Promised New Zealand: Fleeing Nazi Persecution

by Freya Klier, Otago University Press, 255 pages, $45.

copyright Otago University Press

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A new book tells the story of German Jewish refugees who left their homeland only to encounter more persecution in New Zealand.

Hated in Germany for being Jewish. Hated in New Zealand for being German. It wasn't easy being a German Jew.

But New Zealand did not always hate Germans. Prior to World War I, this country received a steady arrival of German immigrants, whence the number of German placenames and surnames around the Nelson region.

Two world wars made New Zealand understandably suspicious of anything that was remotely German. Some Jewish people managed to reach New Zealand but once World War II was declared, further immigration was halted and German Jews were declared enemy aliens. Many were interned, albeit with adequate rations and the chance to study for qualifications.

After the war, New Zealand joined several settlement schemes that allowed immigration to resume.

Freya Klier has done these people a major service by tracing their story from Europe to New Zealand. Her book was originally written in German and published under the title Gelobtes Neuseeland. Jenny Rawlings has made a good job of translating it into English.

The book has an interesting format, written year by year so that characters come and go as the narrative proceeds.

It is not so much a history as an outline for what might be a good script. For example, there are no footnotes or references. Perhaps the style is a reflection of Ms Klier's other occupation, as a documentary film-maker.

Gradually, we see the Jews move from a relatively comfortable lifestyle in Europe to become outcasts in their own homeland, abused by former friends and dispossessed by politicians.

Many of the Jews who settled in New Zealand before and after the war simply became absorbed into the community.

However, a few emerged as major figures, including Karl Popper (Austrian rather than German), who is one of the major figures in 20th-century philosophy, historian Peter Munz and arts benefactor Denis Adam.

In an interesting epilogue, Klier follows up on the people she has described and tells what became of them.

The dreadful statistics are included, but the thing that comes through repeatedly is the feeling of hopelessness while not knowing if one's family is alive or dead.

Not being German or Jewish, I picked up this book wondering whether it would have any relevance so many years later. It turned out to be a book that is impossible to read objectively. Here is human tragedy and the will to survive written on a huge scale by tracing the lives of a few.

• John Ewan is a freelance reviewer from Nelson.

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