Organized Australian Jewry today made it known that it will strongly oppose any mass influx of German immigrants into Australia. A statement to this effect was issued by Ben Green, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
At the same time, Immigration Minister Harold Holt declared that the question of allowing Germans to immigrate into Australia “cannot be judged on an emotional basis.” He stated that the Executive Council of Australian Jewry is the only organization in the country which objected in principle to the admission of Germans.
“I have informed the Executive Council of Australian Jewry that I had no desire to minimize the menace of Nazi and fascist ideologies to democratic countries,” the Minister said. However, he added that Australia’s security and future development requires rapid increase of the population including the annual admission of 200,000 “suitable” immigrants. The three main countries from which Australia can obtain immigrants with required skills are Holland, Western Germany and Italy, the Minister emphasized.
Mr. Green, taking issue with the policy of the Immigration Minister, said that the federal government would endanger the Australian way of life by admitting Germans who received their education under the Hitler regime. They will probably be thoroughly indoctrinated and unrepentant Nazis, he declared. “Jewish citizens,” Mr. Green stated, “feel it their duty to warn the government of the dangers involved in admitting Germans or Volksdeutsche into Australia.
“The inclusion of thousands of these dangerous German elements in our immigration policy can have only one result–a threat to the country’s security,” Mr. Green pointed out. “We oppose the admission of Germans because we are able to see the dangers realistically,” he concluded.
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.
