Focusing on family connections between Australia and Europe, this lecture offers a novel perspective on Australians’ responses to the Holocaust. Around 9,000 Jewish refugees arrived in Australia before the war, but almost all of them left behind in Europe close relatives, in some cases even their spouses, husbands, parents, or children. After their arrival the recent immigrants managed to establish networks that facilitated the spreading of information about the progressing persecution in Nazi Europe. Furthermore, the recent refugees attempted to use family connections to bring their relatives to Australia, or support them in other ways when the immigration routes closed, for example, by sending remittances or relief food parcels to the Nazi ghettos in occupied Poland and elsewhere. The lecture will demonstrate that Australia was deeply involved in the Holocaust, and was part of what we now call the Holocaust geography.

This seminar was chaired by Professor Joachim Schlör and Charlie Knight.