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3 to Be Court-martialed in Dunera Affair; Urge Speeding of Refugee Doctor Appointments

May 15, 1941
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War Secretary David Margesson announced in Commons yesterday that as a result of an inquiry into the conduct of military personnel aboard the S. S. Dunera while conveying Jewish internees to Australia, the commanding officer, regimental sergeant-major and a sergeant will be court-martialed. It was charged that the internees had been mistreated and robbed during the voyage.

Complaints were voiced about the slowness in appointment of friendly alien physicians. Miss Horsbrugh, Parliamentary Secretary of the Health Ministry, admitted that only 126 had been employed and 98 more checked and awaiting employment, but said that the pace of checking had been increased to 100 weekly.

Sir Henry Morris Jones complained that appointments were seriously delayed by the Home Office’s aliens department. Dr. Hill, member for Cambridge University, refuted the assertion that German Jews could not be used because people were prejudiced against them. He pointed out that a Jew sent to South Wales had gained the love of the coal miners. “The people raising these objections are often disguising their own prejudices,” he said. “The ordinary people of this country reckon a man by his human qualities.”

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