Displaced Persons

Fülszöveg

During the Second World War it became clear that without a substantial increase in population Australia could not be held against a determined enemy. Thus a new immigration policy was born. To achieve the required population growth the principle of having a predominantly British intake of immigrants was abandoned and for the first time a growth target was set. Central and eastern European refugees of the Russian wartime expansion who were filling the refugee camps of Europe became the obvious choice. Large numbers of these displaced persons, received in Australia with curiosity and distrust, were the guinea-pigs of the country's new immigration policy. These people - Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Croats, Serbs and Bulgarians - were stunned by their homelands' sudden loss of national independence. For Australians, however, the backgrounds of these immigrants were of no interest, and they were simply labelled DPs, New... Tovább

Fülszöveg

During the Second World War it became clear that without a substantial increase in population Australia could not be held against a determined enemy. Thus a new immigration policy was born. To achieve the required population growth the principle of having a predominantly British intake of immigrants was abandoned and for the first time a growth target was set. Central and eastern European refugees of the Russian wartime expansion who were filling the refugee camps of Europe became the obvious choice. Large numbers of these displaced persons, received in Australia with curiosity and distrust, were the guinea-pigs of the country's new immigration policy. These people - Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Croats, Serbs and Bulgarians - were stunned by their homelands' sudden loss of national independence. For Australians, however, the backgrounds of these immigrants were of no interest, and they were simply labelled DPs, New Australians, Balts or migrants who were to be 'assimilated' as quickly as possible. Regardless of their level of education they were sent into the outback or to suburban factories to serve their two-year contract. Dr Kunz's book covers the political, economic and military considerations behind the initiation of the DP Scheme and analyses the effect of the Scheme on its participants. The vision and political acumen of Arthur Calwell is acknowledged in this revealing analysis, as are the prejudice, greed and political expediency which, during both Calwell's and Harold Holt's terms as Minister for Immigration, surrounded 'this magnificent scheme'. Dr Egon F. Kunz, librarian, social histórián and demographer, holds degrees from the Universities of Budapest and Sydney. He came to Australia as a displaced person in 1949 and after completing his two-year contract became a librarian in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. He fiiled a number of senior library positions and worked as Senior Research Fellow at the Australian National University, conducting his major research project on Australia's Displaced Persons Scheme. An internationally recognised expert on the history and theory of refugee movements, he has written a number of books on the subject and his studies in this field have appeared in Australian and overseas journals. Vissza