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In 1940 thousands who had fled to Britain to escape Nazi oppression were rounded up and interned. By June of that year all German and Austrian men between the ages of sixteen and sixty
were in internment camps.
On July 10th Koelz was taken to Liverpool Docks. Having been told he was only going to be away for two nights, he had packed only a spare shirt, towel and toothbrush and was unaware that his destination was to be Australia. He boarded the Military transport ship Dunera with nearly 3,000 others, mainly Jewish internees.
The voyage of the Dunera has passed into British history as a disgraceful episode. Already shocked and bewildered, these survivors of the flight from Nazi persecution were the victims of systematic looting, robbery, brutality, starvation and intimidation by members of the British guard detachment responsible for ship's security. An attack by a German submarine failed to sink the ship only because of defective torpedo timings; had the ship been hit, as Koelz's diary records, "...no-one would have had a chance of survival. No lifebelts had been issued at any time...".
On September 7th the Dunera reached Sydney and the internees were transferred by train to Hay, a
small town in the outback that had been turned into a series of
internment camps. It was a prison in all but name. The barbed wire, the watchtowers with armed
guards, the separation from loved ones all underlined the terrible injustice of their situation. Searing heat only added to their misery and even though they were able by their own efforts to build a semblance of civilisation, it was still a life of anguish and near-despair.
Yet even here Koelz found ways to continue
his work. He scraped
together some painting materials
and, using only a knife and
razorblade, carved sculptures from
eucalyptus wood.
Life at Hay dragged on but back in
London debates in Parliament concluded that insdiscriminate internments such as Koelz's had been unjust.
On June 4th 1941, 139 men left Hay for freedom. Koelz was among
them.
©
DACS 2001
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