Two new books about Dunera
„No One Knows …“
A few days ago „No One Knows Their Destiny” was released in Australia. Australian art historian Tonia Eckfeld recounts the experiences of her father Reinhold (1921 – 2017) and her uncle Waldemar Eckfeld (1915 – 1959) in Vienna during the period from “Kristallnacht” to the end of the Second World War in Australia.
She uses previously unpublished artworks, photographs and documents. This creates a new perspective on the persecution and escape of the brothers from Austria, their internment in England, deportation to Australia on the Dunera and their internment in Australia until the end of the war.

Waldemar and Reinhold Eckfeld. The photo was taken between September 1943 and November 1946, source: Eckfeld Archive, unknown photographer.
Mentally ill Waldemar was badly beaten up by the Dunera guards after trying to escape in Melbourne harbour. This and the many other assaults by the guards, their systematic robbery of the internees and the completely inadequate reappraisal in England – including the acquittal of the main perpetrator in Waldemar’s case – are also addressed.
The starting point of the book is an extract from Reinhold Eckfeld’s autobiographical book “Last Months in Vienna”, which was published in Austria in 2002 and is now available in English for the first time. In it, Reinhold describes how he experienced the “Reichskristallnacht” in Vienna at the age of 17 and the time leading up to his emigration to England.
However, Tonia Eckfeld wants to go far beyond family memories and reappraisal in a historical context to counter that “popular culture has mythologised the Dunera Boys “. She contrasts the effects of war and trauma on the family relationships of the father and uncle in order to broaden the reader’s field of vision.
“Last Months in Vienna”
In 1940, Reinhold Eckfeld had already been interned in Australia and wrote down his memories of life in Vienna from around “Kristallnacht” on 9 November 1938. On around 100 pages, the then 17-year-old schoolboy describes his experience of anti-Semitic Nazi terror in everyday life in Vienna very precisely and authentically. Among other things, he deals with the behaviour of classmates who went from being good friends to uniformed anti-Semitic Hitler Youth and with the harassment of Jews who wanted to emigrate by the bureaucracy. It is important for him (and the readers) to realise that the Nazi victims he himself experienced were not Germans, but all Austrians.
For the first publication of “Last Months in Vienna” in 2002, the editor Martin Krist had supplemented Reinhold Eckfeld’s autobiographical text with the results of historical research.
An new edition of the book has been announced for the beginning of October under the title “Reinhold Eckfeld’s Report”. This expanded and supplemented edition will again be supervised by Martin Krist. (“Reinhold Eckfeld’s report. Written down in the Australian internment camps Hay and Tatura 1940/41”, 100 pages, 18 €. Published by the Theodor Kramer Society, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-903522-24-4).

Tonia Eckfeld: „No One Knows Their Destiny. The Eckfeld Records: Inside the Dunera Story“, Monash University Publishing, Melbourne 2024, ISBN 9781922979780., 39,99 AUD.
At the launch on 22 September 2024, Tonia Eckfeld discussed with historian Prof. Paul Bartrop. Seumas Spark (Dunera Association) moderated at the Jewish Museum of Australia in Melbourne.


On 25 October, Tonia Eckfeld will introduce herself at the “Author Talk” at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney. The event starts at 7.30 pm, admission is free, registration is required.
‘Meet the Author’ is the headline on 27 October, when Tonia Eckfeld presents her book at 2 pm at the Jewish Museum in Sydney. Registration required.
