THE ZIONIST IDEAL IN AUSTRALIA

Editors note. I found this whilst researching the ‘Temple Society Trust Fund’, and decided to share with you all. Hopefully this will be of benefit to you in your own research.

In the past one hundred years the world has witnessed the emergence of the Political Zionist movement in response to the deteriorating position of the Jews in Eastern Europe; the movement’s evolution and propagation as Jews became increasingly marginalised in the ‘old world’; the climax of centuries of antisemitism in attempted genocide during the Holocaust; and, ‘out of the ashes’, the realisation of the Zionist dream of a Jewish national home in Israel. This chapter surveys National Archives holdings which deal with Political Zionist activity in Australia. As a number of the items indicate, the movement – and the quest for Jewish nationhood – was viewed with some scepticism or concern by sections of the Government (and public). That Jewish national aspirations, and (in particular) the plight of the Jews in Europe during the 1930s and war years, simultaneously elicited more sympathetic reactions is also clear from an examination of Government correspondence. Accordingly, included here is a sampling of contemporary records which highlight both official and general (public) responses to news of the Holocaust. Finally, this chapter also identifies relevant series (and items) which illuminate the Australian Government’s relations with Palestine (during the period of the British mandate 1917–47) and the new State of Israel (from 1948). Zionist activity in Australia The love of Israel, and the dream of a return to Zion, have been central underpinnings of the Jewish religion through two thousand years in the Diaspora. However, it was not until the late 19th century that spiritual yearning for a restoration of the Holy Land ‘at the end of days’ crystallised into practical schemes to repopulate and rejuvenate Palestine. Having seen hundreds of thousands of Eastern European Jews flee Czarist oppression, and appalled at the antisemitism underlying the Dreyfus affair in a supposedly enlightened France, Theodore Herzl formulated a practical proposal to create a modern Jewish nation state in the Middle East. His scheme was formally ratified at the first World Zionist Congress at Basle in 1897. Herzl’s proposal touched a responsive chord among sectors of Australian Jewry which had previously been supportive of charitable schemes set up to assist small numbers of impoverished Jews who had elected to live in Palestine. The Western Australian Zionist Society was founded in Perth, under the aegis of Rev. D I Freedman, in 1900, and pioneering Zionist Leagues emerged in Sydney and Melbourne a few years later. A more formal NSW venture, the Sydney Zionist Society was established in 1908 while a succession of competing groups evolved in Victoria in the early 1910s (among them Herzlia and Hatechiya). From the outset – the enthusiasm of Percy Marks, Nathaniel Levi, and others, notwithstanding – political Zionism in this country was dominated by Eastern European Jews, and was generally viewed with either scepticism or indifference by the Anglo-Australian Jewish establishment. The strongly pro-Zionist Rev. Freedman, for instance, was a glaring exception to the clerical rule while Rabbis Abrahams and Cohen, and Revs Danglow and Davis, were – at best – non-commital. In this regard, they took their lead from Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler who believed that the quest for a secular Jewish state was contrary to religious teachings, that it was an unworkable ideal anyway because of the harsh realities of the terrain, and that support for it might well lead to accusations of disloyalty to Britain.[76] In 1917, as a result of General Allenby and the British forces taking control of Palestine from the Turks, and the Balfour Declaration, which committed Britain to the establishment of a Jewish national home in that territory, a flurry of interest in Zionism was apparent in Australia, even among members of the Jewish establishment. The movement was given further boosts by visits from international emissaries such as Israel Cohen, Bella Pevsner and Alexander Goldstein, and the news (in 1922) that the League of Nations had formally entrusted Britain with the Palestine mandate. Activity in the 1920s culminated in the formation in 1927 of the Zionist Federation of Australia and New Zealand, under the presidency of Rabbi Israel Brodie and patronage of Sir John Monash. This proved to be the ‘high water mark’ of Anglo-Jewish participation in the movement, however. Brodie’s involvement distanced him increasingly from his peers. As Jewish aspirations came more and more into conflict with British policy and administration in Palestine, the ambivalence of Rabbis Danglow and Cohen, and of lay leaders like Sir Archie Michaelis or Sir Isaac Isaacs, became outright hostility. In 1928 British troops removed traditional male–female partitions at the Wailing Wall in response to Arab claims that the barriers were infringing the religious status quo. World Jewry viewed the action as unwarranted interference and the Zionist Federation protested loudly to the Government. A furious Archie Michaelis (speaking for the Melbourne Jewish Advisory Board) declared that the Federation (made up primarily of non-Anglo ‘newcomers’) had no right to speak for the whole community, and that any attack on British policy in Palestine amounted to an attack on the British Government itself. Danglow believed it ‘entirely wrong for Jews, especially British Jews, to hold public meetings of protest’. Subsequently, when Arab rioting led to the death of 133 Jews, the British administration implemented the Passfield White Paper, thereby modifying the Balfour Declaration and eliciting howls of outrage from Zionist groups around the world. The Peel Commission, set up in 1937 to examine the problem of Arab-Jewish relations, finally declared the Mandate to be unworkable. A new White Paper (in 1939) drastically curtailed Jewish immigration into Palestine and severely limited the purchase of land by Jews. Appalled at what they saw as British treachery in the face of impending disaster in Europe, disenchanted Jewish groups declared that the MacDonald Government had reneged unashamedly on its solemn promise. ‘Convinced that ‘Eretz Israel’ could provide a haven for persecuted Jewry they embarked on a campaign designed to force the lifting of restrictions... Their criticism of England was loud and clear...’, writes Konrad Kwiet. Hardly surprisingly, therefore, ‘By the time the Second World War broke out’ (Hilary Rubinstein notes), ‘the Zionist movement in Australia was supported almost exclusively by Jews of Eastern European birth or recent origin’.[77] The chief spokesman of establishment opposition, as support for Zionism spread, was undoubtedly former Governor-General Sir Isaac Isaacs. Isaacs continued to subscribe fervently to the view that a Jewish state must render Australian Jews second-class, ‘tolerated aliens’ in other lands. In his view, Jews were a religious grouping rather than a nationality, and nationalist activity would lead inevitably to antisemitism. Extremist activity in Palestine, such as the bombing of the King David Hotel, as well as escalating attacks on Britain over its apparent intransigence on the issue of immigration into Palestine (including the notorious Exodus incident), seemed to confirm Isaacs’ claims, most of which were made in lengthy letters to the Jewish and general press in the early 1940s. He was bitterly opposed by such staunch Zionists as Rabbi L A Falk of the Great Synagogue, Temple Beth Israel’s Rabbi Sanger and Dr Aaron Patkin. Professor Julius Stone’s Stand Up and Be Counted (1944), an open letter to Isaacs, excited considerable interest and debate.[78] In the long run, of course, international reaction to the Holocaust and to the lot of Jews displaced by war ensured that the Zionist ideal was realised. Unsurprisingly, once Britain had withdrawn from Palestine and a Jewish state had become a fait accompli, Australian Anglo-Jewry abandoned its anti-Zionist stance. A number of records have been located which contain material about the Zionist movement in Australia. These records include: CORRESPONDENCE FILES ‘B’ SERIES (MAINLY RELATING TO MEDICAL TREATMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING SCHEMES), 1918–19 A2483 Recorded by: 1918–1919 Repatriation Department (I) (CA 16) Quantity: 3 metres (Canberra) Files in this series consist of Repatriation correspondence, including policy documents, requests for information, offers of properties for sale, etc. Letter from Victorian Zionist Organisation, 1918 A2483, B18/5941 Dept. of Repatriation. Zionist Preparation Fund Appeal to assist Jewish refugees in Palestine, 1918 A2483, B18/7676 GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE FILES, 1917–29 MP367/1 Recorded by: 1917–1921 Department of Defence (I) (CA 6) Quantity: 40.14 metres (Melbourne) Zionist movement. Interview with Minister, 1919 MP367/1, 534/1/356 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ANNUAL SINGLE NUMBER SERIES, 1929– A432 Recorded by: 1929– Attorney-General’s Department (CA 5) Quantity: 1957.68 metres (Canberra) United Zionist Revisionist Organisation of Australia, 1948 A432, 1948/240 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES, CLASS 11 (MIGRANTS A–C), 1951–52 A439 Recorded by: 1951–1952 Department of Immigration (CA 51) Quantity: 6.66 metres (Canberra) Zionist Federation of Australia and New Zealand, 1947–50 A439, 1951/11/372 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES (SECOND SYSTEM), 1923–34 A458 Recorded by: 1923–1934 Prime Minister’s Department (CA 12) Quantity: 49.77 metres (Canberra) The Union of Sydney Zionists, 1923–34 A458, 745/1/378 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ALPHABETICAL SERIES, 1927–42 A981 Recorded by: 1927–1942 Department of External Affairs (II) (CA 18) Quantity: 163.27 metres (Canberra) Zionism, 1917–35 A981, ZIO 1 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ANNUAL SINGLE NUMBER SERIES, 1953– A1533 Recorded by: 1953–1960 Commonwealth Investigation Service, Central Office (CA 650) Quantity: 160.58 metres (Canberra) The series contains correspondence on character checks and inquiries into specified persons and general security. Zionist Federation of Australia and New Zealand, 1956 A1533, 1956/2834 MICROFILM OF COMMONWEALTH INVESTIGATION SERVICE AND ASIO FILES, 1968 A9108 Recorded by: 1968–1968 Australian Security Intelligence Organization (CA 1297) Quantity: 11.88 metres (Canberra) Women’s International Zionist Organisation [12 pages], 1950–51 A9108, ROLL 3/49 New Zionist Organisation – United Revisionist, 1948–49 A9108, ROLL 20/52 New Zionist Organisation – United Revisionist, 1947–48 A9108, ROLL 20/53 Zionist Organisations [4cm], 1941–49 A9108, ROLL 21/23 OFFICIAL HISTORY 1914–18 WAR: RECORDS OF C E W BEAN, OFFICIAL HISTORIAN, 1914–63 AWM38 Recorded by: 1914–1963 Official History 1914–18 War (CA 7039) [Official History, 1914–18 War: Records of Charles E W Bean, Official historian:] Booklet, 1956; ‘The Case for Israel’ issued by the Zionist Federation of Australia and New Zealand, 1956 AWM38, 3DRL 6673/960 INVESTIGATION CASE FILES, SINGLE NUMBER SERIES WITH ‘SA’ (SOUTH AUSTRALIA) PREFIX, 1917–69 D1915 Recorded by: 1919–1946 Investigation Branch, SA (CA 905) 1946–1960 Commonwealth Investigation Service, SA (CA 914) Quantity: 37 metres (Adelaide) The series consists of sensitive case files dealing mainly with matters of national security. Zionist movement, New Zionist movement, 1942–53 D1915, SA 19621 A number of records have been identified which document official scepticism regarding the Zionist movement and the activities of Australian Zionists, some of them reflect Zionist opposition to British Government policy in Palestine. CORRESPONDENCE FILES, SINGLE NUMBER SERIES WITH ‘V’ (VICTORIA) PREFIX, 1924–62 B741 Recorded by: 1927–1946 Investigation Branch, Victoria (CA 907) 1946–1960 Commonwealth Investigation Service, Victoria (CA 916) Quantity: 29.88 metres (Melbourne) Leon Bloom – Application for naturalisation and suspected Zionist activities, 1929–47 B741, V/6029 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, SINGLE NUMBER SERIES, 1941–19 A373 Recorded by: 1941–1945 Security Service, Central Office, Canberra (CA 660) 1945–1946 Investigation Branch, Central Office, Melbourne and Canberra (CA 747) 1946–1949 Commonwealth Investigation Service, Central Office (CA 650) Quantity: 7 metres (Canberra) Jewish recruiting – Implications for Australia, 1948An investigation into the possibility that Zionist groups were recruiting ex-servicemen to fight in Palestine. A373, 12510 CORRESPONDENCE FILES ‘B’ SERIES (MAINLY RELATING TO MEDICAL TREATMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING SCHEMES), 1918–19 A2483 Recorded by: 1918–1919 Repatriation Department (I) (CA 16) Quantity: 3 metres (Canberra) Files in this series consist of departmental correspondence, and include policy documents, requests for information, offers of property, etc. Paperwork re authorisation of Zionist Preparation Fund’s appeal to assist Jewish citrus-growers in Palestine, 1918 A2483, B18/7676 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, CLASS 2 (RESTRICTED IMMIGRATION), 1939–50 A433 Recorded by: 1939–1945 Department of the Interior (II) (CA 31) Quantity: 8 metres (Canberra) Palestine for the Jews – Zionist propaganda, etc, 1943–46 A433, 1945/2/5153 Australian responses to the Holocaust No sooner had the first reports reached Australia of the Third Reich’s discriminatory measures against German Jews, than vocal sections of Australian Jewry and sympathisers within the wider community responded by mounting public protest meetings. At one point Rabbi D I Freedman and Mayer Breckler, President of the Perth Synagogue, personally telegraphed Chancellor Adolf Hitler, begging him to take into account the fact that 12 000 German Jews had died for the fatherland in World War I. Protests were frequent enough for the German Consul to complain to Canberra about an ‘anti-German campaign’. Prime Minister Lyons demanded that no Federal or State minister support any such protest and it appears that few, if any, formal petitions were ever forwarded on by the Government.[79] As we have seen, Australia did make some humanitarian concessions to its immigration policy in the late 1930s, but the view that direct criticism of Germany would serve ‘no good purpose’ appears to have persisted, even after Kristallnacht. Paul Bartrop cites National Archives records and contemporary press reports as proof of his contention that the Australian Government was kept informed of the situation in Europe as the Holocaust was in progress, yet the knowledge failed to impact significantly on refugee policy (which he maintains was predicated on motifs of ‘indifference’ and ‘inconvenience’). In this regard, as with refugee immigration in general, Dr Bartrop maintains that Australia’s record leaves much to be desired – ‘not for what the Australians failed to do, but what they said they were doing and how that did not correspond with their actual behaviour’.[80] Two Australian responses to the Holocaust: A protest about Jewish migration. NAA: A445, 235/5/6 The ‘bestial and organised persecution of the Jewish people’. NAA: A461, R420/1 In 1942 a formal declaration was issued simultaneously by London, Washington and Moscow, condemning the ‘bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination’ being practised by the Nazis. The Australian Government (largely through the influence of its philosemitic External Affairs minister H V Evatt) ‘wholeheartedly associated itself’ with the declaration. Michael Blakeney notes, however, that the news that two million Jews had already been killed met with a ‘muted’ response from the press and greater Australian public. During the same period Prime Minister Curtin rejected from the annual ALP Conference agenda a call by Victorian delegates for Britain to ‘open up’ Palestine to immigration. Similar calls for increased ‘rescue’ attempts from the United Emergency Committee for European Jewry met with the reply that the British and allied struggle to rid Europe of the Nazis was the most appropriate means of rendering service to the Jews. In 1944, with news filtering through of the mass murder of Hungarian Jewry, the Australian Government declared it could do no more to assist. As Dr Bartrop has observed: while there were many who felt that the Nazi persecution of the Jews was abhorrent and evil, an oft-repeated opinion was that it should be the responsibility of the Great Powers to find a solution; it was, in the words of one commentator, ‘not a problem for Australia’.[82] Revelation and confirmation of the Holocaust in the aftermath of allied victory undoubtedly brought home to the wider public the full enormity of what had occurred in Europe and (in Paul Bartrop’s words) ‘sensitised Australians to the needs of Jews still alive in Europe to find a place of refuge...’.[83] Sympathy did not extend to large-scale immigration into Australia (see Chapter 2), but it ensured widespread Australian public support (even Government support) for a Jewish state in Palestine, once the ‘thorny’ problem of the British administration was no longer at issue. A survey of National Archives records has located relevant items regarding the plight of Jews in Europe prior to, during, and immediately after World War II, in the following series: CORRESPONDENCE FILES, CLASS 2 (RESTRICTED IMMIGRATION), 1939–50 A433 Recorded by: 1939–1945 Department of the Interior (II) (CA 31) Quantity: 8 metres (Canberra) Hungary – Anti-Jewish legislation and policy towards Jewish community, 1942–44 A433, 1944/2/144 Declaration on German treatment of Jews, 1942 A433, 1945/2/6325 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, CLASS 3 (NON-BRITISH EUROPEAN MIGRANTS), 1939–50 A434 Recorded by: 1939–1939 Department of the Interior (I) (CA 27) 1939–1945 Department of the Interior (II) (CA 31) 1945–1950 Department of Immigration (CA 51) Quantity: 12.27 metres (Canberra) Treatment of Jewish Displaced Persons in the British Zone, Germany, 1946 A434, 1946/3/511 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTI–NUMBER SERIES (THIRD SYSTEM), 1934–50 A461 Recorded by: 1934–1950 Prime Minister’s Department (CA 12) Quantity: 143.82 metres (Canberra) Treatment of Jews in Germany, 1938–39 The file includes letters from CPA, trades unions, ALP, International Peace Campaign, etc, condemning Nazi persecution of Jews. A461, R420/1 Jews – general, 1938–46 The file includes reports of the extermination of Hungarian and Czech Jewry; correspondence about the admission of displaced persons into Australia; calls for child migration; notification that ECAJ is the federal roof-body of the Jewish community; Letter about influxes of Jews. A461, MA349/3/5 part 2 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ANNUAL SINGLE NUMBER SERIES WITH OCCASIONAL ‘G’ (GENERAL REPRESENTATIONS) INFIX, 1956– A463 Recorded by: 1956–1971 Prime Minister’s Department (CA 12) Quantity: 701.38 metres (Canberra) Compensation of Jewish Victims persecuted in European countries, 1954–56 A463, 1956/1271 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ALPHABETICAL SERIES, 1927–42 A981 Recorded by: 1927–1942 Department of External Affairs (II) (CA 18) Quantity: 163.27 metres (Canberra) Defence – stranded non–British subjects – re parcels to Jews in Occupied countries, 1942 A981, DEF373 External Affairs Department. France. Jews. I, 1942 A981, FRA 38 Germany – Jews Part 1, 1939–41 A981, GER37 part 1 Poland – Internal Jews, 1939 A981, POLA 24 Soviet Union. Russia. General. Jews, 1942 A981, SOV 4 part 1 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES WITH YEAR PREFIX, 1942–45 A989 Recorded by: 1943–1944 Department of External Affairs (II), Central Office (CA 18) Quantity: 30.42 metres (Canberra) This series relates to both the administrative and gathering functions of the Department. Generally, the series is concerned with Australia’s relations with other countries, specifically in the context of World War II. Subjects of files include aliens, deportations, nationality and naturalisation, passports and landing permits, plight of refugees. Misc. Reps. Jewish Advisory Board, 1943 The file contains Victorian JAB papers about Nazi atrocities. A989, 1943/561/40 Misc. Reps. World Jewish Congress – re Bermuda Conference, 1943 A989, 1943/561/13 Misc. Reps. Koornung School, Warrandyte, Vic – re plight of Jewish people in Europe, 1943 A989, 1943/561/20 Misc. Reps. The National Council of Jewish Women of Australia – re plight of Jews in Europe, 1943–44 A989, 1943/561/25 Germany – Treatment of Jews, 1942–44 A989, 1943/360/4/2 Nationality, etc. Denationalising of Jews – Enquiry regarding, 1943 A989, 1943/580/1/7 Norway. Treatment of Jews, 1942 A989, 1943/645/1/2 Refugees. Evacuation of Jewish Refugees from Vichy France, 1943 A989, 1943/755/6 Refugees. Deportation of Bulgarian Jews, 1943–44 A989, 1943/755/7 Post-war Reconstruction. Atrocities, Special United Nations Commission for Poland. American Jewish Committee Proposal, 1944 A989, 1944/735/586 PWR [Post-war Reconstruction] – General section – World Jewish Congress, 1944 A989, 1944/735/717 France French North Africa – Treatment of Jews, 1943 A989, 1943/350/7/1/2 Germany – Treatment of Jews, 1942–44 A989, 1944/360/4/2 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES WITH YEAR AND LETTER PREFIXES, 1945 A1066 Recorded by: 1945–1945 Department of External Affairs (II), Central Office (CA 18) Quantity: 31.23 metres (Canberra) Relief – Australian Council for UNRRA. Relief teams from United Jewish Overseas Relief Fund, 1945–46 A1066, ER45/6/8/7/3 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES WITH YEAR AND LETTER PREFIX, 1945–46 A1067 Recorded by: 1946–1946 Department of External Affairs (II), Central Office (CA 18) Quantity: 31.00 metres (Canberra) General. Jewish Displaced Persons in Europe, 1945–46 A1067, E46/38/1 Australian Council for UNRRA – Relief teams from United Jewish Overseas Relief Fund, 1946 A1067, R46/7/6 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES WITH VARIABLE ALPHABETICAL PREFIX AND GENERAL PREFIX ‘SC’ (FOURTH SYSTEM), 1939–47 A1608 Recorded by: 1939–1945 Prime Minister’s Department (CA 12) Quantity: 21.97 metres (Canberra) War Section. Enemy atrocities 1. Joint declaration by allied countries 2. Treatment of the Jews in Europe 3. Shackling of prisoners of war Part 1, 1941–44 A1608, K41/1/1 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES, 1948–89 A1838 Recorded by: 1948–1989 Department of External Affairs (II) (CA 18) Quantity: 3224.6 metres (Canberra) War Graves – Proposed War Memorial for Jewish Martyrs, 1965 A1838, 1510/3/75 War Graves – China – Jewish Cemeteries in China, 1967 A1838, 1510/3/81/1 Property and Compensation Claims. Germany – Jewish Claims, 1950–60 A1838, 1533/5/1T THE SHEDDEN COLLECTION [RECORDS COLLECTED BY SIR FREDERICK SHEDDEN DURING HIS CAREER WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE AND IN RESEARCHING THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE POLICY], TWO NUMBER SERIES 1901–71 A5954 Recorded by: 1937–1939 Department of Defence (II) (Central Administration) (CA 19) 1939–1942 Department of Defence Co–ordination, Central Office (CA 37) 1942–1971 Department of Defence (III), Central Office (CA 46) Quantity: 193 metres (Canberra) The series consists of files of papers accumulated by Shedden, Secretary of Department of Defence Co-ordination and Secretary to the War Cabinet. Conditions in Occupied territories, 1942This item is a 20-page booklet, no. 6 in a series of reports issued by Inter–allied Information Committee, London, titled ‘Persecution of the Jews.’ A5954, 1979/105 DOSSIERS ON JEWS RESIDENT IN AUSTRALIA COMPILED BY THE GERMAN CONSULATE, 1943–57 C422 Recorded by: 1943–1945 Security Service, NSW (CA 946) Quantity: 0.36 metres (Sydney) [Guitermann and King Ltd. Letters – rejected stories of ill-treatment of Jews in Germany], 1933 C422, 88 GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE FILES 1939–46 SP112/1 Recorded by: 1939–1946 Department of Information, Central Office – Press Division (CA 34) Quantity: 13.68 metres (Canberra) This series, transferred from NSW in 1975, is mainly correspondence between the Department and various newspapers and authorities. Jews and the War. Inquiry, Vic Branch, 1939 SP112/1, 265/1/12 VANCE PALMER COLLECTION – SCRIPTS OF TALKS PRESENTED DURING HIS REGULAR ABC RADIO PROGRAMMES, 1941–59 SP300/7 Recorded by: 1940–1959 Australian Broadcasting Commission, Head Office (CA 251) Quantity: 0.9 metres (Sydney) Vance Palmer ABC talk scripts – Current books worth reading – 8 Dec 1943 [Appeasement’s Child – Thomas J Hamilton; Aims for Oblivion – Dr Angus; The Persecution of Jews in Occupied Territories] [Box 1], 1943 SP300/7, 85 SCRIPTS – RADIO FEATURES, 1936–74 SP1297/2 Recorded by: 1936–1974 Australian Broadcasting Commission, Head Office (CA 251) Quantity: 10 metres (Sydney) The series consists of typewritten scripts of features broadcast over the ABC network. Out of the Ashes, a story of Jewish poets who wrote and died in the Warsaw ghetto, written by Hyam Brezniak [ABC Radio Features Script] [30 pages; box 12], 1936–66 SP1297/2, NN Palestine and the State of Israel Reports of the plight of the Jews of Europe in World War II impelled concerned Australian Zionists (among them Abram Landa and Max Freilich) to canvass political support for immediate repeal of the MacDonald White Paper and the prompt creation of a Jewish homeland. As Suzanne Rutland has observed, Zionist leaders ‘met with a significant response’ from Dr H V Evatt, Minister for External Affairs, through whom Australia subsequently played a central role in facilitating the birth of modern Israel.[83] According to Dr Rutland: The devastation caused to world Jewry by the Holocaust offended [Evatt’s] sense of justice and democracy and convinced him that the Jews had a right to a sanctuary in Palestine.[84] Further, as Labor Minister for External Affairs, Evatt was strongly of the opinion that Australia needed both to develop foreign policy independent of Britain, and that the Middle East was of potential importance to Australia, as a bridge between Africa and Asia. More prosaically, Evatt was an immensely ambitious politician whose aspirations encompassed (and achieved) presidency of the United Nations General Assembly. To some extent, his high-profile support for the Jews was dictated by its capacity to further his own career.[85] Rodney Gouttman believes that Evatt was strongly influenced by the arguments of Professor Julius Stone in Stone’s rebuttal of Sir Isaac Isaacs, Stand Up and Be Counted.[86] In 1947 Evatt chaired the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Palestine, convened to weigh up the respective merits of two proposals: (1) that the UN supervise the creation of a ‘unitary state’ of Palestine, based on its existing population, and (2) that the UN oversee the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. A majority of delegates favoured the second option and, on 29 November 1947, the General Assembly put the matter to the vote. Thirty-three nations, the needed two-thirds majority (among them Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa), supported partition. At that point, the UN was to control sites of universal religious significance, including Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The State of Israel was declared by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion on 15 May 1948. The following year, as President of the General Assembly, Evatt was again a strong spokesman for admission of the new nation as a member of the UN. Citing the anti-Zionist feelings of a number of Australian leaders, among them conservative Anglo-Jews like Sir Isaac Isaacs, Dr Rutland suggests that: without Evatt’s idiosyncratic position on the need for a Jewish state it is possible that Israel would not have come into existence. Evatt’s role was fostered by skilled leadership from Australian Zionists. In this way Australian Zionism played a critical role in the final stages of pre-State Zionist history. Since 1949, Israel has enjoyed consistently positive relations with successive Australian Governments (relations based on the position developed by Evatt).[87] The records described below contain official correspondence between Britain and Australia regarding Palestine under the British mandate, as well as locally-produced briefing materials, policy documents, reports and memoranda. Individual items highlight the problems faced by Jews in entering Palestine during the final years of the Mandate; Jewish–Arab relations during that period; and opposition to British policy on Palestine. CORRESPONDENCE FILES, SINGLE NUMBER SERIES WITH YEAR PREFIX, 1916–27, AND ‘C’ PREFIX, 1927–53 A367 Recorded by: 1919–1946 Investigation Branch, Central Office, (CA 747) Quantity: 64.08 metres (Canberra) Palestine – Jews, National Status – Individual cases anti-British and anti-Jewish agitation in Egypt over the Palestine question, 1937–41 A367, C3075J CORRESPONDENCE FILES, CLASS 2 (RESTRICTED IMMIGRATION), 1939–50 A433 Recorded by: 1939–1945 Department of the Interior (II) (CA 31) Quantity: 8 metres (Canberra) Correspondence/cables between Aust Government and London re illegal Jewish immigration into Palestine, 1946 A433, 1945/2/5153 File includes newspaper clippings and statement on Jewish National Home by the ECAJ. Victorian Jewish Advisory Board Resolutions re immigration policy – Immigration into Palestine and European Relief, 1943 A433, 1943/2/4794 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, CLASS 3 (NON-BRITISH EUROPEAN MIGRANTS), 1939–50 A434 Recorded by: 1939–1939 Department of the Interior (I) (CA 27) 1939–1945 Department of the Interior (II) (CA 31) 1945–1950 Department of Immigration (CA 51) Quantity: 12.27 metres (Canberra) Palestine – United Nations Commission of Inquiry on, 1947 A434, 1947/3/5952 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTI-NUMBER SERIES (THIRD SYSTEM), 1934–50 A461 Recorded by: 1934–1950 Prime Minister’s Department (CA 12) Quantity: 143.82 metres (Canberra) Jews – general, 1933-38The file contains correspondence, some of it from the ZFA and ECAJ, about the King David Hotel bombing and tensions in Palestine. Also included is an antisemitic letter. A461, MA 349/3/5 part 1 Jews – general, 1938–46 A461, MA 349/3/5 part 2 Jews – general, 1946 A461, MA 349/3/5 part 3 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ALPHABETICAL SERIES, 1927–42 A981 Recorded by: 1927–1942 Department of External Affairs (II) (CA 18) Quantity: 163.27 metres (Canberra) Palestine – British Policy. Jewish–Moslem relations I, 1928–31 A981, PAL 8 part 1 Palestine – British Policy. Jewish–Moslem relations III, 1922–36 A981, PAL 8 part 3 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES WITH YEAR PREFIX, 1942–5 A989 Recorded by: 1942–1945 Department of External Affairs (II), Central Office (CA 18) Quantity: 30.42 metres (Canberra) Misc Reps Jewish Advisory Board, 1943 This file contains NSW material about Sir Isaac Isaacs and his opposition to the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. A989, 1943/561/40 Palestine – reps re settlement of Jews, 1943–44 This file includes material on the ‘White Paper’ and the problems thus faced by migrants attempting to enter Palestine. A989, 1943/660/9 Post-war reconstruction. The Middle and North-East Africa. Palestine (including Zionist aspirations), 1941–44 A989, 1943/735/403 Misc. Reps. Jewish Migration and Land Settlements, 1944The file includes correspondence by Bishop Venn Pilcher about the withdrawal of the Palestine ‘White Paper’ (1939), and asking that Palestine open its doors to Jewish migrants. A989, 1944/561/49 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES WITH YEAR AND LETTER PREFIXES, 1945 A1066 Recorded by: 1945–1945 Department of External Affairs (II), Central Office (CA 18) Quantity: 31.23 metres (Canberra) Palestine – Political Situation (including Zionist aspirations), 1944–46 A1066, M45/17/1 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES WITH YEAR AND LETTER PREFIX, 1945–46 A1067 Recorded by: 1946–1946 Department of External Affairs (II), Central Office (CA 18) Quantity: 31.00 metres (Canberra) Palestine. Representations made by Jews in Australia, 1946 A1067, M46/17/1 Palestine. Activities of Jews in Australia, 1946 A1067, M46/17/3 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES, 1948–89 A1838 Recorded by: 1948–1989 Department of External Affairs (II) (CA 18) Quantity: 3224.6 metres (Canberra) Palestine – Jewish State, 1948 This file includes a paper on the recognition of a Jewish state in Palestine, a summary of events following British withdrawal, secret despatches from Australia to Canada, and some correspondence. A1838, 851/12/3 part 1 Palestine Jewish State, 1948–50 A1838, 851/12/3 part 2 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, SINGLE NUMBER SERIES WITH ‘V’ (VICTORIA) PREFIX, 1924–62 B741 Recorded by: 1927–1946 Investigation Branch, Victoria (CA 907) 1946–1960 Commonwealth Investigation Service, Victoria (CA 916) Quantity: 29.88 metres (Melbourne) Palestine and the Jewish Problem; report by Lt Drysdale , 1918–46 B741, V/277 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ALPHA-NUMERICAL SERIES, 1950–78 B1321 Recorded by: 1950–1978 Temple Society Trust Fund Advisory Committee (CA 3165) Quantity: 3.12 metres (Melbourne) The series contains the main correspondence files of the Temple Society Trust Fund. Temple Society Trust Fund. Jewish tributes to German colonisation in Palestine, 1884–1960 B1321, TSTF3J Finally, a substantial number of records have been located which deal with aspects of Australia’s relations with the State of Israel since its foundation in 1948. By way of just a few examples, these include: CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ANNUAL SINGLE NUMBER SERIES, 1929– A432 Recorded by: 1929 Attorney-General’s Department (CA 5) Quantity: 1957.68 metres (Canberra) Israel – Question of Recognition, 1948 A432, 1948/594 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTI-NUMBER SERIES (THIRD SYSTEM), 1934–50 A461 Recorded by: 1934–1950 Prime Minister’s Department (CA 12) Quantity: 143.82 metres (Canberra) Anniversary Inauguration of Israel, 1949 A461, AR317/1/1 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, ANNUAL SINGLE NUMBER SERIES WITH OCCASIONAL ‘G’ (GENERAL REPRESENTATIONS) INFIX, 1956– A463 Recorded by: 1956–1971 Prime Minister’s Department (CA 12) Quantity: 701.38 metres (Canberra) Jewish National Fund – Naming of reclamation project in Israel after Australian Prime Minister, 1962–65 A463, 1962/3998 CORRESPONDENCE FILES, MULTIPLE NUMBER SERIES, 1948–89 A1838 Recorded by: 1948–1989 Department of External Affairs (II) (CA 18) Quantity: 3224.6 metres (Canberra) Israel – Internal – World Zionist Organisation, 1961–74 A1838, 175/1/10/2 Israel – Internal – Constitutional and citizenship, 1946–69 A1838, 175/1/2 Israel – Relations with the Arab States, 1943–52 A1838, 175/11/20 part 1 Israel. Political Jewish Anti-Zionist Organisation, 1958–60 A1838, 175/1/10/2 Israel. Political. Jewish Agency, 1951–66 A1838, 175/2/7 Israel – Political Parties – General – Zionists, 1955–69 A1838, 175/2/2/8 Israel – Jewish Agency, 1952–58 A1838, 1539/5 Israel – relations with Australia. World Zionist Organisation – representation in Australia (30), 1974 A1838, 175/10/14 Israel. Political – General (Zionist Council and Jewish Agency), 1949–50 A1838, 175/2 Israel Jewish State, 1949–53 A1838, 851/12/3, part 3 Israel Jewish State (2cm folios), 1953 A1838, 851/12/3 part 4 Israel – Relations with Australia – Representatives from private individuals and organisations in Australia – Jews in Arab lands (215 pages), 1971–87 A1838, 175/10/8, part 2

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