Page 3 - PGA Community News - August '24

August 2024 August 2024 PGA C.A.N.!, Page 3
From The Editor:

Courage In The Face Of Evil…

In June 1938, because destruction and looting of Jewish-owned businesses. Those Robert faced many adversities in his 87 years on earth
of Nazi persecution, Robert who sought to protect their homes and businesses were but met them with determination and overwhelming
closed his business and, left arrested by the Gestapo and dispatched to concentration optimism that “all will be well” which, for the most part,
his family behind. He fled camps. Among the 30,000 prisoners was Robert’s elder proved to be the case. Antisemitism unfortunately still
from Vienna, risking certain brother, Friedrich. exists today. We must never forget the holocaust and
repatriation and death were In another almost unbelievable episode of Robert’s voice our concern when we see attacks against the Jewish
he to be discovered, and life in 1938, he wrote a letter to the Commandant of population in the United States and around the world.
succeeded in making his Buchenwald, alleging that he was instructed by His Please remember Robert and how he exhibited Courage
way to Britain as a stowaway Majesty King George VI’s government, to seek Friedrich’s in the Face of Evil.
on a ship. According to immediate release. His request was granted in January Until next month,
the UK’s Special Branch, 1939! James A. Cioffi, Editor
Robert landed in England, How incredible, therefore, that on July 10, 1940, Robert james@jcclaw.com
near the South Coast town of Brighton on June 18, 1938. should have been one of 2,000 Jewish men rounded up
He was immediately picked up and appeared in the town’s by the British government and taken to Liverpool, where P.S. The details in this column were written by Robert’s son,
magistrates court, where he was remanded in custody to they were forcibly detained on board the vessel HMT my dear friend, Ron Roberts, who resides in England.
appear at a higher judicial hearing in London. On June (Hired Military Transport) Dunera. As well as the Jewish
20 Robert appeared at London’s Bow Street Magistrates internees, there were another 800 prisoners, the total of
Court, charged with illegal entry to the UK. He was found 2,800 crammed onto a ship built to accommodate 1,600! Attention:
guilty, and the judge recommended that he be deported Robert and his fellow 2,000 Jewish refugees shared a
back to Austria. common “crime”. They had Germanic-sounding surnames, PGA Residents
He was given leave to appeal, whereupon he staggered which Winston Churchill had suggested meant they might
the court by passionately informing them that to send him not be asylum seekers, but possibly Nazi spies! Of Mellowing Years
back would effectively result in him, his wife, siblings, When the ship set sail, they had no idea that they
their spouses and his parents being rounded up and were being dispatched to the Hays prisoner-of-war camp, A single phone number may help you to live
murdered. Despite the then implausibility of his tale, the outside Sydney, Australia! The tortuous journey took 57 confidently and gracefully in your own home.
judge chose to believe his story and ordered that Robert days, during which they were struck by a torpedo. Now there is a volunteer senior ambassador within
be officially declared a refugee from Nazi oppression. Robert remained incarcerated until May 26, 1941, on PGA community who is well-schooled in resources
Not content with this decision, he then vociferously which date he was “marched” to Sydney from where he available to help with problems of elders. The Alpert
campaigned for his wife, siblings and parents to be granted set sail for the return voyage to England. He arrived back family and Children’s Services has been helping
documentation permitting them to join him. This, too, in Liverpool, still under escort, on June 19. seniors do just that for many years.
Robert succeeded in achieving and, in so doing, ensured Sometime later, Churchill admitted that the Dunera • You have questions? We may have answers.
that they did not meet similar fates to 105 other members incident was “a deplorable mistake”, leading to the entire • You don’t know where to go? We can guide you.
of their family. incident now being regarded as a matter of national shame
Having been granted permission to stay in Britain, it and regret. This was small consolation to Robert whose • You don’t know what you need? We’re well-versed
was to be another year before Robert would be reunited imprisonment meant he could neither be with his wife, when in that problem.
with his wife, his brother and sister and his parents. In their son was born, nor attend the funeral of his mother, who • Do you know a neighbor who needs help?
that period, on November 9/10, 1938, came the infamous had died while he was still en route to Australia. Don’t wait. Call now. Dorothy Weiss, 624-4035. Let’s
‘Kristallnacht’ (Night of Broken Glass), during which the In 1985, Bob Hoskins starred in an Australian television keep connected with each other as a community. All you
SS turned a deliberate blind eye to the nationwide burning series, ‘The Dunera Boys’, based on this infamous episode. need is the desire to live comfortably in your own home.
down of synagogues, beating up of innocent people and The series was later condensed into a TV movie.