Three Ship Stories
“… hurts our very innermost”
From Singapore “under British protection”
Arandora Star
Part 3
The “J”-Stamp
“Aktionsjuden”
“Dumped” in Bombay
“Sympathy and human kindness”
An appeal made by internees
“99,1 per cent british”
The „Fall Grün“
The “Polenaktion”
“Two Years in Nazi concentration camps”
British deportations
Part 1
British deportations
Part 2
British deportations
Part 3
Arandora Star
Part 1
Arandora Star
Part 2
Working on the biography of Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz inspired a study of the two ships that proved fateful for him and his traveling companions on their way to England. Like the Abosso, the Waroonga was sunk in the North Atlantic months later with another group of internees on board. Brief biographical details commemorate the internees who became victims of the Nazi navy at sea. As it turned out, the shipping company of the Westernland, on which Boschwitz completed the first part of the voyage, also has an interesting history that touches on Jewish themes.
Peter Dehn April 2025.
Major Julian Layton, the British government liaison officer in Australia, initially began recruiting volunteers for service in British engineer units and organizing their transport to England in April 1941. Australia’s Defense Minister Forde[1] „War Cabinet Agendum. Treatment of Overseas Internees“, F.M. Forde, Minister of the Army, on Nov 11, 1941 . Quoted from Paul R. Bartrop/Gabrielle Eisen „The Dunera Affair“, Australia 1990, page 112f. drew up an interim balance sheet in November 1941. He gave the number of internees at that time as 2,083. However, this figure also included the 272 German refugees and Italians who were brought to Australia from Singapore, many of whom were women and small children. The cases of 1,367 people are still unresolved, according to Forde. Not included, however, was an undisclosed number of men who had already been sent to England for military service or other war-related tasks.
Numerous transports brought internees to the British Isles between 1941 and mid-1942. On the Stirling Castle alone, 378 Germans and Austrians and 10 Italians traveled from Sydney to Liverpool, where they arrived on November 28, 1941[2] List of passengers via ancestry.de, retrieved Dec 20, 2024..
The transport to which Ulrich Boschwitz was assigned months later comprised only 43 internees[3] National Archives of Australia, list of names in NAA_ItemNumber216019, pages 167/168, retrieved March 15, 025., including seven Italians. They set off for England on the Westernland at the beginning of September. Why the group was taken off the ship in Cape Town is just as unclear as the exact duration of their stay there.
So much for the first stage of that transport and the fatal end for 361 people.
The Westernland and her Jewish shipowner Arnold Bernstein
Some “side research” into the Westernland brought to light a few things about the history of its shipping company that seem interesting – albeit marginally – for this website.
The Jewish German-American Arnold Bernstein (1888 – 1971) moved with his parents from his native city of Breslau to Hamburg. There he ran the trading business “Arnold Bernstein in Hamburg” with his father. He took part in the First World War as a lieutenant in the artillery and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. In 1919, he founded the shipping company Arnold Bernstein, which was later renamed Arnold Bernstein Schiffahrtsgesellschaft. In 1928, he founded a other company in New York.
The core of Bernstein’s business model was the transportation of cars[4] Wikipedia about car transportation with ships (German), retrieved March 20, 2025. between the USA and Europe in “floating garages”. From 1922, he took over the former armored ships of the Imperial Navy Odin and Ägir and initially converted them for the transport of locomotives to Russia and Spain. A further conversion took place in 1924 to transport 220 and 320 new Ford Model T cars respectively from Copenhagen to Malmö, Oslo and Helsinki. In 1925, another ship with a capacity of 80 cars was converted.
For the first time, Bernstein shipped the cars unpacked instead of in the usual wooden crates of the time, which reduced freight costs. The main deck of the Odin, for example, was roofed over and given a ramp so that the cars could drive to the parking area under their own power. An elevator led to the lower decks. In the first year, Bernstein is said to have transported 18,000 cars in this way. To optimize the route from the factory to the port, Bernstein also used special railroad wagons. He soon also transported tractors and US cars to Europe. “He can be considered a pioneer of the Roll on / Roll off[5] „Grosser Kurfürst“, Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum about car transportation on ships, retrieved March 8, 2025. (RoRo) transportation that is taken for granted today.”
The freighter was christened RMS Regina[6] Wikipedia about Westernland (German), retrieved Jan 18, 2025. in 1917, but was already used as a passenger ship in 1920 for 600 first class passengers and 1,700 second class passengers. The 183.1 meter long ship with 16,313 GRT reached a top speed of 15 knots (28 km/h). From 1929 it ran for the Red Star Line, which renamed her Westernland in 1930. In 1935 the Belgian shipping company was taken over by Arnold Bernstein. After the “Aryanization” in 1939, the ship was sold, later taken over by the British Navy and, after further sales, scrapped in 1947.
This only worked well until the Great Depression of 1929. Now Bernstein had the transport steamers converted into passenger ships. But here, too, he went against traditional shipping company concepts: Bernstein only offered his passengers a tourist class.
Arnold Bernstein onboard the Atlantic. Coloured photo omn cardboard; Jüdisches Museum Berlin no 2007/35/268.
In an effort to increase the emigration of Jews to Palestine, he founded the Palestine Shipping Co. Ltd. in Haifa in 1934 together with Zionists and after difficult negotiations with the Nazi authorities. In 1935, he took over the Red Star Line[7] Wikipedia about Red Star Line (German), retrieved March 10, 2025. and with it the Westernland. It was converted into a single-class ship for 486 tourist class passengers. In 1937, Arnold Bernstein employed 1,000 seamen on around 30 ships. He thus ran one of the largest Jewish companies in Germany. Then the Nazis set their sights on the successful entrepreneur.
A very zealous Nazi public prosecutor named Heinrich Jauch[8] Wikipedia about Heinrich Jauch (German), who is said to have handed down most of the death sentences against resistance members in Hamburg until 1937, retrieved March 15, 2025. charged Bernstein with a foreign exchange offense. However, his democratically-minded defense attorney Gerd Bucerius[9] Wikipedia about Gerd Bucerius (German). After the war he was the founding editor of the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. Retrieved March 15, 2025. was unable to prevent Arnold Bernstein from being found guilty and imprisoned. In 1938, the Arnold Bernstein Schiffahrtsgesellschaft was renamed Red Star Line. Palestine Shipping was dissolved. The Jewish name had thus disappeared from Hamburg’s maritime life.
Arnold Bernstein was released from prison in July 1939 and allowed to leave for the USA. There he founded further shipping companies in 1940 and 1957, before retiring from the business in 1959. He died in Palm Beach in 1971.
Transfer to death
Ulrich Boschwitz and his comrades had to wait until October 8, 1942, when the MV Abosso, bound for Liverpool, set sail from Cape Town. Although they were traveling as free men, they were supervised by 19 non-commissioned officers – reportedly at the captain’s request. Including the crew, there were 392 people on board, including ten women and seven children. Of 84 members of the Dutch army, 34 were to take over a new submarine after completing their training. 44 Australian pilots had just completed their training. The crew had 182 members. It was loaded with 3,000 tons of wool and mailbags.
The commander of the Dutch submariners, Lieutenant 1st Class Henry C. J. Coumou, had asked the British authorities to place the Abosso, which was only 15 knots slow, in a convoy in accordance with the specifications. This was refused – with dramatic consequences.
On October 29, 1942, the Abosso was therefore a lone vessel about 1,100 kilometers northwest of the Azores Islands in the North Atlantic. There she was spotted by the German U-575[10] Wikipedia about U-575 (German), retrieved Jan 17, 2025.. According to the submarine’s log, Captain Lieutenant Günther Heydemann ordered four torpedoes to be fired in a fan from a distance of 1,200 meters at 10:13 pm. Two torpedoes had hit. Because the Abosso was still floating despite a considerable list, Heydemann ordered an interception shot. According to his war diary, ten cutters and 15 to 20 rafts were drifting at the sinking site at coordinates 48° 30′ North, 28° 50′ West, all allegedly manned by soldiers in khaki uniforms[11] Wikipedia about the Abosso (German), retrieved Jan 17, 2025..
It was not until 36 hours later, on November 2, that the crew of the British warship Bideford found only a damaged but still buoyant lifeboat. The 31 people rescued were put ashore in Londonderry. Of them, Ugo Bonelli[12] List of names in NAA_ItemNumber216019 loc. cit. was the only surviving internee to survive three torpedo attacks after the sinking of the Arandora Star and the failed attack on the Dunera.
The MV Abosso[13] Wikipedia about the MV Abosso (German), retrieved Jan 17, 2025. was put into service in 1935 for the British shipping company Elder Dempster & Company for freight and passenger transport. She was 139.29 meters long and was given 11,330 GRT. Two diesel engines brought her to a maximum of 15 knots (28 km/h). The freighter had 251 first class, 74 second and 332 third class seats. Photo: uboat.net
Of the guards, only W.G. Bromley[14] W.G. Bromley in “The Sunday Times”, letters to the editor, May 11, 1980, page 12. (Dehn archive). survived. He commented from his perspective: “Not only all the ex-internees, but also 18 RAF NCO’s, were needlessly lost because of the unwarranted suspicion against these harmless and unfortunate ex-internees who never needed a guard.”
The Nazi naval command noted in its war diary on October 29: “Of the remaining boats in the North Atlantic, U-575 still reports the sinking of a single vessel of 5,000 GRT[15] War diaries of German naval command 1939-1945 from Oct 29, 1942, page 627. in BD 2932 (grid square, the author).“
The end of the Waroonga – An eyewitness account
The freighter with passenger cabins Waroonga and equipped as DEMS[16] DEMS = Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship. had set sail from Sydney to Liverpool with 132 people on board on January 30, 1943. The cargo holds[17] Uboot-Archiv about Waroonga (German), retrieved March 20, 2025. carried 5,000 tons of butter, 1,500 tons of lead, 1,000 tons of tinned meat and 1,000 tons of beef and 218 sacks of mail, among other things. The journey first led to the entrance of the Panama Canal at Balboa, from there overland to Christobal[18] Stefan Vajda, testimony at Surrey Constabulary Section Leatherhead from May 8, 1943. The National Archives, Kew, HO 214/71 (Berger/Daxner archives). and then again by ship via Cuba to New York, where the Waroonga departed on March 25 to cross the Atlantic.
On the final leg, the Waroonga was with convoy HX-231 at a position southeast of the southern tip of Greenland. In the late evening of April 4, 1943, the convoy was attacked by six submarines of the Nazi navy. U 635 under Kapitänleutnant Heinz Eckelmann sank two ships. The Waroonga was also hit.
Stefan Vajda reported[19] Ibid.:
The ship was launched in 1914 as Hororata[20] Collection list for Hororata/Waroonga, National Library of New Zealand, retrieved March 16, 2025. for the New Zealand Shipping Company. In 1939 it sailed as Waroonga for the British India Steam Navigation Company on the line from Sydney through the Panama Canal to New York and on to Liverpool. The ship was 161.5 meters long with a tonnage of 9,365 GRT and a top speed of 13.5 knots[21] Uboot-Wiiki about Waroonga (German), retrieved March 20, 2025. (25 km/h). Photo: State Library of New South Wales.
„We remainded on the ship, holding our position in the convoi, until 6th April, 1943, when about 4 a.m. the Captain gave the ordert o abandon ship. This was because, as far as I could see, the stern was sinking fast. We all went to our boat stations. (…) The weather at the time was stormy an a very high sea was running. The boats were lowered and it meant jumping from the ship into the lifeboat. Owing tot he high sea this was a diffcult performance, and one of the internees named ROESSLER, a men of about 63 yearas, who told me he lived in the West of London, was too nervous to make the jump. He climbed down the rope ladder and (…) underestimated the movement of the lifeboat. The lifeboat swung towards to the ship before he had the opportunity of alighting in the lifeboat. The crash was severe, we heard the bones in his body crash, and I am certain he was killed instantly. The lifebelt, he was wearing, kept him afloat. (…) We were later picked up by the American Liberty Ship[22] Wikipedia about the Liberty Class freightships (German), retrieved April 10, 2025. Joel R. Poinsett.“
At 01:58 in the night, U-630 attacked two more ships. Lieutenant Commander Werner Winkler reported two detonations as well as sinking noises, one sinking and one possible sinking. These were the Shillong and the Waroonga, both of which had previously been damaged by U-635. The sinking of the Waroonga took place at 57° 10′ North and 35° 30′ West. On the same day, U-635[23] Uboot Wiki about U-635 (German), retrieved March 20, 2025. was sunk with six depth charges by a British aircraft piloted by Gordon R. Hatherly.
On the morning of April 6, the Navy corvette HMS Loosestrife (K105)[24] Wikipedia about HMS Loosestrife, retrieved March 20, 2025. and Joel R. Poinsett picked up 113 survivors. 11 sailors, one gunner and seven of the 15 passengers remained at sea. Among the casualties were six of the eleven internees. The survivors were brought ashore in Londonderry (Northern Ireland) or Liverpool.
The German Naval War Command[25] War diaries of German naval command 1939-1945 from April 3, 1943, page 630. noted on April 5, 1943, that the submarines 635, 630, 563, 632, 706 and 560 had “newly sunk 6 ships out of the convoy of about 30 ships during the night and two more hits are possible”.
The third attack with torpedoes
Many interned Germans and Austrians were listed by the Home Office as refugees and many with the Nazi suffix “Israel”. However, not all of them were Jewish. The fact that eight men from the Abosso group and one man from the Waroonga group were arrested and interned from Kitchener Camp also clearly shows that the British authorities were aware that they were not enemies of Great Britain, but Nazi persecutees. The Kitchener Camp was a transit camp for Jews who were taken out of Germany with the help of Jewish organizations and the British government in order to travel on to third countries. Nevertheless, the British tribunals had suspected some of these refugees of being Nazis and classified them in category “B”.
The group that was to travel to freedom on the Westernland and then on the Abosso[26] Telegram, secret and encrypted, including the names of internees in NAA_ItemNumber216019, page 305. consisted of 35 Germans and Austrians and eight Italians. On board the Waroonga[27] Telegram, secret and encrypted,, LHQ Mel to War Office from Feb 3, 1943, NAA_ItemNumber216019 page 101; list of passengers via ancestry.de. Retrieved Feb 20, 2025. were eight Germans and Austrians of Jewish descent and three Italians.
Like almost all of their interned compatriots, the Italians were not refugees. They were listed as “residents”, meaning that they had been living in the United Kingdom for more or less a long time. Most of them were naturalized or second-generation British citizens and belonged to the Roman Catholic faith. Nevertheless, after a rather superficial investigation, they were persecuted across the board as enemies of England. All Italians were among the 200 compatriots who had survived the torpedoing of the Arandora Star eight days before the Dunera set sail. The Italian internees of the two return transports were thus torpedoed for the third time.
It is not known what criteria were used to decide whether or not to deport them. On July 10, 1940, the last of five deportation transports, and the only one to Australia, began on the scandalous ship Dunera.
The Lists of names
Internees onboad Abosso
Adolf Abraham Aftergut
Born in Frankfurt am Main in 1921. Lived alone in London as a Talmud student and was imprisoned and deported at the age of 19. His mother was able to escape to La Paz, Bolivia.
Max Baer
He was one of the youngest Dunera Boys and was born in Mannheim in 1924. In England he called himself a cook’s apprentice, in Australia a waiter. His parents lived in exile in Shanghai.
Horst Bassmann
Born in Insterburg in 1911, the horse dealer and driver came to England via Kitchener Camp (where he helped in the kitchen). In the British records, he is listed with the Nazi additional name “Israel”, so he was known there as a persecuted Jew. A brother lived in the USA.
Ernst Curt Borchardt
was born in Berlin in 1893. He was employed by a photographic company in England. A son of the technical advisor lived in London. The Jewish man had been classified by the British tribunal as category “A” – in other words, as a Nazi! This was only changed to “C” much later. He was one of the deportees who had previously survived torpedo attacks on the Arandora Star and the Dunera.
Ulrich Boschwitz
He was interned in London at the age of 17, where he lived with his mother and studied commercial art.
Martin Brock
He was a fashion designer in Berlin, born in 1910. His first stop in England was also the Kitchener Camp. His father lived in the USA.
Gerhard Cohn
The textile merchant was born in Ackmenischken (East Prussia) in 1907. In England, he studied law and taught languages. He was also arrested in Kitchener Camp.
Gerhard Noah Daniel
An engineer, born in 1922. He came from Kitchener Camp to Leeds, where he was arrested. His brother served in the British Army.
Walter J. Dick
Born in 1922, an electrician from Augsburg. He had relatives in the USA. Last British address was Kitchener Camp.
Walter Franken
Welder from Lechenich (Rhineland), born in 1922. He had relatives in England.
Adolf Heilbronn
He was born in Kassel in 1899. In England, he had found accommodation with his brother, sister and mother in Newcastle upon Tyne. They had relatives in South Africa. Was classified as a Nazi sympathizer with a “B”.
Max Heilbronn
Adolf’s older brother was born in 1892. He listed his profession as leather goods dealer and was also classified as a “B”.
Siegfried Hellmann
Born in 1909, belt maker. The Nazis imprisoned him in Buchenwald concentration camp (prisoner numbers 26052 and 8852) as part of their “Judenaktion” from November 12, 1938 to January 9, 1939. He had a relative in London.
Hugo Hirsch
He was born in Hanau am Main in 1895 and was a manufacturer of handbags. His mother lived in London.
Siegfried Huss
Another pair of brothers on board the Abosso. They came from Vienna, where the electrician Siegfried was born in 1904. The mother lived in London
Wilhelm Huss
The younger brother, born in Vienna in 1906, gave traveling as his profession. He worked for an export company in London.
Rudolf Henry Karbasch
The toolmaker and Protestant was born in Vienna in 1923. He was an agricultural apprentice in England. His mother also lived in exile in Britain.
Werner Hans Katz
The musician and composer, born in Danzig in 1898, gave “Lutheran (Church of England)” as his religion; according to his birth certificate, both parents were Jewish – which was sufficient reason for the Nazis to persecute him. His last British address in freedom was Kitchener Camp; he had to leave his wife behind in Berlin.
Julius Mannheimer
Born in Worms in 1922, he was incarcerated in Buchenwald concentration camp (prisoner number 26934) from November 12 to December 10, 1938 as an “Aktionsjude” despite his young age of just 16. He found his way to England via the Netherlands. There he was a farm worker in training before he was arrested in Cheshire.
Abraham Arno Mendel
The textile merchant, born in 1905, was one of the Dunera Boys who were arrested in Kitchener Camp and then interned. He had left his wife behind in East Prussia.
Kurt Oppenheimer
Born in 1920, the printer was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp (prisoner number 25138) from November 12 to December 29, 1939 as the youngest of a group of 27 Jews from Göppingen. He then managed to get to England, where he was able to start vocational training. He and his family are commemorated by Stolpersteine[28] In Göppingen, Grabenstrasse 8, Stolpersteine were set for Kurt Oppenheimer and his parents Simon and Frida. Retrieved Dec 10, 2024. in his hometown of Göppingen.
Siegfried Pereles
The British documents list the occupation of the man born in Fürth/Bavaria in 1900 as shoe salesman. He was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp until February 16, 1939. The prisoner number 22412 suggests that the Nazis locked him up immediately after the November pogroms. He managed to escape to England, where he was arrested in Kitchener Camp in May 1940.
Emil Rauchmann
He was born in Ostrava in 1898 and worked as a district doctor in Velky Pesek (Czech Republic) from 1924 after studying medicine in Prague.
Moritz Rindsberg
The metalworker was born in Neumarkt, Bavaria, in 1892. He had a job in England. His mother had managed to escape to the USA.
Leon Rintel
The master tailor from Vienna, born in 1913, had to train as a tailor in England in order to get a job. After the Dunera arrived in Sydney, he was treated in hospital before being taken to the Hay camp on September 18, where his brother lived in Jamaica.
Erich Rosenstock Roseck
The writer and editor was born in Berlin in 1901. The British tribunal classified him as a Nazi sympathizer in category “B”. The Australian secret service kept a file on him in 1941. His wife had stayed behind in London.
Berthold Rosenau
He was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1907 and worked as a photographer.
Herbert Rosenthal
He was one of the youngest deportees. The car mechanic was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1924. He was not given the opportunity to travel to his mother’s relatives in the USA.
Julius Schechter
The Talmud student comes from Vienna, where he was born in 1921. He left his mother behind in Vienna.
Oskar Seltmann
The Catholic bank employee, born in Mannheim in 1906, described himself as a political refugee in Australia.
Max Ernst Stanko
Born in East Prussia in 1913, the welder and electrician was persecuted by the Nazis as a communist. A Catholic, he was one of the internees who were taken off the Dunera in Melbourne with the survivors of the Arandora Star (including many Nazis) and brought to Tatura. He had been wrongly classified as a potential Nazi in category “B”. His release was prevented by the British authorities in January 1942.
Rudolf Stern
The student from Cologne was interned by the British at the age of 16.
Alexis Johann Maria Edler von Vivenot
The nobleman from Vienna, born in 1909, was Catholic and an Austrian diplomat in England. He did not want to go back after the annexation of Austria and therefore saw himself as a political refugee. A relative, the diplomat Georg Franckenstein, had been elevated to the British peerage and nationalized, but was unable to prevent Alexis’ internment.
Martin Warschauer
He was born in 1901 in what is now Poland. In the 1939 British census, he gave his occupation as salesman. He was one of the Jewish refugees who were arrested in Kitchener Camp. He had to leave his wife and daughter behind in Berlin. They were murdered in Auschwitz.
Otto Weisz
Salesman from Vienna, born in 1908. His sister lived in Sydney. He had therefore applied for the right of residence in Australia in 1941.
The Italians
Ugo Achille Bonelli (survivor)
He was born in 1908 and came to England as a child, where the family was already registered in Paddington in 1921. His father was a doctor of chemistry. In 1930, Ugo and Emma Cardew Bonelli were registered as voters. He was the only survivor of this group of internees.
Mario Pietro Depangher
Born in Trieste in 1917 under Austrian rule, the city was later annexed to Italy and he became Italian in 1918. He was therefore listed in both nationalities and by the British as a fascist in category “A”. In Australia, he listed his profession as student. There he was initially with the Germans in Hay, but then achieved his transfer to the Italians in Tatura.
Crescenzo Divito
He was born in Casalattico in 1895. He lived with his wife in Inverkeithing (Scotland), where he ran a pub.
Guido Gonnella
was born in Barga/Tuscany in 1905. He was married to an English woman and worked as a waiter in London.
Louis Jaconelli
He was born in Paris in 1912 and settled in Glasgow, where he worked as a hairdresser and was married.
Riccardo Massarelli
Born in Pisa in 1882, he was the eldest of the entire group of internees. He married a British woman in 1919, where he lived with his mother and worked as an accountant. He was entitled to vote as a British citizen from at least 1921.
Colombo Riani
The professional musician was born in Castelnuovo (Tuscany) in 1889 and lived in Houghton Le Spring, Durham (Scotland). He was married and had four children.
Orlando Ugolini
was born in 1894. He ran a business in Uphall (Scotland) and was married. He made a will in Australia, a copy of which has been preserved.
Max Baer, 1942 drawn by Erwin Fabian. Inventory of State Library of New South Wales.
Emil Rauchmann, drawn 1942 by Robert Hofmann. Inventory of State Library of New South Wales.
Internees onboard Waroonga.
Hans Bernhard Baer
He was born in Coburg (Bavaria) in 1921 and studied chemistry. Relatives of his mother lived in the USA.
Sigmund Berger
Born in 1885, the pharmacist from Vienna[29] Cf. article by Berger's granson Martin Daxner „Das Leben und Emigrationsschicksal des Ebenseer Apothekers Mag. Sigmund Berger“ (The life and emigration fate of the Ebensee pharmacist Mag. Sigmund Berger), retrieved Feb 20, 2025. converted to Catholicism in order to get married. He was severely beaten up by SA men in 1938; the Nazis prevented him from receiving medical help. After a suicide attempt, he was taken into “protective custody” by the Nazis on June 3, 1938. He was “advised” to divorce his Catholic wife; the pharmacy he ran was “aryanized”. He escaped to England, where he was interned on the Isle of Man and deported to Australia on the Dunera. In April 1942, he enlisted in the 8th Australian Employment Company, but was released on December 19, 1942 to travel to England. During a stopover in New York, he was able to meet his daughter briefly – for the last time.
Louis Biber
The Gestapo ordered the “protective custody” of the tanner and leather dyer, who was born in Vienna in 1905, on May 27, 1938, in order to get rid of a political opponent and a Jew. He was registered in the Dachau concentration camp on June 3, 1938 with prisoner number 15025. In preparation for the Fall Grün, he, like all Jews imprisoned there, was brought to Buchenwald on September 24, 1938 (inmate number 9038). After his release on January 17, 1939, he escaped to England with the help of Jewish organizations and was housed in the Kitchener Camp. From there his further route led to the Dunera and to Australia.
Ludwig Gelles
Born in in Vienna in 1922, he studied engineering in London, were his mother lived, as well.
Max Königsberg
The hatter and tailor was born in Kielce in 1910 and lived in Berlin. The religion he called “dissident” in Australia. He had to leave his wife behind in Berlin.
Lazarus Ressler (or Roessler)
The decorator and painter was born in Tarnow (now Poland) in 1880. He was the oldest of this group of internees. The British had incorrectly and insultingly classified him as a potential Nazi in the “B” category. He had lived in England for a long time and married a British woman in 1920. They had three children.
Jakob Steinhof (survivor)
The shoemaker was born in Vienna in 1921. In Australia he applied for a residence permit while he was being interned in 1941. His mother lived in London.
Stephan Vajda (survivor)
The craftsman and manager was born in Petrozseny (Transylvania; today Romania) in 1904. In Australia he gave the Church of England as his religion.
The Italians
Giuseppe Crolla (survivor)
He was born in Picinisco in 1889. As early as 1919 he was listed as eligible to vote in Glasgow. The Home Office registered him as an innkeeper. He was married.
Giovanni Gazzano (survivor)
He was born in Carcare in 1892 and lived with his family in London.
Alessandro Pacitti (survivor)
He was born in St.Petersburg (Russia) in 1908. According to the electoral rolls, he had been a British citizen eligible to vote since at least 1922. He lived in Glasgow, where he ran a café. His mother also lived there.
Sigmund Berger in 1942 in the uniform of the Australian Army. Photo: Berger/Daxner family archive.
Please Note: Unless otherwise noted, all short biographies were researched in the National Archives of Australia NAA and via ancestry.de.
In 2017, a sculpture was unveiled at the Tatura Museum in memory of the internees[30] Rebecca Silk, „Tatura Memorial Sculpture Unveiling“, in Dunera News no. 100, page 4. who were victims of the sinking of the Abosso and the Waroonga. Jason Huntley designed it based on a memorial that Dunera Boy Robert Felix Emile Braun had created in 1941. It had been erected in memory of the victims of the sinking of the Arandora Star at Camp Tatura 3. Unfortunately, it was destroyed when the camp was abandoned.
Please note: We would like to thank Martin Daxner, Ebensee (Austria), the grandson of Sigmund Berger, for his support.
Footnotes
show
- [1]↑„War Cabinet Agendum. Treatment of Overseas Internees“, F.M. Forde, Minister of the Army, on Nov 11, 1941 . Quoted from Paul R. Bartrop/Gabrielle Eisen „The Dunera Affair“, Australia 1990, page 112f.
- [2]↑List of passengers via ancestry.de, retrieved Dec 20, 2024.
- [3]↑National Archives of Australia, list of names in NAA_ItemNumber216019, pages 167/168, retrieved March 15, 025.
- [4]↑Wikipedia about car transportation with ships (German), retrieved March 20, 2025.
- [5]↑„Grosser Kurfürst“, Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum about car transportation on ships, retrieved March 8, 2025.
- [6]↑Wikipedia about Westernland (German), retrieved Jan 18, 2025.
- [7]↑Wikipedia about Red Star Line (German), retrieved March 10, 2025.
- [8]↑Wikipedia about Heinrich Jauch (German), who is said to have handed down most of the death sentences against resistance members in Hamburg until 1937, retrieved March 15, 2025.
- [9]↑Wikipedia about Gerd Bucerius (German). After the war he was the founding editor of the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
- [10]↑Wikipedia about U-575 (German), retrieved Jan 17, 2025.
- [11]↑Wikipedia about the Abosso (German), retrieved Jan 17, 2025.
- [12]↑List of names in NAA_ItemNumber216019 loc. cit.
- [13]↑Wikipedia about the MV Abosso (German), retrieved Jan 17, 2025.
- [14]↑W.G. Bromley in “The Sunday Times”, letters to the editor, May 11, 1980, page 12. (Dehn archive).
- [15]↑War diaries of German naval command 1939-1945 from Oct 29, 1942, page 627.
- [16]↑DEMS = Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship.
- [17]↑Uboot-Archiv about Waroonga (German), retrieved March 20, 2025.
- [18]↑Stefan Vajda, testimony at Surrey Constabulary Section Leatherhead from May 8, 1943. The National Archives, Kew, HO 214/71 (Berger/Daxner archives).
- [19]↑Ibid.
- [20]↑Collection list for Hororata/Waroonga, National Library of New Zealand, retrieved March 16, 2025.
- [21]↑Uboot-Wiiki about Waroonga (German), retrieved March 20, 2025.
- [22]↑Wikipedia about the Liberty Class freightships (German), retrieved April 10, 2025.
- [23]↑Uboot Wiki about U-635 (German), retrieved March 20, 2025.
- [24]↑Wikipedia about HMS Loosestrife, retrieved March 20, 2025.
- [25]↑War diaries of German naval command 1939-1945 from April 3, 1943, page 630.
- [26]↑Telegram, secret and encrypted, including the names of internees in NAA_ItemNumber216019, page 305.
- [27]↑Telegram, secret and encrypted,, LHQ Mel to War Office from Feb 3, 1943, NAA_ItemNumber216019 page 101; list of passengers via ancestry.de. Retrieved Feb 20, 2025.
- [28]↑In Göppingen, Grabenstrasse 8, Stolpersteine were set for Kurt Oppenheimer and his parents Simon and Frida. Retrieved Dec 10, 2024.
- [29]↑Cf. article by Berger's granson Martin Daxner „Das Leben und Emigrationsschicksal des Ebenseer Apothekers Mag. Sigmund Berger“ (The life and emigration fate of the Ebensee pharmacist Mag. Sigmund Berger), retrieved Feb 20, 2025.
- [30]↑Rebecca Silk, „Tatura Memorial Sculpture Unveiling“, in Dunera News no. 100, page 4.
