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The Janzow Correspondence
On Deaf Ears
It was at last year's Yom Hashoa Memorial that guest speaker Peter Monteath
spoke about the Janzow correspondence. He alerted the community to the
existence in the archives of the Lutheran Church of 73 letters from
Europeans, most of them Jews, that were written to Dr Janzow, President of
the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Australia, in late 1938.
The letters were responses to a small article that appeared in The Times in
London, concerning the Lutheran Church in Australia, offering to assist with
applications for immigration. Within weeks Dr Janzow was inundated by a
flood of letters.
A colleague notified Dr Monteath, who is Head of the History Department at
Flinders University, about these letters. They had recently been deposited
into the archives from the private collection of the Janzow family.
Monteath found the correspondence compelling and sent photocopies to Yad
Vashem and the Washington Holocaust Museum. He began researching these
documents, bringing to this find his wealth of knowledge about this period
of world history.
His research led him to write a journal article * that weaves a fascinating
factual account of the period of the late 1930s in Germany, the rise of
anti-Semitism in Europe, and the desperation of the Jews in particular to
try and get out of Germany and Austria. With research assistance from Yad
Vashem and Washington, he managed to follow up on the fate of at least half
of the correspondents. Evidence points to the fact that just one managed to
make his way to safety in Australia and few survived the Holocaust. His
account makes riveting reading and many issues are raised regarding the role
of the church, welfare organizations and immigration agencies, in taking
notice of the plight of desperate refugees applying to resettle in Australia.
Yet the letters of appeal, together with occasional photographs and letters
of reference, as a body of objects are a treasure of the written word, as
the only remaining physical evidence of many of these particular people. It
is touching to go through these letters and read how impossible life was for
them and the insecurity and sense of impending doom that was also felt by
Aryans who had a connection in some way to being Jewish, by marriage, birth
or conversion.
The archivists have been unable to locate any supporting material for these
letters, that is, there is no reply correspondence, no forwarding letters to
immigration authorities. There is no evidence that attempts were made to
realize the dreams of the hopeful letter writers that someone had acted upon
and attempted to pursue their cries for help. Looking through the letters
however, it is clear that someone, if not Dr Janzow himself, had carefully
read them, and underlined certain salient points, such as the occupation of
the person or the skills they had by which they could find employment in
Australia. The letters have also been numbered and a careful list had been
drawn up giving the name, marital status and nationality. There is this
evidence to suggest that there were good intentions. Finger marks and
liquid stains on the paper also point to signs that the letters were read
and not simply ignored or filed.
We can be grateful that the family felt these documents were significant and
so kept them for over 60 years. It is not surprising that the envelopes
have long been discarded and only their contents saved. The archivist
surmised that Lutherans are avid stamp collectors and the inclination of the
person who would have opened the mail would probably have been to save the
foreign stamps.
The 73 letters, some handwritten, others typed, some in English, many of
them in German, are now frail and fragile, and slightly yellowed from age.
Yet they are still a powerful reminder of the fate of the Jews under the
Nazi regime. We'd like to start considering how the letters could be the
subject of an exhibition or publication. Either way, while they are at
present being cared for in the Lutheran Church Archives, it is important
that a wider audience be given an opportunity to read them. In this way the
writers will not be forgotten.
* Peter Monteath, Australian Lutherans and the Fate of Europe's Jews - The
Janzow Correspondence, No. 11 October 2001, Journal of Friends of Lutheran
Archives.
Addendum: We are hoping to find information about the Adelaide branch of the
Australian Jewish Welfare Society during the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Please contact me if you can help, and if you have any other information
related to these letters.
Roslyn Sugarman, Curator Adelaide Jewish Museum
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