New on dunera.de June 26, 2025

Conflicts in some Tatura camps

There were seven internment camps for various groups of internees and prisoners of war in the Tatura region (state of Victoria) during the Second World War. They were under the supervision of the 17th Garrison Battalion of the Australian Army.

Camp number 1 was initially occupied by 200 Italian survivors of the Arandora Star and around 150 Jews who had to leave the Dunera in Melbourne. The 250 Germans and Austrians who had escaped death at sea were not only businessmen and sailors from the German merchant navy, but also at least 40 men with proven Jewish ancestry or anti-fascist views.

Families were imprisoned in camp number 3. In Compound D, these were initially Jews and Italians who had been deported from Singapore to Australia on the Queen Mary in September 1940, while Compound C housed single men of both nationalities. In both separate camp areas, they met German Nazis who had been interned in Australia as “enemy aliens”. On the other hand, Templars were quartered there. Most of these were also Nazis who had been arrested by the British in Palestine in 1941 and deported to Australia on the Queen Elisabeth.

About Nazis …

The fact that the mixture of Nazi victims and Nazis in some compounds of Camps 1 and 3 was explosive was ignored by the officers in charge of the camps, who suppressed criticism of the situation and their behavior. As it turns out, the Nazis were even able to set up “hall protection” in “their” compounds. One of its tasks was to enforce the candidates desired by the local NSDAP in elections of internee representatives against any opposition. It was also possible to secretly print Nazi newspapers and, less secretly, to celebrate victories of the Nazi Wehrmacht with Nazi songs.

… and harassment against Jews

While this was possible despite the ban on political activity, reading Australian files leaves the impression that the leadership of the 17th Garrison Battalion, which was responsible for both camps, took targeted action against the Jews: their representatives were dismissed for repeatedly demanding the separation of Nazis and Nazi opponents. After the internees showed solidarity with their elected representatives, those in charge resorted to an abundance of harassment.

The two new historical articles on the Nazis in the Tatura camps and the harassment of the Jewish internees by the army commanders deal with the one-sided behavior of the Australian authorities towards the various groups of internees.

“The German salute is your duty”. A “hall guard” was subordinate to the NSDAP leadership of the camp.

 

Article

The Queen Mary internees refused to obey the commandant when he dismissed their representatives. A “Jewish mutiny”?

Article

Please note: Both articles do not concern the Tatura 2 camp, where from spring 1941 all men from the Dunera who had not yet enlisted in the British Pioneer Corps were housed. About a year later, Australia needed manpower because of the call-ups and set up numerous unarmed labor units. The 8th Australian Employment Company consisted almost exclusively of former internees from the Dunera and the Queen Mary.