A tragic bureaucratic bungle delivers a rich historical trove

A massive exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales offers a rare eyewitness glimpse into a unique moment in the annals of Australia’s Jewish community.

Dunera: Stories of Internment tells the story of the transportation to Australia, and subsequent internment in Victoria and New South Wales, of 2546 men and teenage boys, two thirds of them Jewish.

Mostly from Germany, Austria and various other European countries, the migrants came via Britain seeking refuge from Nazi persecution.

In a case of massive bureaucratic bungling — and despite the fact that some of the German-speaking men had been imprisoned by the Nazis at Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen — they were regarded by British authorities as “enemy aliens,” a potential fifth column who could pose a danger to Britain in the event of a German military invasion. Thousands were arrested, interned in camps in England and despatched to Canada or Australia.