Resettling the Survivors of the Holocaust in Australia

Abstract

In 1945, the majority of the surviving remnant of European Jewry wished to leave the European continent. For some, distant Australia seemed a hopeful refuge. In the period from 1945 to 1961 around 25,000 Jewish Displaced Persons migrated there, reinforcing a community that only numbered 23,000 in 1933. Despite this significant intake, Jews continued to constitute only 0.5 per cent of the overall population. As a result of anti-refugee hysteria against Jewish migrants, the Australian governments, both Labor and Liberal, insisted that the reception and integration of the refugees was the responsibility of the Jewish community. This period marked the beginning of a partnership between Australian and American Jewry in this enormous resettlement task. Without this support, there would be fewer Jewish Holocaust survivors in Australia.