings. Even so, Australia at the Evian Conference agreed to accept 15,000 Jewish refugees (July 6-15, 1938). Although inadequate, it was a larger effort percapita than made by any other country. Even Canada, another lightly populated country which refused to accept none. This was just before Munich Crisis and Kristallnacht. The Australian Government only recognized NAZI Germany as a source of endangered refugees. Very few Jews were actually admitted. We are not sure why. Hitler and Stalin launched World War II by invading Poland (September 1939). At this point escape became exceedingly difficult, both from the Reich and NAZI-occupied territories. During the pre-mass murder phase of NAZI rule (1933-40), some 7,000-8,600 motly German Jewish refugees appear to have found refuge in Australia. This does not include the unfortunate internees aboard HMT Dunera, about 2,000 Jews (1940). We are not entirely sure how the other Jews got to Australia, wether there was a kind of Ausralian diplomatic mission in Berlin or it occurred after Jews got to Britain. A few Kindertransport children seem to have been cared for in Australia, we think by the Jewish community in Australia. Even when the dimensions of the Holocaust became known after the War, continued resistance to Jewish immigration existed. A Liberal politician (Henry Baynton Gullett) in 1946 insisted, "We are not compelled to accept the unwanted of the world at the dictate of the United Nations or any one else. Neither should Australia be a dumping ground for people whom Europe itself, in the course of 2,000 years, has not been able to absorb." In all, Austrlia admitted some 35,000 Jews, mostly refugees (1938-61), more than doubling the country's Jewish population. Among the Jews admitted were a diverse mix of Holocaust survivors, refugees from Arab countries after the the Israeli-Arab conflict flared up, and some in transit, such as those taking temporary refuge in such places as Shanghai. While Australian troops did not liberate the NAZI camps in Europe, they played an imprtant role in deffeating the NAZIs and ending the Holocaust, primarily their important role in defedating the Afrika Korps in North Africa.

Created: 11:52 AM 3/25/2023
Last updated: 11:52 AM 3/25/2023