Notebook belonging to internee Heinz Lippmann

Date1940-1941

Object numberANMS0220[002]

NameJournal

ClassificationsBooks and journals

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Heinz Lippmann

Terms

DescriptionA notebook belonging to Heinz Lippmann while he was an intern in Australia. In the journal Lippman has handwritten extracts from of articles appearing in Australian and some British newspapers relating to the transporatation and treatment of German and Italian internees from Britain to Australia and Canada in 1940. HistoryAt the outbreak of World War II in Europe, many residents in Britain of Italian, German or Japanese descent were placed in internment camps. These included long term inhabitants of Britain as well as recent refugees escaping persecution from the Nazi party in Germany, such as Heinz Lippmann who kept this notebook. Lippmann had managed to leave Germany as part of a group of around 100 students and teachers who had been attending the ORT Technical School in Berlin. In August 1939, with the assistance of the British Home Office, they were evacuated England to continue their studies at an ORT run school in Leeds. On the 10th July 1940 Lippmann, along with over 2000 other men now classified as 'enemy aliens', boarded the HMT DUNERA to internment camps in Australia. The voyage became a nightmare for those on board and they suffered from terrible conditions and ill treatment from the guards. The situation was reported back to Britain after officers boarded the ship on its arrival in Australia. The newspaper accounts in Lippmann's notebook tell the public’s perception of the internees situation and coverage of parliamentary debates that later surrounded the voyage. The articles, hand copied by Lippmann, were taken from many publications starting from the Riverine Grazier, 10 September 1940, is titled "Enemy Aliens Arrive. Long Journey Ends in Hay - An Exciting Voyage" and ranging into 19414 when the conditions of the conditions aboard the DUNERA were exposed. By January, headlines using terms such as 'scandal', 'cruelty' and ‘grave miscarriage of justice' were being used. Conditions aboard internee ships to Canada had also been highly criticised and members of parliament in Britain were calling for an investigation. Lippmann remembered in later years how a newspaper would be pinned up on a notice board so the inmates could read what was happening outside the camp. It impressed Lippmann that at the height of the war, the British government became concerned that the perpetrators of the DUNERA scandal be dealt with and the refugees be freed. SignificanceIn the 1930s Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria fled Nazi persecution for safety in Britain. But from 1940 when at war with Germany, Britain came to see these refugees as potential traitors and spies. Over 20,000 refugees
were interned as Enemy Aliens.
Australia agreed to help Britain accommodate the internees and 2250 men were brought to Australia aboard the 'hell ship' DUNERA. They were refugees who were treated like prisoners. Only months later Britain admitted that interning
refugees was a mistake and released those in British camps. The Australian Government, however, did not release many of the internees until 1942.