“Dumped” in Bombay

It is little known that some of the internees who were deported to Australia on the HMT Dunera were sent back to England after just a few days. The 13 men found themselves in Sydney Harbour – on board the Dunera of all ships and in the vicinity of the unpleasantly familiar guards. “I never found out later why the British government decided to release me and five other people,” recalled Richard W. Sonnenfeldt. In fact, 13 men embarked on this journey.

Peter Dehn, May 2024.

An unexpected reunion

13 index cards of the British Home Office were completed with remarks such as “Disembarked from SS Dunera at Bombay”. The Australian authorities did not even complete the usual green routing slips for internees; next to the name, they laconically noted “Returned to England for SS Dunera”. None of those involved could have known that this was a huge mistake.

13 internees[1] In its Newsletter Dunera News no. 37, page 4, the Dunera Association lists 13 names that were researched here. who had just arrived at the Hay camp were surprised to be told to pack their belongings immediately in order to return to England. So on 11 September 1940 – just five days after arriving in Sydney – they found themselves back on board the hated ship. However, they only spent the first night there, locked in the bunker like criminals, reported Henry Kahn[2] Report about Henry Kahn, Dunera News no. 105, page 19.. They spent further nights among violent criminals and prostitutes in Malabar prison on the outskirts of Sydney. We “were suddenly loaded into a truck that took us – incredibly – back aboard HMT Dunera,” recalled Richard W. Sonnenfeldt[3] Richard W. Sonnenfeldt, „Witness to Nuremberg“, page 151f. Sonnenfeldt's memory is deceptive when he sets this part of the journey in Melbourne and the number of internees.. “We finally left Australian waters on September 14th, 1940,” wrote Kahn[4] Henry Kahn „The Silver Candle Holders“ (autobiography) page 37, US Holocaust Museum, retrieved on 5 May 2024. later.

Sonnenfeldt reports on a reencounter[5] Sonnenfeldt, loc.cit., page 151. on the Dunera: “Johnny[6] Sonnenfeldt calls „Johnny“ a „natural sadist“. and the other guards were all there. Though we were prisoners no more, they knew we would regain our freedom only upon reaching England. We were still under the authority of the ship’s commanding officer, fortunately not the same sadist we had on the way out.”

The people in charge on board used the 13 as free labour anyway: At the first stopover in Fremantle, Western Australia, they helped the cargo workers to carry frozen pig halves on board. “All the pots and pans used on the way out, had to be scrubbed. We were given rags and scouring powder and got to work. I did not like this way of keeping us busy, so I thought if we can use up the scouring powder, we would not be able to do any more cleaning. Well once I got into the storage and found to my dismay that there were so many cans that there was no chance of using up the supply[7] Sonnenfeldt, loc.cit., page 151..” Sonnenfeldt described the situation as follows: “We were made to clean everything: pots, pans, diches, decks, tables, and benches. As in all military services, when something is clean, one cleans it again, because idleness is assumed to be injurious to morale and character.”

“Every day I wondered why we had lifeboat and abandonship drills. Was this not overdoing a little?,” Sonnenfeldt noted – after nothing of that sort had happened during the 57 days of the voyage to Australia. The answer soon emerged: “Then one day the alarms went off. It was not a drill. The Dunera’s four-inch stern gun let go with a loud bang. (…) A few shells exploded in the water nar us. Later it was told that the Dunera was being used as a decoy[8] Sonnenfeldt, loc.cit., page 152. to lure German and Italian raiders.”

„Dumped“ onto the Bombay pier

“Now, mysteriously, we were diverted to Bombay[9] For standardised language usage, including in the documents cited, the British-colonial name of the city, which has been changed to Mumbai in 1996, is used here. Cf. Wikipedia about Mumbai, retrieved on 5 May 2024.. There, our small group of internees-to-be-freed-in -England was dumped onto the pier and placed in the care of an Indian police inspector,” as Sonnenfeldt harshly described[10] Sonnenfeldt, loc.cit., page152. it. The men’s first experience was being identified and questioned by the police. They were obliged, reported Kahn, to report to the police twice a week at 9 o’clock in the morning. They were forbidden to possess cameras, weapons, radios, binoculars and maps that extended beyond the immediate neighbourhood. Police officers then drove them to a residential building in the north of the city. In the accommodation run by the Jewish Relief Association (JRA), they first had to shake the bedbugs out of their beds. JRA placed them with their first employers. Apparently, they were not expecting to travel on quickly.

Jewish self-help

The collection of notes from British archives “1940: Australian Internees on Ss Dunera Who Disembarked in Bombay[11] Via ancestry.” contains, among other things, an undated minute about a telephone conversation with the representative of the Jewish aid organisation JRC[12] In contrast to the home office, Kahn and Sonnenfeldt refer to the aid organisation as JRA. – apparently with a British office. JRC reported that “the SS Dunera, destined for the UK, reached Bombay, was diverted and travelled east again. Now eleven internees are ‘stranded’ in Bombay”. JRC is keeping in touch with the men to find out their future travel plans.

However, the official release from internment could then only take place on British soil, as Sonnenfeldt correctly noted. It is not documented that the British authorities, who had recalled the 13 internees from Australia, made any efforts to ensure their onward journey to England or even to secure their stay in India. This was probably left to the aid organisations, on whose solidarity the men were dependent.

Richard Sonnenfeldt was the first to leave India for the USA in April 1941. His comrades stayed longer in India. What kept some of the men in Bombay for years can only partly be explained by the dangers of naval warfare and the reduced civilian shipping traffic. For some of the 13, there may have been other reasons to stay longer.

13 Dunera Boys – 13 lives

Based on the 13 names[13] Dunera News no.37 loc.cit. published in Dunera News and their comparison with the digitised personal files in the Australian National Archives NAA, biographical data was researched and supplemented with information from the Arolsen Archives and genealogy platforms. Detailed autobiographies of Henry H. Kahn[14] Henry Kahn „The Silver Candle Holders“, loc.cit. and Richard W. Sonnenfeldt[15] Richard Sonnenfeldt, „Witness to Nuremberg“, loc.cit. are available. Depending on the amount of data available, the scope of the individual texts varies considerably. dunera.de is grateful for any information that can be added.

Walter Berliner
He was born in Vienna on 3 April 1921. In British exile, he worked as an agricultural labourer, but his normal profession was medical student. Like many other Jews and refugees, he was initially released from internment, but was later arrested and deported at the age of 19. From Bombay, he reached New York on the President Grant on 26 August 1941. He was naturalised in the USA and did military service until September 1947. He died on 17 August 1989.

Otto Elefant
The commercial clerk was born in Vienna on 1 February 1899. He was the eldest of three Jewish brothers (Emil *1905; Alexander *1911). He ran a grocery shop in Vienna. After the Wehrmacht invaded Austria on 24 June 1938, they were all imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp and transferred to Buchenwald in September 1938. They were given consecutive prisoner numbers and were released on 15 February 1939. They had already applied for emigration in July 1938. Otto named his wife Therese (*1905, had converted to Judaism) and their children Ottilie (*1927) and Vera (*1938) as family members. However, only the brothers were able to emigrate to England and stay together in Kitchener Camp. Otto’s daughter Ottilie also made it to England, where she married in 1947. The fate of his wife and their baby Vera could not be determined. Two of Otto’s other brothers and their mother were murdered by the Nazis. Otto was rejected by the British Pioneer Corps on 22 May 1940 for medical reasons. The brothers only parted ways when Otto was deported to Australia. The British decision “Released without restrictions 16 August 1940” did not help him, as the Dunera had almost reached its first destination in Australia. Otto only returned to England from Bombay on 4 February 1943 (via Mauritius with Salomon Seide on the l). Official note: “Released on landing”. No further details can be ascertained. It is possible that Otto anglicised his name – like Alexander and Emil – to Elton. An Otto Elton died in 1961 in Willesden, Middlesex.

Kurt Friedländer
Kurt was born on 8 August 1905 in Treptow on Rega (today: Trzebiatów, West Pomerania). He was a salesman in the textile industry. He was propbably arrested after the pogroms of Novcember 1938 and was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp (no. 6460) until 15 May 1939. He was able to escape to England and was held in Kitchener Camp before being deported. Family tree pages show that he remained in Bombay after being expelled from the Dunera, where he died in 1965. His mother Lina Helene was murdered in Theresienstadt. His brother Henry was brought to Sachsenhausen concentration camp (no 1633, 1975) as a “work-shy Jew”. After a short stay in another prison, he was transferred back in August 1939. He died on 26 April 1940 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp; the Nazis recorded “inflammation of cell tissue in both lower legs” as the cause of death. There is no last news of his sister Editha. She was declared dead.

Hans Goldberger
He was born on 14 February 1915 in Saybusch near Danzig (Gdansk). In England, he named the timber trade as his normal profession, but was a student. Before his internment, he lived with his parents, the manager Isidore (*1882) and mother Anna (*1886) and his brother Edmund (*1910) in Sidmouth (County Devon).

Heinz (Henry) Kahn
Heinz Kahn was born in Böblingen on 18 January 1923. The 16-year-old was able to leave Germany on a Kindertransport in February 1939. In England, he adopted the first name Henry. He was interned on 3 July 1940. On the ‘diversions’ via Australia, he was disembarked in Bombay and got his first job thanks to Jewish organisations; later he worked in Madras, among other places. On board the Clarksburg Victory, he travelled to the USA in April 1946, where a relative was living. He served in the US Army until 1947. In 1948, his girlfriend Doreen followed him from India and they married. He was naturalised in the USA in 1952. Henry and Doreen had two sons and spent their
lives in New York. Henry H. Kahn died on 23 May 2018[16] Dunera News no. 105, page 19..

Helmut Kobrak
Helmut was born on 1 October 1920 in Breslau into a Christian family. His father, the lawyer Richard Julius Kobrak, was appointed General Director of Welfare in Berlin shortly afterwards. The Kobraks were persecuted by the Nazis due to their Jewish ancestry, Richard lost his job and was forced to retire on 1 January 1936. In 1935, he and Helmut’s mother Charlotte joined the Christian resistance movement Bekennende Kirche[17] Stumbling stones Berlin for Charlotte and Richard Kobrak, retrieved on 5 May 2024. (Confessing Church) founded by Pastor Martin Niemöller. They carried out voluntary social work for persecuted Christians with Jewish roots in a Berlin parish. Richard had to go into hiding for a time after the November pogroms. There was no way for Helmut‘s parents to escape. They were deported to Theresienstadt in March 1943 and from there to Auschwitz in October 1944, where they were murdered. The Kobraks were able to bring Helmut and his sisters Toni (*1918) and Eva Maria (*1922) to safety on a Kindertransport to England. Helmut returned to England from India in 1947. He died on 20 February 1994 in Kenton, Exeter.

Egon Lewy
Born in Cologne on 15 March 1908, Egon Lewy studied dentistry at the University of Bonn and was able to obtain his degree before the Nazis came to power, so that, unlike Dunera Boy Reinhard Waldsax, his diploma was not withheld. He went to England in time and opened a practice in London in 1936, where he lived with his 57-year-old mother Selma. How and when exactly he returned from Bombay to London is not known. He married there in 1945 and died in London on 17 June 1979.

Julius (John) Mann
Born on 6 April 1924 in Mainz, he was the second youngest of the 13 at the age of 16. According to his application for naturalisation in the US, he came from Bombay via the Philippines to San Francisco, where he arrived on the Chant on 5 October 1941. In June 1942, he applied for naturalisation in the USA in New York and was drafted into the US Army.

Gerd Moses
Born in Berlin on 24 May 1924, he was only 16 years old when he fell into the British system of espionage suspicion. He only left Bombay after the end of the war and arrived in Glasgow on board the Nea Hellas in September 1945. He reached his next stop Buenos Aires a few months later on the Treinmaersk. From there he travelled to Chile, where he settled in the capital Santiago and became a citizen in 1960. There he was married twice and had four children. His second wife died in 1960 and Gerd died in Santiago in 2005.

Boris Paretzkin
Boris was born on 29 September 1922 in Chemnitz, Saxony, as the son of the manufacturer Isaak Morduch Paretzkin. He apparently came to England alsone, where he was interned as one of the younger regugees and deportet to Australia. He was able to leave Bombay for the USA on the President Monroe on 26 June 1941. According to the 1950 Census, he shared an aparment in New York (Queens) with his mother Julie, who was born in 1893 in what is now Ukraine. She arrived in New York in 1940 with her husband, who died in 1942, and their daughters Vea and Vera. As a chemist he worked at a research institute on the strructural analysis ob substances using X-rays and was involved in many publications.He died 13 May 1994 in Washington.

Erich Rosenstock (Eric Ross)
Born in Berlin on 16 May 1918, Erich is listed during the Nazi census in May 1939 both in Berlin and in Hamburg Eimsbüttel, where he probably trained as a decorator. Shortly after the November pogroms of 1938, he was arrested with around 700 Jews from Hamburg and was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp (no. 8676) from 11 November to 29 December 1938. In the British census of 1940, he was recorded as an apprentice in agriculture. The Manor Farm Training Centre was an institution north of London that trained Jewish youths. His British Home Office file card confirms this, but lists seaman as his actual occupation. The British interned him on 5 July 1940. His participation in the British merchant navy during the Second World War was honoured with medals for the campaigns in Africa (1940-1943) and Italy (1943-1945). He applied for naturalisation in Palestine in Haifa on 9 December 1943, again stating seaman as his profession. He apparently soon went to England, where he changed his name to Eric Ross and married Maria Fuchs in 1955. He died in 1976, leaving behind four children.

Solomon (Sidney) Seide
It is certain that he left Bombay together with Otto Elefant and from Mauritius on board the SS Boskoop in November 1942; they arrived in Liverpool on 4 February 1943. There is no clear evidence of his subsequent life in England. In 1983, a Jewish newspaper reported on Sidney Seide’s[18] In his list of the 13, Kahn mentions "Sidney Seide", so the identities of Sidney and Salomon are assumed. See Kahn, autobiografical text loc.cit., page 37. participation in an event[19] The Jewish Chronicle, London extra, on 6 May 1983, retrieved on 5 May 2024.. A Sidney Seide was entered in the British electoral register for Bushey, Hertfordshire. He died there in January 2005.

Richard W. Sonnenfeldt
Richard is the best known of the 13 and was born in Berlin on 3 July 1923. He lived with his parents, the doctors Walther Herbert and Gertrud (née Liebenthal), and his younger brother Helmut in Gardelegen (Altmark, now Saxony-Anhalt). Both sons arrived in England on a Kindertransport in August 1938 and were accommodated at Bunce Court School, a school project for jewish refugee children. He was interned there and deported to Australia on the Dunera with many of his schoolmates, only to find himself unexpectedly in Bombay. With a US visa, he was able to travel to his parents in Baltimore on board the President Madison, which arrived in New York on 26 April 1941. He became a US citizen and was drafted into the army at the end of 1943. In 1945, the military intelligence service OSS hired the 22-year-old to translate interrogations of Nazis in Europe. He then became the US chief interpreter at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. After his return, he graduated as an engineer in 1949. For the media company RCA, he patented numerous basic technologies for colour television, which was introduced in the USA from 1950, and he was involved in the preparations for the first moon landing. He later took on a management RCA and became Executive Vice President of NBC. He died on 9 October 2009 in Port Washington.

Please note: We would like to thank Dr Astrid Ley, Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum, for information about prisoners of Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Footnotes