In 1938, during the Evian Conference, which aimed to help German and Austrian Jews fleeing Nazism, Thomas White, the Australian representative, declared: “As we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one.” On one hand, there was the complete denial of the situation of Aboriginal people in Australia; on the other, the refusal to help refugees solely because they were Jewish. These positions, which are shocking to us today, were widely shared by the Australian population at the time, who were still living under the White Australia Policy, introduced at the time of the country’s federation in 1901. If you were not White, you had no chance of entering the country.

Yet, Australia – a nation whose history has been marked by violent colonization and deep-seated racism – made a radical shift after World War II. Unprotected and home to only seven million people, the country was gripped by fear after the spectacular advance of the Japanese Empire in 1941-1942. That mistake would not be repeated: From then on, Australia implemented a massive immigration policy known as “populate or perish.”

To open up, welcome and gradually integrate populations that were less and less “White,” and then, from the early 1970s, to accept people from all over the world, became a necessity. Today, statistically, almost every Australian has one parent born abroad, and nearly one in three Australians was born outside the country. Australia is one of the leading nations where multiculturalism truly works.

Among its many communities, all generally well integrated and positively seen by the public, is the Jewish community. While people of Jewish faith were present in Australia as far back as colonial times, their numbers tripled between 1945 and the early 1960s. It is estimated that today the country is home to between 110,000 and 120,000 Australians of Jewish heritage, originally from Poland, Hungary, Germany, Ukraine, as well as the Mediterranean and elsewhere. Like many others, this community has actively contributed to building contemporary Australia and has produced leading figures in all fields.

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