Jewish War Veterans in Australia Decide to Combat Local Nazis

Delegates to the ninth biennial convention of the Australian Federation of Jewish Ex-Servicemen approved today a program to “effectively counteract the National Socialist Party” in Australia. The decision followed widespread debate over a television program on the small Nazi party showing jackbooted uniformed men meeting in a suburban house in Sydney, giving Nazi salutes in front of a picture of Hitler and screaming “Hitler was right.”

Declaring that the party’s activities were “a threat to Australia’s democratic tradition,” the delegates expressed regret over the “unwarranted publicity, favorable or other wise,” gained by the group. The delegates asked the Executive Council of Australian Jewry “to take the necessary steps and investigate effective use of the Crimes Act” and to recommend to the appropriate authorities amendments to the Act to protect all Australian citizens against “propagation of the evil doctrines of racialism.”

The delegates also urged application of commonwealth and state legislation to ban the wearing of uniforms by paramilitary organizations “preaching racialism.” They also appealed to the authorities to ban the use of flags, banners and emblems which could be associated with the doctrines of racialism and called for changes in customs, excise and postal regulations to prevent the importation and dissemination through the mails of material “expounding racialism in any form.”