The lasting legacy of the Dunera

This weekend marks the 85th anniversary of the arrival in Sydney of the troopship HMT Dunera carrying men interned in England as a potential “fifth column” even though they had settled there after fleeing the impossible situation of Jews and other anti Nazis in Central Europe. Among its more than 1900 Jewish passengers were over 200 who declared themselves as Orthodox. Many had enjoyed a substantial level of Jewish and/or secular academic education, which they furthered during their time in camps in Hay – and subsequently Tatura – that functioned both as virtual yeshivot and a university.

While interned, the Orthodox group conducted their camp life in accordance with the ultimate detail of Orthodox practice, including prayer services, Shabbat and kashrut. Lacking a megillah for Purim in the absence of parchment but wanting some sort of megillah anyway, my late father Ze’ev Aron wrote one on a scroll created by joining pages from an exercise book. Elchanan Loebenstein wrote a Haggadah that now sits in the Australian Jewish Museum. Nothing daunted the internees, who were determined to maintain the highest standards of observance. To cite but one example, the archive of correspondence of Rabbi Joseph Lipman Gurewicz of Carlton included a letter regarding kashering the camp kitchen for Pesach. In the absence of ability to acquire new sets of cutlery, they needed advice as to how to kasher the type of knives then in use. Difficult circumstances did not mean compromises in religious practice.

Some internees subsequently left Australia for Palestine or other destinations. Many however, were destined to have a significant impact on the further development of the Australian Jewish community.

My father remained in Australia. As generations of his students can testify, determined to see growth and development of the Jewish community in his newfound home, he made education his life. He commenced his Australian educational career in Shepparton (to which he and other Orthodox internees had moved from nearby Tatura with the assistance of orchardist Reb Moshe Zalman Feiglin, as working on the land allowed privileges during wartime and facilitated their release from the camp). In 1944, he moved to the Elwood Talmud Torah where he served as Baal Koreh for some 30 years and taught legions of bar mitzvah boys. He taught at Mount Scopus College in its earliest years, before heading the Adass Israel School for more than two decades.

With the assistance of Sydney communal benefactor Abraham Rabinowitz, Rabbi Hans Blumenthal who also served Elwood moved to Sydney to head the North Bondi Jewish Day School, forerunner of Moriah College. He is remembered by many in Sydney for his major impact on contemporary Jewish youth.

Public service administrator Sophoni Herz also contributed much to Melbourne’s religious advancement – both the South Caulfield Hebrew Congregation and the Caulfield Beth Hamedrash began in the Herz home. His wife Susie, assisted also by Tova Aron, founded an independent Jewish day school on the principles of “Torah im derech eretz – religious involvement in conjunction with secular education”. That institution grew into today’s Beth Rivkah Ladies College.

Elchanan Loebenstein had already shechted (slaughtered animals according to the laws of kashrut) for the internees in Hay. He continued to shecht in Shepparton before embarking on a career in shechitah on behalf of the Melbourne Beth Din. He too contributed decades of his life to education, service as a ba’al koreh and work as a sofer involving countless Sifrei Torah, tefillin and mezuzot.

Erwin Lamm joined Congregation Beth Ephraim, the forerunner of Melbourne’s Adass Israel Congregation. After the war’s end, he and his Europe-based brother Herbert worked to facilitate the entry to Australia of many Central European survivors. Who knows what Orthodoxy in Melbourne would have become without those immigrants? The Lamm family became prime movers in the Mizrachi community; their son Danny is a well-known communal personality and has also served international Zionist organisations.

Hans Bachrach, Mizrachi stalwart and benefactor of so many religious, educational and philanthropic causes, was another internee. Inter alia aspects of Melbourne’s Jewish life, such as the eruv, owe much to his dogged pushing to achieve results.

Rabbi Dr Ernst Ehrentreu, formerly of Munich, provided rabbinic and educational assistance to the Carlton and Elwood communities before returning to England where his family continued to make a valuable rabbinic contribution.

“MeHashem mitz’adei gaver, ve’adam mah yavin darko” – From Hashem the steps of man [are determined], and [which] man can understand his way?” (Mishlei 20:24)

I have referred to only a few of the internees whose contribution to religious life was particularly significant. Australia has benefited much from these and others, most of whom would never have thought of Australia as a place to visit – let alone make their home.

Shabbat shalom,

Yossi

Yossi Aron OAM is The AJN’s religious affairs editor.