School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 1 of 1
-
ItemGerman and Austrian refugees in Melbourne 1933-1947: a study of their migration, reception and integration into the Melbourne community( 1965)The group of people who have been studied in this thesis are people who left Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1939, because Hitler’s policies made life intolerable or impossible and came to Australia as immigrants or internees between 1933 and 1942. These immigrants who were labelled Refugees or “reffos” in colloquial Australian, were distinct from the group of post war refugee immigrants known as S.Ps (Displaced Persons) – not necessarily in origin for many of the immediate post war refugees had similar German and Austrian Jewish backgrounds – but the later group had different war time experiences and faced a different situation when they arrived in Australia. The first victims of Hitler’s policies were his political and ideological opponents and especially those who had been publically anti-Nazi, members of opposition political parties, Trade Unionists, writers and publicists. But for the most part those who came to Australia were the victims – or they would have been the victims – of his anti-semitic racial policies which increasingly endangered the livelihood of all those of Jewish faith and of Jewish descent though this does not mean they were not often his political opponents too. After September 1935 Jewish descent included all those whose parents or one parent, grandparents or one grandparent had professed the Jewish religion; Nazi anti-semitic measures also victimised those married or engaged to anyone in the above categories even if they had no “Jewish blood” in their veins. Baptised Christians, half, quarter and one-eighth Jews were known as “non-Aryans.” (From Introduction)