Extract [8 July 1947] [1]

REPORT ON THE VISIT TO THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE

On the 8th July, 1947 the Minister and Mrs. Calwell, accompanied
by Mr. R.E. Armstrong (Private Secretary), Mr. Ian Hamilton
(Department of Information, London), Mr. Harry Beilby (Department
of Immigration, London) and Mr. 0. Loorham, of the Australian
Reparations Team in Germany, departed from London in a British
R.A.F. plane and arrived at Bremen, Germany, at 6 p.m.

The Minister and party were met at Bremen by Major Pitman, of the
U.S.A. Forces, and taken to a hotel conducted by the American
Occupation Forces. Later in the evening the American Consul, Mr.

Altaffer, and the British Consul, Mr. Patrick Johnston, paid
courtesy calls on the Minister.

The representative of the International Refugee Organisation in
the district, Mr. Thomas R. Gray, called on the Minister and had a
long discussion with regard to displaced persons.

Mr. Calwell informed Mr. Gray that prior to leaving London he had
a conference with Mr. R. Innes, the Deputy Director of I.R.O. and
with Mr. Dow of that Organisation. The I.R.O. approached Mr.

Calwell to ascertain if Australia would be prepared to assist them
by taking a given number of displaced persons to Australia. It had
been stated that the I.R.O. had three ships and that they were at
present taking displaced persons to America and to Brazil and that
it would assist them considerably if Australia would indicate that
she would accept some of the displaced persons.

The Minister informed Mr. Gray that Australia was interested
particularly in the Balts, i.e., Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians,
and the main purpose of his visit to Europe was to see some of
these displaced persons, and, more particularly, to view for
himself some of the vessels which were being used to transport the
displaced persons to America and Brazil. Mr. Innes had informed
him that three ships were leaving that week on the 9th, 12th and
15th of July for Brazil or America, and Mr. Calwell wished to
satisfy himself that they were suitable for the longer journey to
Australia.

Authority for Agreement to take Displaced Persons
Mr. Calwell informed Mr. Gray that after his conference with the
I.R.O. officials in London he had cabled the Australian Prime
Minister and had been given authority to enter into an agreement
with regard to Australia taking a number of displaced persons. Mr.

Calwell also informed Mr. Gray that Australia had agreed to accept
a number of Poles stationed in Great Britain but had stipulated
that all such Poles must have fought with the Australians in
Tobruk.

Mr. Gray stated that in the American Zone there were some 400,000
displaced persons, amongst whom were some particularly fine types.

The greater portion of those who had been shipped to America were
the older people, who had relatives in America and who had been
nominated from that end.

The American Authorities would be pleased if Australia would help
by accepting some of the displaced persons. They had been
averaging two (2) ships a week from Bremen but that rate was not
sufficient to make much difference to the numbers. He, Mr. Gray,
would be pleased to arrange for the Minister to visit the camp of
displaced persons and also to inspect the transit camp from which
the displaced persons were shipped.

The Minister informed Mr. Gray that Australia would be interested
in the more youthful types of Baltic peoples who were capable of
doing hard work and who would be useful to the Australian economy.

Australia had to be careful that those they accepted were of good
character and that they had a clean record. We desired to make
sure that those who were taken were actually displaced persons who
had suffered as a result of their political or religious views in
this war.

Mr. Gray asked the Minister if it were proposed to take displaced
persons from the British or American Zones or both. Mr. Calwell
stated that that aspect would not be considered until he had
visited Europe and seen the position on the spot.

The Minister informed Mr. Gray that Australia had issued landing
permits to about 8,000 persons on the Continent and these were
issued on the clear understanding that the persons to whom they
were issued sailed from the Continent, and did not take space on
ships which could be occupied by British migrants. There were some
400,000 persons in Great Britain who desired to go to Australia
but were having great difficulty in obtaining shipping space.

Australia wished to treat displaced persons separately from
refugees. Three ships had sailed from the Continent some time ago
and had taken a considerable number of Jewish people to Australia
and it had now been decided that any future shipments should not
include more than 25 % of Jewish people in any one ship. The
Australian people were asking how it was possible for Jewish
people to get to Australia from Europe when British people could
not obtain shipping space to come out to Australia.