Information on the Move: Networks between Australia and Europe during the Holocaust

Approximately 9,000 Jewish migrants reached Australia during the refugee crisis in the 1930s. The outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 led to family separations between Jewish refugees who arrived in Australia, and their family member who stayed behind in Nazi-controlled Europe.

Despite the claims that the war severed all information routes between both continents and the migrants remained unaware about the fate of their families during the war, this paper will argue that the refugees actively and successfully explored various networks to stay connected with their loved ones and receive information about the progress of the Nazi persecution.

By focusing on personal connections between the Australian population and the Holocaust, this paper contributes to the debates on the movement of people and information, as well as Jewish resistance during WW2.

Presenter

Associate Professor Jan Láníček
Jan Láníček is Associate Professor in Modern European and Jewish History at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and the Freilich Visiting Fellow at the Humanities Research Centre, ANU in 2022. He is currently completing a study of post-Holocaust judicial retribution in Czechoslovakia and also researches Jewish migration to Australia before World War 2.

Jan Láníček is a current Freilich Project Visiting Fellow at the Humanities Research Centre, ANU

This series is an opportunity for our HRC Visiting Fellows to present and receive feedback on the research they are working on. In 2022 , Visiting Fellows are exploring the theme of Mobilities