“Taking the side of the decent”

In the run-up to the 85th anniversary of the Dunera landing, the Dunera and Queen Mary Association invites you to an afternoon with the well-known British TV journalist Nick Ross. Nick Ross will talk about his father Hans Carl Rosenbluth. He came from a Jewish family in Eberswalde, north-east of Berlin. He was forced into exile in England by the Nazis.

In conversation: TV presenter Nick Ross.

Nick Ross. Photo: nickross.com

Although he was classified as a refugee by a British tribunal at the end of 1939, the British interrupted his studies at the London School of Economics and deported him to Australia in July 1940 with more than 2,000 refugees on the troopship Dunera (Nick Ross: A “floating concentration camp”). He passed through the internment camps at Hay and Tatura and was able to return to England at the end of 1941. He took the English name John Caryl Ross, became a British citizen and served Britain in the Pioneer Corps.

His son Nick became a well-known journalist and TV face in England. Among other things, he presented the BBC program “Crimewatch” (a counterpart to ZDF’s “Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst”).He was awarded the Commander of the British Empire (CBE), one of the highest British decorations for services to civilian life.He experienced a new Germany during his visits.Brexit was not the reason he applied for a German passport, which he received. “I wanted to associate myself with a liberal public and an enlightened society.”Because it was time to “take the side of the decent”, as the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper quoted him in 2018.

“A Dunera conversation with Nick Ross” on Sunday, April 6 at 3pm at the Lamm Jewish Library (Melbourne, 304 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield South, Vic 3162). Admission: 15 AUD.