“… hurts our very innermost”

Immediately after arriving in Australia in September 1940, the internees from Camp 3 in Tatura, who had been deported from Singapore to Australia on the Queen Mary, appealed to the camp commandant’s office and, when this proved unsuccessful, to the British military administration in Singapore. They had only agreed to be transported to Australia because they had been assured in Singapore that they would also be under British protection in Australia and would be able to live freely there. Instead of fulfilling this protection obligation, almost 300 people were deprived of their freedom. In the meantime, British and Australian authorities were at loggerheads over who was responsible. We are publishing both letters here in full text without the enclosed signature lists. The original documents can be viewed in the galleries.

Paul Dehn, February 2025.

Protest of the Queen Mary Internees

On August 29, 1940, the Secretary for Defence Dawson[1] Dawson to Knopf et al. on 29.8.14940 in National Archives Australia, NAA_ItemNumber358850, page 23., who was responsible for internments in the British Crown Colony of Malaya, had replied to a petition from Erich Maximilian Knopf and other internees dated August 6, 1940. He informs them “that they have not been arrested under the provisions of the Defence Regulations for specific offences against the defense laws of the colony and that it is therefore not proposed to try their cases”.

Locked away behind triple barbed wire in Australia since September 25 after being transported on the Queen Mary, the representative of the German and Austrian Queen Mary deportees Gerhard Seefeld responded with this letter to the Commandant[2] Ibid, pages 21/22. of the internment camp.

Letter by the Internees from Tatura, Camp No. 3, to the Camp Commandant

Internment Camp, 29th September 1940.
The Commandant of the Internment Camp.

Re: JEWISH REFUGEES.
Sir,
As the undersigned Line Captain I wish to make the following statement:

(1) All Jewish Refugees who at the present time are detained in this risoner-of-War Camp were forced to leave Germany and Austria, respectively, to escape from the persecution of the Nazi Regime. Many of them have suffered severely in the only too well-known Concentration Camps in Germany and lost most of their worldly possessions. Passports were only handed to them by the German Authorities after they had given a written assurance that they would never return to Germany and Austria, respectively. Consequently, we have practically lost our citizenship and are to-day stateless, as nobody can remain a citizen of a state whose s0il he is not allowed to enter.

Source: NAA_ItemNumber358850, p 20.

(2) We were looking for the protection of the British Empire, coming to Malaya either with Permits already received in Europe or with the permission obtained by the Immigration Authorities in Singapore with the support of the Jewish Refugee Relief Committee in Singapore. Upon receipt of the Landing Permit, we were looking for work and succeeded in supporting ourselves without depending on public charities.

(3) After the outbreak of the war we were allowed to be free on parole and left nothing undone to prove our loyalty and gratitude to the British Empire which gave us protection.

(4) A few weeks ago some of the 270 refugees in Malaya were interned and taken in protective custody. Those interned made a written application to the Authorities asking for the reason of their detention and for a tribunal to consider their particular cases. They received a reply, copy of which isenclosed herewith. It is clearly pointed out that no tribunal could be granted since no offences against the Defence Law had been committed by any of them.

(5) Some Jewish Refugees residing in the Federated Malay States interviewed the Legal Adviser, the Honourable Mr. Clarke, asking him to assist and advise them in their difficulty, as they feared they would be eventually in the same position as the internees in Singapore. The Honourable Mr. Clarke has shared the opinion laid down under paragraph (1) of this letter and has sent a cable to the Authorities in London asking them for the reason why Jewish Refugees should be treated as enemy alines. Up to the time of our embarkment the Honourable Mr. Clarke has not received any reply to his cable.

(6) In the middle of August, those refugees in Singapore and in the F.M.S. being still free on parole were informed by the Singapore Authorities to settle their affairs and to be prepared for deportation. However, they were given the chance to apply for permission to leave the Colony for any other neutral country for which they could present a visa. Some refugees, who were able to do so, have left the Colony and a few, who had to wait for available shipping accommodation, were allowed to remain in Singapore. The majority having been assured by several officers of the Special Branch of the Singapore Police that they will be free on parole in Australia, preferred to be sent there and to remain under British protection. Our confidence in this assurance was strengthened by the permission to take with us all our belongings, which explains the tremendous number of luggage.

(7) We were, therefore, utterly surprised to find ourselves upon arrival in an ordinary camp for prisoners of war – which was not even completed – and to see that nothing did correspond with those assurances given to us in Singapore. The huts built from corrugated iron are not able to give shelter from the cold and heat. Our small children in the age from six weeks onwards and our aged people up to more than 80 years are definitely not able to stand the hardship of living under such conditions. In the whole Empire no children, women and old people were interned at all and to our knowledge no Jewish Refugees are interned in the Commonwealth of Australia.

(8) As our future depends entirely on the victory of the British Empire, we are – and always have been – only too anxious to prove our loyalty to the country of our refuge and are unhappy to see that in spite of our definite pro-British tendency we are treated as enemies.

(9) We are convinced that the Authorities will understand our position and, after consideration of the circumstances under which we were brought here, put an end to our sufferings and release us on parole as soon as possible. I enclose a cutting from the “Straits Times” in Singapore which is self-explanatory.

(10) I kindly request you to be good enough to forward this application to the Authorities concerned.

I have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
(signed:) G. SEEFELD.
CAMP LEADER.

Australia rejects responsibility

The Australian government took the view that the camps were run on behalf of Great Britain, denied any responsibility and held the British authorities responsible for imprisonments and releases. The reply of the camp commandant[3] Ibid, page 20. of Tatura 3, Major Sproat, dated October 21, 1940, naturally follows this line. He informed the “Damp Leaders” (typo in original) that internees from the UK should apply to the British Home Office and those from Malaya to the colonial authorities in Singapore. He would send further applications for release to headquarters for onward transmission.

The Queen Mary internees respond with this letter to the British colonial authorities in Singapore[4] Ibid, page 12ff..

Letter from the internees from Tatura, Camp No. 3, to the British Colonial Secretary in Singapore

Sir,

We, the undersigned Detained Refugees, have the honour to submit to you the following Petition for your kind consideration:

Two days after our arrival in this Prisoner-of-War Camp, i.e. 29th September 1940, we addressed a letter to the Commandant of this Camp, copy of which is enclosed herewith. Nearly one month later, on 21st October, we were notified, as per copy of Notice attached, that no applications of internees sent to Australia from Overseas could be considered, but that all applications had to be addressed to you, Sir.

There is hardly anything to be added to our letter of 29th; only the fact remains that up till now none of the promises made to us in Singapore were fulfilled. On the contrary, we suffered disappointment after disappointment which hurt our very innermost. May we recall the final interview Mr. G. Seefeld had with the Secretary of Defence, Mr. Dawson (Mount Rosie) a few days before being removed to Australia. Mr. Seefeld was told that H.E. The Governor, would send a manifest to the Australian Authorities pointing out that we were the most unfortunate people, people without any leaning to Nazism and people with a clean record in Malaya. He was further promised that our personal files (i.e. our Police Records) held by the Special Branch would be sent with us and that on their merits we would be released and paroled by the Australian Authorities.

It is therefore inconceivable to us that within a few hours of our arrival here on Australian soil the Authorities felt obliged to stamp up till then harmless, unfortunate and juridically stateless Refugees into such dangerous enemies that they must be kept – men, women, children, babes and very old people all alike – behind barbed wire in a surrounding far away from habitation on a small hill with actual Savanna climate.

Source: NAA_ItemNumber358850, p 12.

We acknowledge with gratitude the endeavours of our Camp Commandant and his Staff to ease our present sufferings, but the little that can be done under the Military Restrictions we are subjected to hardly influences our position.

We address you, Sir, with the request to kindly intervene on our behalf and to see that the manifest of H.E. The Governor and our Police Records referred to above are now forwarded on the quickest possible way and without any further delay to the Australian Authorities together with your proclamation that as far as your Government is concerned we could be released on parole.

In conclusion we may add that pending the arrival of these documents we shall approach the Australian Authorities with a view to obtain Permits necessary for us to settle in Australia.

We have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servants,
(signed as per lists attached.)

Internment Camp No.3, Tatura, 28th October, 1940,
To The Hon.
The Colonial Secretary,
Government House,
SINGAPORE.

Final exchange of letters

The accompanying documents contained in the NAA file also include internal correspondence from the Australian military and a letter from the office of the Australian Chief of the General Staff dated November 26, 1940[5] Ibid, page 4.. In it, the Australian Southern Command is instructed to inform the internee Erich Maximilian Knopf in response to his request that “if the Colonial Secretary in Singapore agrees to his release, he will be sent back to Singapore for his release there. The original application had been sent there. The package of documents ends with the forwarding of the order to the headquarters of the internment camps on November 29, 1940.

Please note: The harassing treatment of Jewish internees in Camp Tatura 3 by the camp commander Major Sproat and his direct superior Lieutenant Colonel Tackaberry will be reported on elsewhere.

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