Hagadah shel Pesah. Nr. 7 Internment Camp, Hay, Australia, 5701/1941.

(HAGADAH).

Hay, Australia

1941

Densely written punctuated Hebrew text (with few directions in German). Title in Hebrew and English.

Unknown to Yudlov, Yaari, and Yerushalmi

The Hagadah was produced in Australia under primitive conditions by German and Austrian Jews held prisoner by the British under suspicion of being enemy-aliens. Hay is a small town in the western Riverina region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. During World War II it was utilized as a prisoner-of-war and internment center, due in no small measure to its isolated location. The first arrivals were some two thousand refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria, almost all Jewish, many religious. They were originally interned in Britain, but when fears of a German invasion were at their peak they were transported to Australia - a two month long voyage aboard the HMT Dunera. They arrived at Hay on 7th September 1940 and were held under the guard of the 16th Garrison Battalion of the Australian Army. The internment at Hay of this assemblage of refugees from Nazi oppression in Europe was an important milestone in Australia’s cultural history. About half of those interned at Hay chose to remain in Australia after the war, and the colossal influence of this group of Jewish refugees on subsequent cultural, scientific and business developments in Australia cannot be over-stated. The ‘Dunera Boys’ became an integral and celebrated part of the nation’s cultural and intellectual life.