Our first home - Dunera Association

Dunera News
No. 76 June 2009
A publication for Former Refugees from Nazi and Fascist persecution
(mistakenly shipped to and interned in Australia at Hay and Tatura, many later
serving with the A llied F orces ), their R elatives and their F riends .
Our first home
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 1
Foundation Editor:
The late Henry Lippmann OAM
Information Required
Editorial responsibility:
The Committee of the Dunera Association
From Frankie Blei
(Emil Wittenberg’s niece)
All correspondence to:
Dunera News, Dunera Association
c/– 87 Clow Street, Dandenong
Victoria 3175, Australia
Email: [email protected]
I have just received, through the
Austria/Czech genealogical group, an
email from a Tom Heinersdorff
looking for his aged mother’s cousin,
Franz Menzel who was a Dunera Boy.
Contents:
Can someone please tell me whether
Franz is still alive and if not, whether
he has any descendents.
Page
President and Committee
3
Hay Visits
4
From Dachau to D-Day 4
Erwin Lamm’s visit to Sale Primary School 5
From the Duldig Studio
7
Hans Lindau – by Gideon Haigh
8
Sydney Dunera Reunion
10
Alfred Wachs letter
11
A visit to Bad-Arolsen
12
On the Lighter Side 15
Many thanks to our contributors:
Peter Arnott, Frank Berg (UK), Eva Duldig, Yoram
Epstein (Israel), Dr Helen Fry (UK), David Houston,
Lurline & Arthur Knee, Konrad Kwiet, Erwin Lamm.
Obituaries:
Eric Eckstein
late Hon. Secretary to our Association,
Dandenong. 1923 — 28 April, 2009.
Gerald Cummings (Kuppenheim)
Metung (Victoria).
28 November, 1922 — 18 March, 2009.
Our very sincerest sympathies to their
families and friends.
[email protected]
Imperial War Museum
From Suzanne Bardgett, Head of
Holocaust and Genocide History,
Imperial War Museum, London.
Reunion of refugees from Nazism
who served in the British Forces
during the Second World War:
A record of the event is now
available on the Imperial War
Museum website.
http://london.iwm.org.uk/server/
show/nav.22734
Write to us!
neXT closing date – 1 September, 2009
Letters and articles for publication are welcome.
We would love to hear from you.
Please supply name, address, phone number,
and send to: Dunera News
c/– 87 Clow Street, Dandenong
Victoria 3175 Australia
Or email to: [email protected]
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 2
From the President and Committee
Vale Eric Eckstein
ERIC ECKSTEIN has been a member since
the formal inception of our Association in
1989 and has served as its Committee
Secretary ever since. He suffered an
unfortunate accident in the garden of
his home which despite immediate
hospitalisation and surgery, did not save
his life. Many Dunera Boys worldwide
knew Eric well and maintained personal
contact with him. We want to express
our gratitude for his untiring efforts and
contributions to the ongoing existence of
the Dunera story. Our sincere sympathies
go out to Judith, their sons David and
Nicholas and their families. His memory
will be cherished by all his Dunera friends.
The Annual Melbourne Reunion will take
place at a new venue on 10 November
this year.
Sydney 69th Anniversary – 10 September
There will be a function to commemorate the
disembarkation at Pyrmont Pier 21. It is now
renamed Jones Wharf. Renovations have
turned the area into a vibrant commercial
centre which should make it a worthwhile
visit for young and old.
We have been able to book at the well‑known
function centre, Kimberley Gardens, at
441 Inkerman Street, St Kilda. It offers 45
car parks on a first-come basis, with direct,
same-level access to the function centre and
a convenient drop-off point close to the front
entrance. There is also ample on-street
parking right outside.
For further details, see the separate
announcement on page 10 with pictures of
the modernised old wharf sheds blending
well into the Darling Harbour Complex.
There will be a two-course menu with a
choice from two main courses and two
desserts, with salad on the table as well as
soft drinks, coffee and tea. The bar will be
open of course. There will also be kosher
and special needs meals available.
Booking and other details will be announced
in the October Dunera News issue.
The article in this issue is from The Age A2 of
2 May, throwing some light on this singularly
interesting career, hardly known in Dunera
circles, but picked up by knowledgable
Dunera readers several of whom mentioned
it. We still get press publicity! DO YOU have
any other worthwhile stories?
We have been able to invite a guest speaker,
a well‑known public personality who will be of
definite interest to the younger generation,
our descendants.
Mark this in your diary for 10 November,
the second Tuesday in November, at 12.00
noon, for lunch at about 12.30pm.
HANS LINDAU — We briefly reported in our
October 2008 issue on this Dunera Boy’s
little known past as a botanist and scientist
whose research records have been donated
to the National Library in Canberra.
Mike Sondheim, President
NOTE: Mike Sondheim can now be reached on: [email protected]
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 3
Hay Visits
The Hay Dunera Day during the traditional
first weekend in September will be
available this year.
David Houston, Chairman of the Hay
Dunera Committee and Museum, advises
that it will be his pleasure to meet any
Dunera relations and friends and give them
a guided tour of the museum and other
notable sights which many of us have
thoroughly enjoyed in past years.
David suggests for you to make prior
contact on – [email protected]
so that he can send you a program.
This applies to any time of the year.
Visitor numbers to Hay and the Dunera
museum and other relics have continued to
increase; in fact some visitors from Sweden
came recently.
Next year, 2010, will be the 70th anniversary
of our arrival which we hope to celebrate in
Hay with our local friends. It is 15 months
off but one has to be positive and plan
ahead, this is directed particularly at the
younger generation, some of whom have
visited and some of whom came with their
parents 20 years ago to the fantastic
celebrations held for the 50th in 1990
which will never be forgotten.
From Dachau to D-Day
From the pen of historian
Helen Fry comes the
biography From Dachau to
D-Day about ex-Dunera boy
and veteran Willy Field (Willy
Hirschfeld, b.Bonn).
A survivor of Dachau
concentration camp, Willy
eventually fled to England
only to be interned on the
Dunera. After a year in
Australia, he was sent
back to England to
join the Pioneer Corps,
then in 1943 he became a tank driver in
the Royal Armoured Corps.
Willy was involved in the D-Day landings,
the liberation of Belgium and Holland, and
the invasion of Germany.
In March this year, just a few months off
his 89th birthday, Willy and his wife Judy
celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary
and received a telegram from Her Majesty
the Queen. It has been a
busy time for him.
Willy was one of the key
veterans interviewed for
a documentary for the
National Geographic
Channel screened on
26 April, called Churchill’s
Germany Army. He was
taken by the film crew back
to Holland where his tank
was knocked out in
September 1944, and in
which he was the sole
survivor of his crew.
For the first time, he visited the graves of
his comrades, in what was an extremely
moving occasion. This year, 2009, sees
him having been an Arsenal Football Club
supporter and member for 70 years.
The Club are honouring him with a evening
to launch his book in September at
The Emirates Stadium, London.
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 4
Erwin Lamm’s visit to Sale Primary School
brought so much joy to them. Children have
an amazing innocence that welcomes anyone
and everyone into their lives.
In the weeks leading up to Mr Erwin Lamm’s
visit to St Thomas’ Primary School, I was
fortunate to meet with him and his wife, Mrs
Ilsa Lamm at their home in Caulfield. Initially,
I was very nervous about meeting such an
incredible man who has an amazing story.
Growing up in a supportive and loving family,
I have never faced any great challenges
where one decision would change my life.
The morning of Mr Lamm’s visit was one of
mixed emotions for the children and myself.
Although we had read an article, ‘Keeper of
Memories’ by Sushi Das of The Age, we did
not know what to expect. When Mr Lamm
arrived, the children were in their music
lesson practising their item for the school
concert in December. When I took Mr and
Mrs Lamm, and their nephew and niece Yaron
and Tamar to meet the children during their
music lesson, it was evident that each child
On the 29th October 2008, we had a very
special visit from a Holocaust survivor,
Mr Erwin Lamm, his wife Mrs Ilsa Lamm,
and their niece and nephew Tamar and Yaron.
They all came to tell us stories about their life.
We read an article about Mr Lamm because
we were studying the Holocaust, and we
wrote letters to him. He then got in touch
with Miss Pope and said that he lives in
Melbourne and that he would love to come
and meet us. So Miss Pope and Mr Lamm set
After morning tea, Mr Lamm began to share
his inspirational story. As he reflected and
shared his memories, both happy and sad,
the children listened attentively, totally
engaged, appreciating how emotional and
passionate he was. For me, I was in awe of a
man that left me appreciating every moment
that I experience. I now understand the
importance of enjoying every day and living
life to the fullest with those who I care for
and love. The relationship between Mr and
Mrs Lamm is incredible.
As a follow up, the children wrote reflective
pieces about Mr Lamm’s visit and their
feelings towards this amazing man. Many
children wrote how meeting Mr Lamm has
been an inspiration for them, changing their
perspective on life. They understand how
extremely lucky we all are to grow up in a
fantastic country like Australia. All those
involved in meeting Mr Lamm were very
grateful for having the opportunity to listen
to a real Holocaust Survivor.
As a result of listening to Mr Lamm’s story,
there are twenty four children and a teacher
at St Thomas’ who now realise that everyone
has a story to tell.
Angela Pope – teacher, Sale Primary School
a time to come and see us and speak to us.
Mr Lamm was born in Vienna, Austria in
1921 and escaped to Czechoslovakia three
months before Hitler invaded Austria. He
travelled to London where he boarded the
Dunera because the British Government
thought he was a spy. He arrived in Sydney
in September 1940.
Mr Lamm came to our school to tell his
stories. One of the stories that really touched
me was about his cousin. His cousin was
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 5
Erwin Lamm’s visit to Sale Primary School
arrested and his wife
got really worried so she
went down to the Police
station and asked of
his whereabouts. The
policeman said that for
twenty shillings he would
give her his ashes. That
sad story touched me
because I think that if
I was in Mr Lamm’s
shoes, I don’t think
I could tell that story.
Also, I find it amazing
that Mr Lamm lived in
the same street as Ilsa
but didn’t know it and
then they met up at the
internee camp and got
married years later.
I think that a coincidence
like that is very special.
I found the stories Mr
Lamm told very touching,
uplifting, and sad but
interesting at the same
time. I thought the
relationship between
Mr and Mrs Lamm was
amazing. I also thought
Mr Lamm’s sense of
humour was a good
thing, because he has
gone through so much.
I think that Mr Lamm’s
visit will help me in the
future because it will
make me think of Erwin’s
life and how he has gone
through so much.
On Wednesday 29th October Mr. Erwin
Lamm and his wife Mrs. Lamm came to visit
our class to tell us his story.
Mr. Lamm left Vienna in July 1938 and
travelled to London to try and escape WWII.
His parents and younger brother Felix stayed
in Vienna. Mr. Lamm got a ticket to London
and lived there for two years before he was
caught by the London police who thought he
was a spy. He was shipped to Australia on
the Dunera in 1940. He arrived in Sydney
fifty-seven days later and was put in an
internee camp in Hay, NSW.
His sister who was living in Melbourne
with her Hungarian husband had escaped
from Austria before the war and found out
Mr. Lamm was in an internee camp. She
travelled to Hay to see him. They couldn’t
kiss because there was barbed wire between
them. She told him that his parents and
younger brother Felix had been killed in a
concentration camp.
Emily Yarram
– student
When Mr. Lamm told us about his family he
got very emotional and started to cry. It
made me feel so sad and made me realise
how lucky I am. His nephew Yaron and his
wife Tamar are Israeli and also came down.
They told us stories about how small Israel
is and how there is no space. It made me
feel extremely lucky.
When Mr. Lamm was liberated from the
internee camp he met a woman called Ilsa
who had actually lived in the same street as
him in Vienna, but had never met him. They
fell in love and later got married.
Mr. Lamm’s stories are inspirational and
overwhelming. It was daunting knowing you
were having a conversation with a Holocaust
survivor, someone who had seen Nazis.
I think Mr. Lamm is a very brave and
courageous man. I know I wouldn’t be able
to leave my family and go to a new country.
Brendan Brew – student
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 6
From The Duldig Studio
© The Duldig Studio
In September 1940, Karl and his family, who held
Austrian/German papers, were deported from
Singapore under regulations classifying them as
‘enemy aliens’. They were transported to Australia
on the Queen Mary, then a converted troopship,
and together with approximately 250 other
refugees were interned in Tatura (Victoria).
However, until the fall of Singapore to the
Japanese in February 1942, Karl received regular
(censored) letters from his friends in Singapore,
including Robert Payne. This contact was lost
during the war.
LOST HEAD FOUND
A bronze portrait bust modeled in Singapore
in 1939 by the sculptor Karl Duldig and
subsequently ‘lost’ at the height of the Second
World War has been found nearly 70 years later
in amazing circumstances.
In 1939 a journalist wrote the following:
‘ … Hitler came to Vienna and in those few hours
Karl Duldig, sculptor and sportsman, lost his career,
his fortune and his home. He is now in Singapore
literally carving out a new life for himself with his
chisel, his long fingers and the clay he almost
makes speak.
… The quietness and perfect control of this boy
model amazed this sculptor who, most of his life,
has been studying faces and the character behind
them.
… People see with their eyes, but Karl Duldig sees
with his eyes – and his hands.’
— R. McKie, Straits Times, Singapore
22 June, 1939
After Karl Duldig arrived in Singapore as a
refugee from Europe in 1939, the Italian sculptor
Rudolfi Noli, whom Karl Duldig met at the tennis
club in Singapore, offered him the use of his
studio facilities. This was where Karl modeled
the head of the Malayan ball-boy and where the
photo was taken.
Robert Payne, a young Englishman, who then
worked for the British Admiralty in Singapore,
commissioned a bronze of the Malay Boy and this
was cast by the bronze foundry W.W. Wagstaff &
Sons in June 1940. Payne later became a prolific
and respected writer with more than 100 titles
published by Thames and Hudson including a
biography of Gandhi and books on Caravaggio
and Leonardo.
In 2006, The Duldig Studio, a public museum and
art gallery in Melbourne, Australia, received an
email with an attached image of a bronze Malay
Boy that included the clear signature of the artist.
It turned out that the email came from a family
who lived in Singapore and since then the following
story has emerged:
When the Japanese invaded Singapore in 1942,
Robert Payne along with other British nationals
had to leave in a great hurry. Mr Morrison Joseph,
who at the time was a driver for the British
Admiralty, took Payne to safety outside Singapore.
In appreciation Payne gave Mr Joseph the Karl
Duldig sculpture ‘Malay Boy’. Mr Morrison Joseph
has since passed away, but the bronze portrait
bust was kept by his family for all these decades.
Epilogue 2009: Karl Duldig’s Singapore Malay Boy
sculpture has been acquired by the Singapore Art
Museum for its permanent collection — a happy
ending to an incredible story.
DIARY DATE:
The 2009 Duldig Lecture on Sculpture:
Soft Sculptures
Monday 15 June, 6pm for 6.30pm
This lecture is associated with the 2009
Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition:
Salvador Dali: Liquid Desire
Speaker: Elliott H King, art historian &
Dali scholar, Denver.
Cost: Free (complimentary glass of sparkling
wine on arrival)
Venue: Clemenger BBDO Auditorium, NGV
International (enter North entrance, via the
Arts Centre forecourt)
Event code: P0967
Bookings essential: 03 8662 1555
10am–5pm daily
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 7
Seeds of an inner freedom
By Gideon Haigh
I
N JANUARY last year,
Mary Miles, a sprightly
woman in her 70s from
Oldbury in England’s West
Midlands, attended a family
history exhibition at the Council
House in High Street, West
Bromwich, and sidled up to a
stall manned by members of
the Black Country Society.
There, while buying some
tea towels, she fell into
conversation with society
president Judith Watkin. When
Mrs Miles explained that the
tea towels were going to
relatives in Australia, they
began reflecting on the links of
the Midlands region with that
far-off country. Why, Mrs Miles
commented, she even had this
huge box under a wardrobe at
home full of notes on Australian
botany handwritten on 2,500
scraps of toilet paper. She had
what? responded Mrs Watkin.
From one library to another:
as part of an exhibition at the
National Library of Australia
previewing contents of the
Treasures Gallery to open
there next year, Australians
can see for the first time the
extraordinary magnum opus of
Hans Lindau, a German herb
gardener deported from Britain
to Australia during World War II
who spent his time in detention
effectively handwriting his own
encyclopedia, a homespun mix
of culture and horticulture.
Toilet paper can hardly ever
have travelled further than
this collection, housed in a
heavy 900 by 500-centimetre
compartmentalised silky oak
box with brass hinges and
springs. Lindau, having copied
the information out for classes
given to other internees, was
about to incinerate the lot
just before his death at
Hans Lindau.
Mount Martha on 6 October,
1982. Mrs Miles’ brother Leo
Reynolds, like Lindau a Quaker,
persuaded him to turn the
collection over, but when
Reynolds died three years later
it ended up in Oldbury among
his personal effects.
The botanical notes, carefully
taken in an exquisite hand
from the camp’s 1884 edition
Encyclopedia Brittanica and
other long-forgotten text books,
are less immediately arresting
than what the NLA’s curator
of manuscripts, Marie-Louise
Ayres, calls the box’s
“objectness” — which isn’t
a word, but in this instance
almost should be. “It’s a record
of one man’s attempt to orient
himself, and orient others, in
the remarkable situation and
unfamiliar landscape he found
himself in,” she says.
Lindau was one of the Dunera
Boys, belatedly made famous
by Cyril Pearl’s 1983 book and
Ben Lewin’s 1985 four-part
television drama: 2542 “enemy
aliens”, mainly German Jews,
packed aboard an overcrowded
steamship, the 11,161-tonne
HMT Dunera, which sailed from
Liverpool on 11 July, 1940.
The expulsion was part of the
British government’s panicky
response to the Nazi invasions
of Holland, Belgium and
Luxembourg, and conducted
in such haste that none of
the internees knew their
destination. Lindau, noting that
the sun’s position suggested a
westward passage, fantasised
of Canada; one morning, he
noticed the ship had turned
east, and speculated on a
return to Britain; finally the ship
pulled in at Freetown, bound
for Sydney.
Conditions aboard the Dunera
were famously crowded and
unhygenic, and the poorly
trained guards prone to cruelty:
the army officer in charge
would later be court-martialled.
Yet a 1974 oral history
interview suggests that the
hardy Lindau coped well,
content in his faith,
accustomed to travel and
unconcerned that he had just
one shilling and sixpence in
his pocket.
A shoemaker’s son, Lindau
was born in Berlin on 27 June,
1895, and served from May
1917 in a German army
construction battalion. Turned
to Anglophilia by an Englishspeaking schoolteacher who
prided himself on his fluency
and accent, he mixed in postwar Germany with Englishspeaking members of the
ecumenical World Student
Christian Federation.
Following other Quakers to
England in 1926, Lindau found
work tending the gardens of
Sunfield Children’s Home,
an institution for mentally
handicapped children near
Stourbridge. At the time he was
interned, however, he must
have wondered if he had
chosen the wrong side of the
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 8
Seeds of an inner freedom
war. Incarcerated in barracks
at Worcester, he watched
bedraggled remnants of the
British Expeditionary Force
returning from Dunkirk. “It was
a sad, sad, sad sight,” he
recalled.
The Dunera’s supercargo cut a
similar sight as they straggled
ashore after their 57-day
voyage, destined for a harsh,
bare camp at Hay, NSW.
Few human consignments to
Australia can have contained
such a concentration of talent,
numbering the jurist Leonhard
Adam, philosopher Gerd
Buchdahl, music critic Felix
Werder, pianist Peter Stadlen,
art director and future Academy
Award-winner Hein Heckroth,
athletics coach Franz Stampfl,
and even world table tennis
champion Viktor Barna. But at
Hay, then from May 1941 at
Tatura, they were the subject
of embarrassed official neglect.
Fortunately, the Dunera Boys
exhibited powerful
resourcefulness. In their
camps they set up a university,
a bank, a canteen, a workshop,
cobblers and watch repairers,
and even a rudimentary court
that issued reprimands for
“uncompanionable behaviour”
or “behaviour detrimental to
the repute of the community”.
Lindau, elected a hut captain,
also worked as camp gardener
and a teacher. His collection
suggests a man devoted from
the very first to making the
best of his reality.
In addition to carefully
transcribing the likes of
Profitable Herb Growing and
Collecting by Ada B. Teetgen
and entering in a notebook
2,500 formulas and weights
for organic compounds from
the 1940 Chemist’s Yearbook,
Lindau clipped articles and
copied citations from the daily
press about Australia, Britain,
the United States and
especially the English language
and phonetics.
These he carefully and
snugly wrapped in 25 reused
Kromhyd rubber sole packets.
“Scientists advise you to
protect your nerves from daily
shocks,” read their cheerful
labels. “Wear Dunlop rubber
heels”. There must have been
something similarly soothing
about submitting the world so
studiously to order.
The folio “Medicinal Plants”
bursts with information about
quinine, digitalis, opium,
camphor and gutta percha
copied out so daintily that both
sides of the toilet paper have
proven useable, while the folio
“Land of the Free” includes a
transcribed condensed version
of a life of Robert E. Lee, and
detailed chronologies of
American and Australian history.
The contents of “Erosion
and Afforestation” are sifted
from anxious reports of
environmental despoliation
and soil degradation in
everything from the Argus and
British Weekly to American
Forester and the Murray Valley
Development League
newsletter. Lindau even clipped
some doggerel, Why Plant a
Tree?, from The School Paper,
dated 1 July, 1942:
“Why plant a tree? Because
the bird/That thrills the
listening air/May nest among
the rippling leaves/And sing
your praises here.”
Singing, indeed, was also part
of camp life. In the folder
“Community Singing” rest the
words for, among other songs,
Auld Lang Syne, My Darling
Clementine, Cockles and
Mussels, Who Killed Cock
Robin? and all three verses
of God Save the King, plus
Bernard O’Dowd’s Australia,
C.J. Carelton’s The Song of
Australia and, pricelessly, a
10-page glossary for reading
in conjunction with Ginger Mick
and The Sentimental Bloke.
For Hans Lindau had come
to stay. He was one of 915
Dunera Boys who remained in
Australia at war’s end, applying
for citizenship on 1 May, 1945,
at which time he was living
in Sale, before moving to
Melbourne to work as a waiter
at Xavier College.
The Lindau Collection resists
easy definition. It was
conceived as an instructional
tool; it has shades now of folk
art. Had he been a gardener
rather than a janitor, Henry
Darger might have created
something similar. It is a
document of assimilation, and
a testament of scarcity: paper
was in such short supply in
camp that some notebooks end
in the middle of a sentence,
resuming in the next. It is also
about the force of wonder and
the bonds of friendship and
family — the forces and bonds
that compelled Leo Reynolds to
save the collection, and Mary
Miles to keep it on her late
brother’s behalf … until, one
day, she went to the library.
The box will be on display as
part of the Treasures Preview
exhibition at the National Library
in Canberra.
www.nla.gov.au/events/
showevent.html?q=48886
The exhibition is on until
19 July, 2009.
This article reproduced with the
kind permission of Gideon Haigh.
© Gideon Haigh 2009.
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 9
Sydney Dunera Reunion 1O September, 2009
This year’s function is planned to take
place at the completely refurbished Jones
Wharf which is exactly where the Dunera
discharged her passengers on 6 September,
1940, 69 years earlier.
The refurbishment was done a few years
ago to accommodate shops, cafes and
offices and a “Dunera Museum” fitted out
with memorabilia which our late Henry
Lippmann donated for this very purpose.
The museum is located in Pirrama Road
between the two twin wharfs, close to the
Australian National Maritime Museum
where the reunions took place in previous
years, and part of Darling Harbour.
To get to the wharf, there is a light rail
service from Central Railway to Star City,
and there are also carparks nearby.
The meeting will start at the Jones Wharf
Museum at 2pm under the auspices of
the Maritime Museum and extend into a
general walk around the interesting new
developments in the refurbished sheds.
The Maritime Museum, as every year,
will circulate more specific information
closer to the date. Meanwhile, our Sydney
delegate, Peter Arnott on (02) 9419 6355
will be happy to supply further information,
as will Peter Felder in Melbourne on
(03) 9561 2834.
This should be a most interesting event,
so please mark the date in your diary.
Jones Bay Wharf
Hay
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 10
From Alfred Wachs
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 11
A Visit to Bad-Arolsen
By Konrad Kwiet
I
n June 2009 I visited Bad-Arolsen, a tourist
attraction, located in the middle of Germany,
between Frankfurt am Main and Hannover,
in close proximity to Kassel.
It is a place noted for its historical flavor
dominated by the aristrocratic PyrmontWaldeck dynasty. Two offspring earned a
particular reputation. Princess Emma became
a popular Queen in the Netherlands in the
late 19th century. Prince Josias became
a prominent Nazi leader in the late 1920s.
After his rapid rise to the rank of SS General
and the position of Higher SS and Police
Leader, the SS élite troops, deployed in the
City barracks and the nearby Buchenwald
concentration camp, fell under his supervisory
jurisdiction. Sentenced to life imprisonment
for crimes against humanity by the American
liberators, he was soon set free, resuming
his privileges and personal property, including
his majestic baroque castle. Once a stronghold
of National Socialism, Bad-Arolsen remains
a bastion of Neo-Nazism.
I visited the tiny, well-tended Jewish cemetery
which had been desecrated in the wake of the
Jewish pogrom unleashed in November 1938.
Some years ago the burial site was restored,
locked up and placed under a Heritage listing.
A city official entrusted me with the gate key.
The oldest gravestone dates back to the late
17th century. The last funeral took place in
1941, the year when the last Jews were
deported to the East and the region declared
“free of Jews” — once and for all. Today BadArolsen houses the largest Holocaust archive
in the world; with a staff numbering over 300
it is the largest employer in the town.
I visited the International Tracing Service (ITS)
of the Red Cross as a member of a small
taskforce of historians and archivists set
up by the US Holocaust Memorial Washington
(USHMM). Our brief was to explore the
research prospects offered by the monumental
ITS record collections. Kept under strict lock
and key for over 50 years, they represent
an “institutionalised memory” of horror and
rehabilitation. Opening the archives boxes
and folders, glancing at hitherto unexplored
documents, was one of the most memorable
and rewarding moments of my professional
career. Some 20 years ago I had experienced
a similar intensity of feeling, when — in my
capacity as chief historian of the Australian
war crimes commission (SIU) — I had been
granted, as one of the first group of
Westerners, access to Secret Archives
in the Eastern bloc.
The infancy of the ITS dates to the Second
World War. The Nazi policies of expulsion,
incarceration and extermination destroyed
Jewish family ties. Following its neutral and
humanitarian obligations, the Red Cross
served as a postal agency providing the
censored postcards which permitted the
transmission of up to 25 words, often the
first or last signs of life of family members
incarcerated in “Jew Houses”, ghettos and
concentration camps. Like all victims of Nazi
terror, “Dunera Boys” also received and sent
such postcards — until the communication
came to an end. Flooded with enquiries for
missing relatives, the British Red Cross set
up a tracing service in London in 1943.
Staff of the office followed the advance of
the Allied forces, first to Paris in 1944, and
after the “unconditional surrender” of Nazi
Germany in May 1945, to Frankfurt am Main,
and from there to Bad-Arolsen. From the
outset, the ITS was commissioned with the
task of searching for missing victims, and
clarifying their fate, and — from the early
1950s onwards — of providing the archivaldocumentary evidence for restitution and
compensation proceedings. These functions
are nearing their end. After a lengthy debate
involving the Red Cross, governments and
other institutions, a decision was made to
finally open the Arolsen archives to the public
for research.
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 12
A Visit to Bad-Arolsen
Our taskforce was divided into teams, each
of which was assigned to one of the main
record collections. They are stored in several
buildings and contain more than 50 million
files. 77% of all documents are original, 23%
copies, originating from an array of countries,
locations and organisations.
The work of the taskforce was done — and
could only have been carried out — with the
help of the experienced, dedicated and friendly
staff members of the ITS. One team examined
the so-called Incarceration Documents which
shed light on the daily life of the Nazi prison
and concentration camp system. The source
complex consists of individual documents —
such as prisoners’ personal cards, personal
effects cards, labour assignment cards and
death certificates — as well as lists of arrivals,
roll calls, transport, medical examinations and
consultations in sick wards.
The second group investigated the Forced
Labour Documents which reveal the recruitment
and treatment of slave labourers under Nazi
rule. Labour Books, Health and Social
Insurance cards, employer records, marriage,
death and birth certificates as well as the lists
of companies, health and hospital records,
deceased victims and burial sites provide a
wealth of detail about this area.
Another team spent time reviewing the
General Documents, non-personal records
such as the correspondence of SS offices,
maps of prisons and concentration camps,
and the dates and routes of death marches.
What we glimpsed at were only a few archival
fragments which depict the landscapes or the
“geographics” of the Holocaust.
As team leader for the Post-War Documents,
my three colleagues and I selected samples of
the DP (Displaced Person) record group. 77%
of all documents of the ITS belongs to this
source complex which will provide a fresh and
decisive stimulus to the bourgeoning field of
“Aftermath Studies”.
We looked at the section CM / 1 (Care and
Maintenance), containing 350,000 envelopes
in archive boxes arranged by former countries
of DPs, mostly in alphabetical order by name.
The DP Lists, stored in 436 boxes, reveal
the names and locations of more than 2,000
DP camps, established in Central Europe and
other countries. They also provide information
about inmates — arrivals and departures,
births, marriages and deaths, as well as
desired destination. Of particular significance
are the so-called F 18 Lists kept in 230 boxes
arranged by names and within the boxes by
city names. They contain the names of
survivors registering in those places. The lists
were compiled by a variety of organisations
and by less formal groups such as
Landsmannschaften and committees.
We also discovered numerous boxes labeled
“Search Lists” documenting searches by
survivors for missing relatives and friends.
In addition, we found a plethora of totally
unknown testimonies by survivors recorded
after liberation in DP camps or in the newly
established Jewish communities.
These early accounts challenge the “Myth of
Silence” and now used to enrich and intensify
the research on Holocaust History and
Holocaust Memory. Unexplored are the
Emigration Records, deposited in 380 boxes
and arranged in alphabetical order by name of
port of embarkation from Europe and by the
location of the transit camp in which the
émigrés last lived, and, within the alphabetical
files, departures arranged by name of ship and
date of departure. I spent some time looking at
the so-called “Hong Kong Files”. They contain
16,000 envelopes about refugees in transit in
Hong Kong seeking emigration elsewhere.
Some of these personal dossiers and
governmental records shed light on one
specific Jewish and non-Jewish migration and
refugee route. Lasting more than fifty years, the
route started in Central and Eastern Europe in
the late 19th century and led via Czarist Russia
to Harbin, from there to Shanghai and, after
World War II, to Hong Kong, from there to many
countries including Australia.
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 13
A Visit to Bad-Arolsen
The key to the ITS collections is the Central
Names Index (CNI) covering three rooms and
containing references to over 17,500,000
persons.
Efforts are being made to re-organise the
archival structure and to complete the scanning
of documents. The first digitised images have
already been sent in batches to relevant
research centers and Holocaust museums
such the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in
Washington and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
A decision still needs to be made about
the future of the ITS collections because the
Red Cross has announced its withdrawal from
Bad‑Arolsen. There is a suggestion that the
unique depository be transformed into a
European documentation and research centre
for “Humanitarian Studies”, with the focus on
displacement and destruction, rehabilitation,
migration and the rebuilding of new lives,
essential features of the fundamental ruptures
of the 20th century.
Neither historians nor archivists will have the
final say but rather politicians and bureaucrats,
especially officials of the treasury. Since ITS
has been funded by the Federal Republic of
Germany from the outset, it can be assumed
that the German Federal Archives will take over
the ITS collections — as one of its outposts.
The Arolsen archives are of utmost
significance for the Contemporary History of
Australia. They preserve biographical data on
survivors, perpetrators and by-standers of the
Holocaust and illustrate the long journeys they
undertook to find a new home down under.
Some 9,000 refugees escaped the Nazi terror
prior to war, most were German speaking Jews
from Central Europe. The British shipped
“Enemy Aliens” during the war to the former
convict colony to be interned in remote camps
such as Hay and Tatura.
Among them was the diverse group of the
legendary “Dunera Boys”. Many became proud
Australian citizens. After the war the survivors
of the Holocaust arrived, more than 20,000;
almost all of them succeeded in rebuilding
their shattered lives at the edge of the
Diaspora. Simultaneously, often arriving on the
same boat, the perpetrators found sanctuary
in Australia, some 5,000.
Belated efforts to bring them to justice were
in vain. In addition, an army of bystanders,
largely from Eastern Europe, was admitted,
classified as “Displaced Persons”. They were
followed by Germans and other migrant groups.
The waves of migration were watershed years
in Australia’s history, transforming the
demographic, cultural and social landscape,
paving the way for its multicultural orientation
and ethnic diversity.
Australia has missed the opportunity to
become a “stakeholder” of the Arolsen archives
and as such a recipient of the scanned
documents. However, The ITS website invites
requests from descendants of Nazi victims or
from researchers to investigate missing
persons or to search for historical sources.
Go to www.its-arolsen.org
If there are large numbers of enquiries, it
can take some time before a response arrives,
often with a negative result.
The research, which I now conduct, requires
the use of its online service. Yet, as a historian
I still prefer the conventional way of accessing
historical documents. I intend to visit BadArolsen again, to open archive boxes and to
examine its content.
Konrad Kwiet
5 May, 2009
Adjunct Professor in Jewish Studies and
Roth Lecturer in Holocaust at The University
of Sydney
Resident Historian at the Sydney Jewish Museum
Formerly, Patron of the Sydney-based Dunera
Association
[email protected]
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 14
O n t h e l i ght e r s i d e
Creative Puns for Educated Minds
1. The roundest knight at King Arthur’s
round table was Sir Cumference. He
acquired his size from too much pi. 2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an
Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an
optical Aleutian. 3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he
loved her still. 4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated
from algebra class because it was a
weapon of math disruption. 5. No matter how much you push the
envelope, it’ll still be stationery. 6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the
road and was cited for littering. 7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in
France would result in Linoleum
Blownapart. 8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended
up in a tie. 9. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like
a banana. 10. A hole has been found in the nudist
camp wall. The police are looking into it. 11. Atheism is a non-prophet organisation.
12. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab
center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’ 13. A chicken crossing the road is poultry
in motion. 14. The short fortune-teller who escaped
from prison was a small medium at large. 15. The man who survived mustard gas
and pepper spray is now a seasoned
veteran. 16. A backward poet writes inverse. 17. In democracy it’s your vote that counts.
In feudalism it’s your count that votes. 18. Don’t join dangerous cults: Practice
safe sects!
A stunning senior moment
A self-important college freshman walking
along the beach took it upon himself to
explain to a senior citizen resting on
nearby steps why it was impossible for
the older generation to understand his
generation.
“You grew up in a different world, actually
an almost primitive one,” the student
said loud enough for others to hear.
“The young people of today grew up with
television, jet planes, space travel, man
walking on the moon. We have nuclear
energy, ships and cell phones, computers
with light speed … and much more.”
After a brief silence, the senior citizen
responded.
“You’re right son. We didn’t have those
things when we were young … so we
invented them. Now, you arrogant little
sh*t, what are you doing for the next
generation?”
The applause was amazing.
We are trying to collect contact details from those interested in the Dunera Association.
Please contact Rebecca Silk — [email protected] — if you would like to provide
your name and email details to the Association for future communications.
D unera N ews N o . 76 • J une 2009 • P age 15