Australia And The Jewish Refugees 1933 1948

Australian reluctance to accept Jewish refugees before and during World War II was connected to traditional immigration policies intended to ensure a "White Australia" and barring "genetically undesirable races." Traces the history of cultural and intellectual antisemitism in Australia, often originating in Britain, and of Social Darwinist and right-wing nationalist ideas and their influence on immigration policies before and after 1933. Unemployment caused by the depression (and often blamed on Jewish financial machinations) aroused fears of being swamped by hordes of Jewish refugees. The official Jewish community acquiesced in these fears. As a result, only 7500 refugees reached Australia before 1941. Even after the war, the public and press opposed entry of Jewish refugees.