Australian Immigration Minister Harold Holt charged today that opposition to his project for the immigration of 100,000 Germans into Australia over the next four years was inspired by the Jewish community. Holt’s remarks were made in a comment on a mass meeting in Sydney Town Hall at which former Minister for External Affairs, Dr. Herbert Evatt, was the principal speaker.
The meeting was attended by 3,000 men and women, with an overflow meeting outside of another 2,500. It adopted a resolution urging the Government to postpone the immigration of the Germans until “it has been clearly proved by their deeds and conduct that the German people have undergone a complete change of heart.”
Referring to the meeting, Mr. Holt declared that it highlighted the sectional character of opposition to the government policy “sponsored by members of the Jewish community whose bitterness toward the German race is certainly understandable.” He pointed out that “German migrants are now being accepted by the United States as well as by the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and other parts of the Commonwealth.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
