Transcript Getting to Know `The Enemy` - NSW Migration Heritage Centre

Getting to Know
‘The Enemy’
Internees Cafe, Holsworthy. Courtesy Dubotzki Collection
Supporting PowerPoint Presentation for
Migration Heritage Centre
(http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/enemy
athome/the-enemy-at-home/)
> The Context
World War I
Tension between the British
and German empires
Propaganda
Anti-German hysteria
German Australian community
suddenly faced suspicion and hostility
Must it come to this? Enlist! Poster, c.1916. Courtesy Australian
War Memorial
‘Enemy aliens’ noun
- All German subjects in Australia, including
naturalised migrants and Australian-born
persons with German/Austrian backgrounds
Registration of Aliens Poster, c.1917. Courtesy National
Archives of Australia
Edmund Resch (No. 5498) Liverpool camp, 1914–18
(NAA: SP421/4, Album)
> The Concentration Camps
intern verb
- to confine or hold as prisoners of war, combat troops, enemy aliens
Holsworthy,
Liverpool
• The main internment camp in NSW
• 5000 to 6000 men detained
Holsworthy Internment Camp, Courtesy Dubotzki Collection
> The Internee Experience
Kampenspiegel Wochenschrift
Internee gymnasts, Courtesy Dubotzki Collection
Internee dressing room, Courtesy Dubotzki Collection
Bias
CENSORSHIP
Photo
manipulation
Whitewashing
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/h
oax/photo_database
Australians, Arise!, c.1916. Courtesy National Library of Australia
>> Socratic Questioning
CLARIFICATION
e.g. “What is the main issue here?”, “Could you give me an example?”
Challenge ASSUMPTIONS
e.g. “Are you assuming?”, “Is this always the case?”
REASONS and EVIDENCE
e.g. “Is there reason to doubt that evidence?”
ALTERNATIVE views & perspectives
e.g. “How would other groups respond? Why?”
IMPLICATIONS and CONSEQUENCES
e.g. “What does this mean?”, “What effect would that have?”
QUESTION the question
e.g. “Why is this question important?”
“To answer this question, what other questions should we answer first?”
>> Details of your Task
• Question what the average
person would simply accept
as fact or take for granted.
• Analyse the sources,
what they reveal,
and their reliability
• ‘Close the case’ by
evaluating the experiences of
the German-Australian
community, using sources as
proof.
Kurt Wiese cartoon, Courtesy Dubotzki Collection
>> The Historian
as Detective
“The ability to ask the right question is more than
half the battle of finding the answer”
— Thomas J. Watson
(1874-1956, President of IBM)