Mall Juske
Australian - Estonian, born 1936
Thirteen-year-old Mall Juske (née Karp) and her family (her parents Linda and Albert Karp) migrated from Estonia to Australia through the displaced persons scheme in 1949. They had lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany for nearly three years. Conditions in the camp were reasonable, with shared accommodation and schooling facilities provided, and food and clothing rations distributed by American troops.
The Karp family heard about the opportunities available in Australia through a family friend who had been living in Sydney since the 1930s, and consequently applied to migrate. Many migrants chose Australia because it was the first country to accept family groups. Hostels were established in various locations across Australia to accommodate assisted migrants.
Mall’s parents passed the migrant selection process, which included a fitness test, but Mall was told that she would need prescription glasses before the family could be accepted. After obtaining a pair of glasses from the IRO, Mall and her family travelled from Germany, through Switzerland and on to Italy, before boarding the passenger liner SS CYRENIA at Genoa.
Mrs Juske finished school in Australia and worked as a secretary until she married her husband in 1955.
he Karp family arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1949 on a bright and sunny Sunday. Mall remembers she ‘took a stroll in the town’, saw a wedding celebration at a church as well as ‘all those fruits’, milk bars and shops full of handbags.
Person TypeIndividual
