An 'unbelievable' but true life story of one of the 'Dunera boys'
Special presentation 21 June 2015, Chapel on Station, Box Hill as part of the Memories in my Luggage exhibition
Werner Haarburger, the son of a Jewish father and a mother who was born a Catholic and became a Lutheran, escaped Nazi Germany on a children's transport with the aid of friends from the Netherlands. When Werner got to England, he was classified an enemy alien and interned. In 1941, Werner was put aboard the infamous HMT Dunera. The vessel was crammed with some 2,000 mostly Jewish refugees, aged 16 to 60. Alongside them were genuine prisoners of war, 200 Italian fascists and 251 German Nazis. The story starts here...
Werner is a warm and humorous speaker - a survivor who shows great wisdom. NOTE: Of interested might also be an Australian mini-series called 'The Dunera Boys' (1985). Podcast Part 1: Journey to Australia on the HMT Dunera Podcast Part 2: Being conscripted into the Australian Army
Podcast Part 3: Learning Italian the express way
Podcast Part 4: Promotion to Corporal
Podcast Part 5: Major Ruddock
Podcast Part 6: Bendigo and discharge from the Army
The story of one small German village: Nieder-Weisel and the gold rush in Victoria
Between 1852 and 1875, nearly half of the population of Nieder-Weisel, a village near Frankfurt, emigrated to foreign shores, including the goldfields in Australia. Alan Haintz tells the story of the village and that of his great grandparents who both came from the Nieder-Weisel area.
Tante Wilma and her quest to find love at the other end of the world
Tante Wilma was still not married. Her sister who had emigrated to Melbourne a few years earlier suggested that Wilma should join them in Melbourne. There were quite a few unmarried young men amongst their circle of friends and on the day of Wilma's arrival they were all standing at Station Pier in their best suit, waiting for Wilma to disembark. But it all ends very differently...
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Sabine's story: The emotions of leaving home and arriving in a new world
Sabine met her Australian ex-husband during his stay in Europe. After spending 18 months with her in Germany, he asked her to marry him and to come to Australia with him. Sabine accepted, even though she had never been to Australia before. An emotional journey begins...
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