As commander of the guards, Lieutenant Colonel William Patrick Scott had a special responsibility on board the HMT Dunera. A large number of documents show the ruthlessness and arrogance with which he acted towards the 2,500 people entrusted to his care. No wonder he felt compelled to defend himself to his superiors against the massive complaints of the internees. Another letter documents his anti-Semitism and his Nazi friendliness. He used a press conference in Sydney to spread lies.
Text and translations: Peter Dehn, February 2024.
Under the command of an anti-Semite
During an inspection of the Dunera in Fremantle, Australian doctors and army officers questioned Scott about the condition of the internees and their luggage. Scott now felt compelled to respond and answered a request from Australian authorities on August 31, 1940. On the way from Fremantle to Melbourne, he sent a radio telegram[1] Scott to Robertson on Sep 19, 1940. Quoted from Dunera News No. 30, pg 22, retrieved May 17, 2023. to the Australian Army department responsible for prisoners of war in order to present himself in the best possible light.
He extensively justifies the impending chaos caused by the confiscated and unlabeled baggage: it will be “easy for the Australian authorities in Sydney to distribute the baggage after identification by the internees” and send the rest to Melbourne (to the internees previously put ashore there), he pushes the clean-up work away.
He brazenly asked the Australian authorities to support him with the British authorities “that under no circumstances should they allow internees to have more than one duffel bag per head”. Valuables should be taken away from them, “for which a receipt may be demanded”, he suggests cynically. Nevertheless, the disappearance of valuables was unavoidable.
W.P. Scott then shows his anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi attitude. He informs the Australians about the groups of internees as follows:
He had already warned the Nazis before their departure that they would cause problems. “Their behaviour has been exemplary, they are of fine type, honest and straightforward, and extremely well disciplined. I am quite prepared to admit however, that they are highly dangerous.”
The Italians: “This group are filthy in their habits, without a vestige of discipline, and cowards to a degree.”
The Jews: “Can only be described as subversive liars, demanding and arrogant and I have taken steps to bring them into my line of thought. They will quote any person from a Prime Minister to the President of the United States as personal references, and they are definitely not to be trusted in word or deed.”
“There was no brutality”
After the last internees had disembarked in Sydney, the Dunera continued its journey. Apparently the events back home had already spread. Scott defends himself to his superiors. On September 19, 1940, he radioed from sea to Colonel Robertson[2] W.P. Scott, radio message to Prisoners of War Information Bureau of the Australian Army. Quoted from Paul B. Bartrop, Gabrielle Eisen," The Dunera Affair. A Documentary Resource Book", Melbourne 1990, page 52/53. of the British War Office. The letter documented here shows the extent of his insolence.
Sir,
I have received information from Australian Military H.Q. Southern Command that certain complaints are being brought forward by Jewish lawyers amongst the internees at Hay Camp.
We may take these complaints under the following headlings:
1. Brutality on board
2. Rifling of baggage
3. Loss of money
1 . I have reported to you in previous reports that these internees were badly disciplined, belligerent and demanding, and had perforce to be brought to order. There was no brutality whatsoever – the only hardship that defaulters had to undergo was detention in the cells on a diet of bread and water.
In dealing with 2. as explained before internees became lousy and ‘crab’ ridden. In order to tackle this problem and keys not being available baggage had to be burst open in order to obtain clothing, linen etc. The same applying when the weather became cold, with regard to suits of clothing and overcoats.
In dealing with 3. frequent cases of bribing of Ship’s crew and others had by this time come to my notice. I instituted searches on three occasions and was completely baffled in obtaining any signs of money at all. During disembarkation at Sydney, I took it upon myself to watch closely the packing of effects by internees, and saw one man going over to the quay with a large bundle of notes which would amount to at least £200. Further, on search at Internment Camps, I am informed that £575 was recovered [?] from the Italians and £40 from the Nazis. I have not yet received figures in regard to the Alien Hebrews but would imagine it to be at least £1,000.
I strongly refute the implications of three Hebrew lawyers that soldiers under my Command have been either brutal or rapacious and consider that such complaints in these times of stress should not only be ignored but if necessary suppressed.
Further to the above, the fact that only five Hospital cases were landed in Australia reflects credit I think, in the care that was taken to safeguard the welfare of all on board.
I have the honour to be Sir,
Your obedient servant
The original text was published in 1994 in Newsletter No.30 of the Dunera Association (clickable).
In front of internees and journalists
The deck leaders – the representatives of the internees – noted the following about a meeting with Scott that took place on August 20, 1940: “Dr. Pick, I warn you. My officers have complained that they are running after you with questions, requests, complaints[3] „Exibit. Verbal Statements List to internees made by the Commandant Lt.-Col. W.P. Scott …“. Deckleader's notes on her contacts with Lieutenant Colonel Scott, NAA_ItemNumber216013, pg 310.. If you don’t stop this, I will have to decide what action to take against you.” This clearly shows the atmosphere of intimidation and threat Scott wanted to create on board.
Another incident shows how Scott acted on the outside. While he had ordered his subordinates to refrain from speaking[4] Daily order from Lt.-Col. Scott, 29.1940, NAA_ItemNumber411713, page 21. during their shore leave in Australia, he himself presented himself with brazen lies during a press conference in Sydney on September 6, 1940. Media representatives who were hungry for information far away from the events of the war, quoted him unchallenged. Not least because – for good reason – no internee was present. Sydney’s newspaper readers were told:
“The internees were fed better than any British troops are fed.”
The fact is: “The daily food[5] Cf. Dunera Association online Homepage, retrieved September 17, 2023. consisted of smoked fish, sausage, potatoes and a spoonful of melon and lemon marmalade on bread that was usually maggoty and rancid butter.”
“It was stated that Hitler hat arranged for the man, on arrival in Australia, to receive £ 2 each. Two of the internees refused to accept this bonus, and asked that it be paid into a fund for the purchase of Spitfires for Britain”, stated that report.
The fact is: Apart from the fact that the “2 Pounds” story was a lie, Nazi Germany had revoked the citizenship of all Jews in 1938. In 1943, the Nazi State Department declared that they wanted to send an undisclosed number of Germans a “Christmas bonus” totaling 7,200 dollars[6] Swiss legation to the Foreign Office on 10 December 1943, NAA_ItemNumber216020, page 12f.. After the internments ended in mid-1942, this could only affect fewer than 250 men from the Dunera deportees who were prisoners of war.
“’We lost three of the men on the voyage, one from an accident and two from natural causes’ Colonel Scott said.”
The fact is that Scott’s statement is contradicted in the same article: There, the reference is rightly to a suicide. “Jacob Weiss committed suicide by jumping overboard.” He was desperate because his passport and visa for Argentina had been thrown overboard by guards. The Austrian Hans Pfeffen died of influenza due to the lack of antibiotics. Also “lost” was the Nazi diplomat Wolfgang Kittel[7] Cf. research for a biography of W. Kittel, dunera.de, unpublished., who was taken off the ship in Cape Town and later exanged.
“It is understood that there was considerable ill-feeling, breaking out at times to active hostility between the Germans and the Italians”, the journalists were told.
The fact is that no violent attacks “between the Germans and the Italians” are known.
The “Sydney Morning Herald” report of 7 September 1940 about the press conference on the arrival of the Dunera[8] "The Sydney Morning Herald", September 7 1940. in Sydney.
At the court-martial
“In July 1940 he (Scott) was appointed lieutenant colonel for his command post on the Dunera. After relinquishing his command with effect from 8 October 1940, he reverted to the rank of major,” explained War Minister David Margesson[9] War Secretary David Margesson, House of Commons, Oct 14, 1941, retrieved July 17,2023. in the British House of Commons. “It was therefore clearly not a demotion, but a rank required for the Dunera job according to the nomenclature.
“Major Scott was tried by court-martial on two charges[10] Ibid. under Section 40 of the Army Act of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. The first charge alleged that he improperly addressed the troops under his command in terms that suggested that he was aware of, and condoned, thefts of articles belonging to internees. The second charge alleged that having reasonable grounds to suppose that an interned alien had been treated with violence or neglect while in the custody of military personnel under his command he failed to ensure that any proper inquiry was made into the incident. He was acquitted on the first of these charges but was found guilty on the second.“ His punishment[11] Wikipedia about HMT Dunera, retrieved July 18, 2023.: “He was severely reprimanded”.
The best-known perpetrator from the guard unit of the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps, Lieutenant John O’Neill, was not even charged. As a witness, he was allowed to exonerate his accused cronies in court. Interned persons were not taken into consideration by the military lawyers. The proceedings and verdicts of the military court were therefore hardly fact-oriented, but essentially served to whitewash the British army.
Footnotes
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- [1]↑Scott to Robertson on Sep 19, 1940. Quoted from Dunera News No. 30, pg 22, retrieved May 17, 2023.
- [2]↑W.P. Scott, radio message to Prisoners of War Information Bureau of the Australian Army. Quoted from Paul B. Bartrop, Gabrielle Eisen," The Dunera Affair. A Documentary Resource Book", Melbourne 1990, page 52/53.
- [3]↑„Exibit. Verbal Statements List to internees made by the Commandant Lt.-Col. W.P. Scott …“. Deckleader's notes on her contacts with Lieutenant Colonel Scott, NAA_ItemNumber216013, pg 310.
- [4]↑Daily order from Lt.-Col. Scott, 29.1940, NAA_ItemNumber411713, page 21.
- [5]↑Cf. Dunera Association online Homepage, retrieved September 17, 2023.
- [6]↑Swiss legation to the Foreign Office on 10 December 1943, NAA_ItemNumber216020, page 12f.
- [7]↑Cf. research for a biography of W. Kittel, dunera.de, unpublished.
- [8]↑"The Sydney Morning Herald", September 7 1940.
- [9]↑War Secretary David Margesson, House of Commons, Oct 14, 1941, retrieved July 17,2023.
- [10]↑Ibid.
- [11]↑Wikipedia about HMT Dunera, retrieved July 18, 2023.
