Gerhard Warschauer fled the Nazis, but was arrested after seeking refuge in Australia

Gerhard Warschauer was one of thousands of German Jews who fled their homeland as the country came to be controlled by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

He chose Australia as his new home to build a safer life, and in 1937 landed in Sydney before starting a family and beginning work as an engineer.

But within two years of escaping a deadly regime, a rumour at work led to him being arrested by Australian authorities and spending the next four years in internment camps across the country. 

“A rumour circulates about a blond-haired German who is working at the (Sydney) powerhouse,” Mr Warschauer’s daughter Elizabeth said.

“From there, police investigate and arrest my father.”

‘Not a compelling’ reason for internment 

Mr Warschauer was one of thousands of Australians arrested and kept in camps across the country as part of Australia’s system internment during both world wars. 

Men with German, Italian and Japanese ancestry were taken into custody and placed into the camps if they were deemed to be “enemy aliens”. 

Despite his status as a political refugee, Mr Warschauer’s skills as an engineer, a collection of photographs from the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the fact his brother was still living in Germany were seen as reasons to take him into custody. 

His brother, Heinz, was killed at Auschwitz in February 1943. 

Flinders University professor of history Peter Monteath said Mr Warschauer’s internment was unusual. 

“There was a thought he was in a position to commit acts of sabotage — that’s the reason that they gave for locking him away,” he said. 

“But it wasn’t a compelling one in my view. Clearly his political views were anti-Nazi and it was very unfortunate in his case to be interned. 

“It meant that in an internment camp he mixed with people who were of completely different political views as his own.” 

Australia’s internment process was based on similar systems in England and other European countries. 

Professor Monteath said during the wars, the Australian government had public backing to set up internment camps, but were mindful of their cost. 

“It was a kind of compromise. Not everyone was locked away, and there was many who needed to be, but lots who were locked away who really shouldn’t have been in the first place,” he said. 

Loveday camp biggest in Australia

Australia’s largest internment camp was at Loveday, in South Australia’s Riverland region, and held more than 5000 prisoners at its peak. 

Mr Warschauer was interned there between 1941 and 1943. 

It was divided into three separate camps during World War II, housing internees and prisoners of war, who were employed by the camp’s officers to work the land. 

Under international law, they needed to be paid to be made to work, so they earned one shilling a day for six days of work a week. 

“Originally it was established for internees from England — they were paying Australia to look after their internees,” local historian Rosemary Gower said. 

“They had to get them out of there when Germany invaded France and it looked like England was next up. 

“This particular area was chosen because there was water irrigation so they could plant their own food for the camp.” 

Internment’s ‘uncomfortable’ history

Compared to the battles which took place in Europe and the Pacific, Australia’s internment system is one part of wartime history which is not as well known. 

Professor Monteath said it was a complex aspect of history that may not be looked upon fondly with modern eyes. 

“It should be better known, in part because it’s an issue which hasn’t gone away,” he said. 

“There are still cases today of people who are being locked up who arguably should be allowed their liberty.

“It’s potentially an uncomfortable piece of history because we do find these cases like Gerhard Warschauer which are very uncomfortable. 

“It’s not as if Australia is the only case that has this kind of history where there were excesses in the way that we went about dealing with wartime security.”

Attempting to assimilate after internment

While Mr Warschauer was interned, his wife Sheila and mother Rosa, who had also escaped Nazi Germany, campaigned extensively for his release. 

After a hearing in 1943, his designation was changed from “enemy alien” to “refugee” and Mr Warschauer was released back into Australian life. 

In the subsequent years, the family changed the pronunciation of their last name, dropping the German pronunciation ‘VAR-show-uh’ and going by the anglicised ‘WAR-shore’. 

Mr Warschauer also converted to Christianity, something Elizabeth, who is a retired Anglican Church minister, would later see as an attempt to assimilate into Australian culture. 

“Every Anzac Day, for my friends their fathers were marching in Anzac Day, but we knew our dad had been interned,” she said. 

“I know that people in our area and parents looked down on dad because he had been interned as an enemy alien. 

“In my heart it’s very painful and when I first started getting the internment files, I was scared to see what they said. 

“And the word I kept seeing over and over, in the heading for every report and letter from the security service … was ‘enemy alien 1153 – Gerhard Warschauer’.”