The Dunera’s Journey
Part 4

The Dunera’s Journey
Part 1

The Dunera’s Journey
Part 2

The Dunera’s Journey
Part 3

The Dunera’s Journey
Part 4

The Dunera’s Journey
Part 5

The Dunera’s Journey
Part 6

Like their comrades from Camp 7, the internees from Camp 8 near Hay in the Australian state of New South Wales wrote a report on the crossing for the British authorities around three months after they were able to leave the Dunera in Sydney on September 6, 1940.

The English text is available in the Dehn family archive; it is probably a transcript.
Translation and additional research: Peter Dehn, January 2024.

of events during our passage on H.M.T. ”DUNERA”

We have refrained up till now from describing our treatment on board H.M.T. “DUNERA” as we were afraid that these facts might be used for enemy propaganda. We are now – three months after our arrival – giving this statement for the use of the authorities only and it is our wish that if the authorities should think the treatment of these facts detrimental, this statement should not be regarded as a complaint, but that the matter should rest.

The internees on board H.M.T. “DUNERA” were composed of two different categories, altogether about 2730 in number. 2288 were political and racial refugees, many of whom had gone through hardships of German concentration camps and all of them are the bitterest enemies of Nazidom. all of us in this camp belong to this category. We passed the Aliens Tribunals, and after careful examination had been exempted from internment. However, in May and June 1940, the policy of the Home Office towards us changed, and we were interned when, as a consequence of the unexpected events in Europe, a general round-up of aliens, including refugees, was decided upon. On July 10^th, i.e. shortly before the policy of the Home Office reversed in our favour again we were sent from our respective camps overseas.

These 2288 men came from the following British Internment camps:  

The other category were 444 persons, of whom 200 were Italian internees, and 244 were German internees who had already under special internment orders been detained for some time previous to the general internment order (Class ”A” enemy aliens) of these 244 Germans[1] 251 German and 200 Italian survivors of the Arandora Star were brought to the Dunera. The majority of these Germans were refugees, not Nazis. Both groups were disembarked in Melbourne and taken to a camp near Tatura (Victoria) with 94 German refugees. The transport lists can be found in the Australian National Archives NAA, NAA_ItemNumber657104. the majority were Nazis or German sympathisers. In our respective camps we had been informed that we were allowed to take with us a certain amount of luggage. Therefore, most of us had with them such equipment as would serve them for the voyage and for internment overseas. Many of those refugees who did not possess a permanent home and therefore no oppor-tunity of leaving their property in a safe custody somewhere had with them all their property they had saved.

The search of persons on the night of embarkation

This search caused a severe shock to our minds. It was carried out in a reckless manner, no lists of any kind being made and no receipts given. The articles thus taken were thrown together indiscriminately. It would have been impossible afterwards to identify the owners, even if an attempt had eventually been made with a view to restoring these articles. Worse of all, the search was carried out with brutal force. The refugees from Lingfield and Huyton were searched by several N.C.O.’s in the presence of Lt. O’Neill, when they passed a small bridge to board H.M.T. “DUNERA”. On this occasion, parcels, blankets, overcoats, attache cases etc. were seized, the pockets emptied and part of the contents and in some cases all the contents taken away.

John O’Neill[2] Wikipedia about John O’Neill, retrieved Sep 20, 2023. (1897 – 1942), who had been awarded the highest military decorations during the First World War, was given the rank of lieutenant on July 1, 1940 to take up a position in the guard unit on the Dunera provided by the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps. The court martial did not find him responsible for the events on board and only summoned him as a witness to testify in favor of the defendants. The ship’s “passengers” paid tribute to his activities with, among other things, a corruption of the song “Stenka Rasin”:

Deported on the Dunera
And Australia is the destination
Our suitcases are broken open
Our shirts weares O’Neil

Not only valuables were seized, but also documents, wallets, with correspondence, spectacles, photographs, fountain-pens, toilet articles, pencils, and in one case a set of false teeth. Most of the articles were thrown on a heap on the bridge, some were in our presence thrown into the water and some were put by the sergeants into their own pockets. We were pushed along the gangway with force, bullied and some were beaten. As a typical case we would like to mention Mr. Moritz Chlumnecky[3] Moritz Chlumnecky (1882-1945), an businessman from Austria. He was deported on the Dunera with his son Johannes (*1920), a musician.. He is 58 years of age and was carrying the violin of his son and pointed it o the soldier concerned that he was only carrying a violin in the violin case and that it was essential that the valuable instrument should be kept dry. Thereupon one of the soldiers knocked his foot with the butt of a rifle, another one tore the violin from him an Lt. O’Neill pushed him along. Witnesses of this scene are Mr. Chlumecky’s son, Prof. L. Horschfeld[4] It is highly likely that this refers to Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack (1893-1965), an artist and art teacher. He fled from the Nazis to England, from where he was deported to Australia. and George Nadel. In consequence of this act an effusion of blood occurred all over his foot, and his nails were torn.

The refugees coming from the Isle of Man camps were partly taken to the foredeck and partly to the aftdeck. they weer searched on board H.M.T. “DUNERA” on small gangways leading to the fore- and aftdecks respectively. The search was carried out in the same manner as far as the recklessness concerning our property and the violence to our persons are concerned. The search was attended by an officer unknown. The representative case is that of Dr. Edgar Elbogen[5] Edgar Elbogen was born in Vienna in 1899. He was a Catholic. Trained as a chemist and nurse, his last job was as a teacher., 42 years of age, teacher. When he tried to explain that he had in his attache case only toilet articles the soldier searching him boxed his ears and the officer standing nearby did not interfere.

The refugees from the Isle of Man were subjected to another and more thorough search at which no officer was present, when they had been taken down to their respective quarters, The methods already described were used again. Those who tried to explain or remonstrate were threatened with rifles or beaten. One who was badly knocked about was Mr. K.J. Joseph[6] Karl John Joseph, born in 1894, was a lawyer from Berlin. He was released to England in mid-1942., 46 years if age, member of the British Inns of Court.

We are not giving here particulars of the damage inflicted to our property but in this connection beg to refer to our letter of November 22. to Mr. Binford Hole[7] Letter to the London solicitor Binford Hole dated 22 November 1940, Australian National Archives NAA, NAA_ItemNumber216013, page 289ff. Copies of this and other letters were sent by the Australian Secret Service to the Prime Minister's Office in 1941 with the request that they be forwarded to the British Home Office. Ibid. page 288. in which such particulars are given and of which we enclose a copy. On the first night we were given nothing to eat or to drink. We got no accommodation for sleeping. Those of us who were accommodated in quarters without lavatories were not allowed to got on deck to use the lavatories. After we had been waiting a long time already on the pier almost everybody needed to urinate. Later on a few of our men succeeded in obtaining a few buckets which naturally were full to overflow within a short time and soiled the floor.

We spent the remainder of the night sitting – deeply grieved. This was the first night on board H.M.T. “DUNERA”.

The hygienic conditions on board H.M.T. “Dunera”

The accomodation provided for the 2730 internees on board was absolutely insufficient and the hygienic conditions were extremely bad, It is therefore no wonder that the state of health if the internees deteriorated rapidly during the voyage, and that during the last stage of the voyage up to 180 persons were hospital patients while many more such patients could not be accomodated in the hospital as that number was approximately izts maximum capacity. There were among us many old and young persons and also some sick men who could not stand the conditions prevailing on board.

„The number of internees and guards on board the “Dunera” was 2,873. I am advised by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Shipping that the accommodation, including the sanitary arrangements, was adequate for this number.“ This was announced by Secretary of War Henry Margesson in the House of Commons[8] Minutes of Question Time in the British House of Commons on 21 January 1940, retrieved on 25 August 2023. on January 21, 1941. „H.M.T. “Dunera” is a vessel specially constructed and fitted for trooping service and, before the voyage in question, she had been employed on trooping duties in the Indian Ocean. On the voyage to the United Kingdom she carried 354 cabin and 1,345 troopdeck passengers from Bombay and a further in cabin and ten troopdeck from Port Said.“ Under questioning about another voyage, Secretary of War Frederick Bellenger[9] Minutes of Question Time in the British House of Commons on 18 February 1947, retrieved on 25 August 2023. involuntarily exposed previous lies about the Dunera’s capacity in the House of Commons on February 18, 1947.

We were confined to quarters which were so overcrowded that many os us had had no opportunity of sleeping in hammocks but had to sleep on or under tables. The port-holes of the ship were kept closed and our rooms were lit during the voyage by artificial light only.

Part of the refugees who were taken to the aftdeck wre accomodated with Nazis and friction between those two parties were of course inevitable. The refugees applied without success to the Commandant for separation from the Nazis.

During the whole voyage our luggage was not returned to us, so that we had to make the passage of over eight weeks through tropical and other climate without even the most primitive necessities, such as soap, toothbrushes, tooth-paste, towels and with only such clothes as we were actually wearing. From time to time we tried with insufficient means to wash our on set of shirt and underwear and had to walk about halfnaked while making this inadequate attempt.

The air in our rooms was under such circumstances, of course, very bad, especially at night. It became unbearable when we passed through the tropics and also during stormy weather when many of us were sea-sick. once of our fellow refugees, Mr. Pfeffer, who suffered specially from the lack of air, died.

Dunera Boy Hans Hermann Josephy (Hans Jackson) painted the situation, Courtesy of Allen Sternstein.

The conditions of the toilets and the lavatories were unsatisfactory, particularly those of the aftdeck. On epart of the aftdeck had no toliets and lavatories at all, and if the internees of this quarter wanted to use the lavatories, they had to pass along a small gangway on deck leading to the other quarters. There were sixteen toilets for the total of 980 men, and three of the toilets were out of use, one urinal of about 2-3 yards[10] Approx. 2.70 m. 1 yard = 91.44 cm. and 32 wash-basins of which several were out of use while the remainder had to be used for washing, laundry and dish-cleaning. There were also seven showers of which four were in use. All this was in a room of about 10×18 yards. In the morning we had to queue up for about 20-30 Minutes before we could wash or clean our dishes, or use the toilets. Later on an additional urinal was installed on deck in front of the above-mentioned passage situated between the two quarters, i.e. the only place where we would get fresh air and consequently the urinal was used in cases of urgency only, to avoid the smell of urine on deck. This open-air passage was always overcrowded during day-time and was of such limited space that we had to go up in batches of 50 to have fifteen minutes of fresh air.

During the earlier part of our voyage we were not allowed at night ti use the above-mentioned gangway to the lavatories. One of our fellow-internees, Mr. F. Fliess, who one night was suffering from diarrhoea and endeavouring to reach the lavatories by means of that gangway, was stabbed throught the barbed wire with a bayonet into his stomach. When the soldier tried to stab him a second time, he avoided further injury only by jumping to his feet and escaping into the lavatory. He was taken to the hospital on a stretcher, bleeding badly. The Medical Officer found that the muscles of the abdomen had been pierced, but fortunately the stomach was not hurt.

In the course of the voyage conditions slightly improved in so far as the open air passage was somewhat enlarged to hold about 200 men, and we also receive some small pieces of soap at rare intervals and were handed some towels which had been taken from our cases. A few internees received permission from the Medical Officer to sleep on deck as they could not bear the atmosphere below. Notwithstanding this permission they were on several occasions driven below by the guards. On one such occasion Mr. S. Zimmer, aged 56, was badly beaten, pushed against the barbed wire, and then thrown downstairs.

In consequence of the lack of cleaning and washing facilities many skin diseases such as impetigo, foruncolosis etc. occurred. Much worse were the frequent attacks of diarrhoea, from which practically all of us suffered from time to time. Probably the poor quality of the food was responsible for this. The food which at the beginning was satisfactory, deteriorated during the course of the voyage. It consisted mainly of frozen meat and tin preserves. Once a week we had an apple. The bread was insufficiently baked and the meat frequently of dubious quality. As a result of the poor quality of the food and the frequent occurrences of heavy diarrhoea, most of us lost strikingly weight.

At the court martial, the deputy commander of the Dunera Guards, Captain W. J. Baggulay[11] Report of the "News Chronicle" on 21 May 1941 of the military court proceedings. Australian National Archives NAA, NAA_ItemNumber216013, page 131., stated, “he had heard that there was a system of barter berween the troops and internees to obtain cigarettes, chocolates and other comforts from the ship’s canteen. Any barter could only habe been done with the personal belongings an internee hat with him and not with what he had in a suitcase in the bagage room”.

The fact is: What objects of exchange might the internees have had at their disposal if they had no access to the suitcases and their pockets were systematically emptied? Did the court fail to ask the questions that would have exposed the “exchange lie”?

Our treatment

But much more than those privations we suffered from the harsh treatment meted out to us, and the humiliations we had to go through. It was a daily occurrence for some of us to be pushed, insulted or threatened. We will here quote some instances, as it would otherwise sound incredible that such things should have occurred on a British ship. After some days we were allowed a daily exercise of about fifteen minutes. During these exercises we were pushed by some oft the guars, shouted and sworn at, and asked to run. Some of the older internees who were older weer threatened.

After some time an order was given that we could take part only in these exercises if we went bare-footed. From then on, many of the internees did not take part in the exercises any longer. We would here like to mention the following incident. The refugee Alfred Landauer[12] Born in Vienna in 1910, the stage artist and musician was a Protestant with Jewish roots. saw while running in file during one of these exercises a sergeant swing and throw a bottle in his direction shouting “get on, you bloody buggers”, The bottle broke on the floor, and Landauer cut his feet, and so dud some of the men behind him who could not stop.

Many other instances of ill-treatment occurred:

Hans Kronberger[13] Hans Kronberger , a Jew born in Linz in 1920, had studied in Newcastle. He became interested in physics through further training courses in the Tatura internment camp and was able to return to England in 1942, where he obtained his degree in 1944. He then became involved in British nuclear research and played a leading role in the development of the British atomic bomb. In 1958, he became head of the Atomic Energy Authority. He died in 1970, aged just 50., 19 years old, together with another boy, was sent to the bunker on account of a misunderstanding, and was released after a few hours. His hands as well as those of the other boy were tied together very tightly, and the boys were bound back to back. Lt. O’Neill who came into the bunker, knocked Kronberger in the face with his face and called him names. When they were released, the marks of his treatment were evident, and they made a statement before the Medical Officer.

Mr. Robert Grothey[14] Robert Grothey was born in Bremen in 1898. The Protestant named his profession as import-export merchant and painter. was taken to the cells on an denunciation, which later proved to be mistaken. He was pushed down the stairs and kicked by Sergeant Holliwel[15] Correct: Sgt Arthur Helliwel. He was one of only three soldiers charged. in the presence of Lt. O’Neill who was standing by in the cell. Sergeant Holliwell then hit him in the face with his fist three times and swore at him, also in the presence of Lt. O’Neill. He was kept in the bunker without ever being heard or examined in any way. He was released after some days.

Werner Heller[16] Werner Heller, an Austrian born in Mannheim in 1916, was a Protestant. He was able to return to England at the end of 1941. had put a towel over the electric light one night. It caught fire which was however easily extinguished. He was pulled on the deck -– dressed with his pants only – it was a very cold night – and knocked along to the bunker with rifle butts. He was sworn at and taken to the bunker. Next morning he was released.

Waldemar Eckfeld[17] Waldemar Eckfeld was sent back and forth between several hospitals during his internment, including the Gladesville Mental Asylum near Sydney until 1942. He was released from internment in Melbourne in 1943. Born in Vienna in 1915, he gave his occupation as mechanic and farmer. is suffering from some sort of a mental disease, and since our arrival in Australia has been kept in a home. When the “DUNERA” was at Melbourne, he escaped from the hospital, went to the room of an officer, shaved his chin, leaving the remainder of his beard untouched, changed his clothes for a uniform, and left the ship by a porthole. He was caught emerging from the hole and brought back. He was struck many blows in the face, and got one tooth knocked out. He was afterwards brought to the ships hospital.

In none of these cases did the Commanding Officer grant us any protection, nor were any of the officers or men reprimanded. Some milder form of ill-treatments were daily occurrences as well as bad language. Our despair was great. Jacob Weiss committed suicide jumping overboard. He was particularly depressed because his passport which contained his Argentine visa, had been torn and thrown into the water during the search on the first night.

The damage inflicted to our luggage

We have given particulars of this damage in our letter to Mr. Binford Hole, to which letter we beg to refer in this connection again. The way in which our property was being treated made us feel as outlaws. As we had already lost the bulk of our property in Germany[18] Before leaving the Nazi Reich, Jews had to pay a "Reich flight tax" and other charges. They were only allowed to take 10 Reichsmarks in cash with them., many of us had all their belongings on the ship. But more than the material loss was the anxiety and alarm caused in connection with it.

On the second day, we discovered that our cases were being forced open and looted. We could see from behind the barbed wire that part of the contents was dispersed over the deck. A complaint we tried to bring under the notice of the Commandant remained unanswered. When, on the 10th or 11th day, our deckleaders were allowed to see him, his harangue was disheartening. We are attaching the contents of these two harangues according to the notes of our deckleaders and we are enclosing copies of two letters they wrote to the Commandant.

A few days after our embarkation, an order was apparently given that all our cases have to be opened and searched. They were then gradually taken to the store room below deck. This store room was accessible through the hospital, and hospital patients frequently observed N.C.O.’s leaving this store room with parcels. When we heard that our cases were to be opened, the deckleaders of the foredeck and the aftdeck offered the Commandant our assistance at the opening of our luggage. No reply to this offer was received.

Another ill-considered matter was the confiscation and redistribution among the internees of clothes, underwaer and shoes which the Commandant apparently thought necessary for us on the voyage. A number if bundles were allotted to each deck, but as we did not want to deprive our comrades of their property, we refused to distribute the clothing among our fellow-internees.

When the lack of equipment became more and more unbearable, the Medical Officer tried to let internees have access to their suitcases so that they could take from them the most essential utensils. but no sooner had the first 25 suitcases been brought back n deck and their owners fetched, then Captain Colle stopped this action.

As mentioned in our letter to Dr. Binford Hole, several more general searches took place in the course of the voyage. Still more depressing were the individual searches if they can be thus described, which never entirely ceased. From time to time the N.C.O.’s would search our pockets in day-time, e.g. at the occasion of the exercise. Also one or more N.C.O.’s would com to our quarters at night and search our pockets for any valuables that might have been left. In three such cases which occurred at the hospital, the Medical Officer intervened and succeeded in restoring the property to the respective owners. A rather striking case is that of Leo Roth.[19] Leo Roth, born in 1921, was a Jewish furrier from Graz. On the 12th night of our voyage, at about 1 a.m. two soldiers entered the deck where he was sleeping. He lay with his hands outstretched, wearing a golden signet ring. The soldiers woke him up and asked him to hand over the ring. The young man explained that he was unable to take the ring off his finger. Thereupon the soldier became angry, dragged him to the lavatory, and by using water and soap eventually got the ring off his finger. In this process he injured the finger and Roth had to report to the hospital the following day. The Medical Officer who bandaged the finger enquired after the cause of the injury and later informed one of our doctors, Dr. Schatzki[20] Born in 1902 in the Siegen district of Klafeld, the Jewish doctor was later discharged from the Australian army after a short period of service because he was authorised to practise medicine., that he had made a report on this matter.

We had to be cautious in our representations concerning the treatment of our property as we proved by the example of Dr. H.C. Fleischer[21] Dr Hermann Carl Fleischer was born in Göppingen in 1893. The Jew was a chemical engineer.. One refugee had in the first night been deprived of a particularly valuable platinum watch decorated with precious stones. Dr. Fleischer who had witnessed the confiscation, made a written statement to the Commandant and later identified the corporal who was responsible. Thereupon this corporal and a police-sergeant came to see Dr. Fleischer and threatened him with the words “You will be in for it”. Dr. Fleischer informed Captain Robertson who promised him his assistance. In the afternoon of the same day, the Regimental Sergeant-Major, a police-sergeant and a different corporal came to see Dr. Fleischer. The N.C.O.’s seized him by the collar, dragged him from the mess to the empty examination room of the hospital and tried to persuade him to direct a charge of robbery against the particular corporal although he was unknown to Dr. Fleischer. Dr. Fleischer refused and was thereupon again threatened by the sergeant. A week later Dr. Fleischer was called before the Commanding Officer who declared in the presence of his Adjutant and the regimental Sergeant Major that he could not institute proceeding against the corporal as he had denied the charge and it would otherwise amount to believing the words of an enemy alien instead of a British soldier. The Commanding Officer said that he did not wish to be bombarded by internees with letters regarding their alleged property, and that he could not act as an amateur detective to find out which articles belonged to them. the following day a Lieutenant informed Dr. Fleischer that he had managed to find an platinum watch which was then shown to and identified by the owner.

We should like to mention that during the month of August the hospital was declared out of bounds for the soldiers probably at the instance of the Medical Officer, after some refugees had been “searched” there, and some acts of violence had been perpetrated.

In view of the constant insecurity to which our property was exposed we were advised by Lt. Tinning of the fore and aft-deck to hand over to officers any valuables still in our possession. for safe custody. The internees of one room of each of the two decks followed this advise and handed over their valuables which were put in a sack. These valuables have never been restored to us as have any of the others. Later we learned that Lt. Tinning had put the one sack into his cabin and that a sergeant who had seen the sack there, had fetched it with a written order of the Commandant.

Appreciation of helpful officers and men

On September 7th we arrived in Sydney, physically and mentally exhausted. The chapter of the “DUNERA” came to an end when threatened, beaten and sworn at we left the ship. It would be unjust not to mention that some of the officers and men were well disposed towards us and felt strongly about the treatment to which we were subjected, but they were not in a position to help us as they wished. We were particularly grateful to the Medical Officer, to Lt. Brooks, and Captain Robertson, also to Lt. Mullaney and Sergeant Stanly (RAMC). Also quite a few officers and men of whom we do not know the names expressed their sympathies. And we are aware that those officers who ill-treated us did not act in accordance with the true British traditions.

Footnotes