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The Swastika Down Under: Nazi Activities in Australia, 1933-39

1991; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 26; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/002200949102600106

1461-7250

John Perkins,

European history and politics

In his study of the activities of the German Nazi Party in the Netherlands published in this journal, Bob Moore concluded that: 'The extension of the party abroad seems to have been based more on internal party considerations than on ideological principles.' In other words, the recruitment of Germans living abroad, the formation of local NSDAP branches and the host of other activities carried out by the Foreign Organization (Auslandsorganisation) of the NSDAP is seen as an 'empire-building' exercise on the part of Gauleiter Bohle, the head of that organization. This, rather than 'a deliberate policy of establishing an organization for espionage and subversion in foreign countries', is viewed as being what the Auslandsorganisation was all about.' It is true that Hitler, Bohle and other nazi leaders, in the years immediately following the Machtergreifung of 30 January 1933, frequently uttered the dictum that 'National Socialism is not for export'. However, Bohle's Auslandsorganisation had an important role in advancing Hitler's world power ambitions. This is evident even from a study of its activities in Australia in the 1930s. The latter was not a country in which those responsible for executing the foreign policy of the Third Reich had an immediate concern. Nevertheless, as part of a global strategy, a considerable effort was expended there to achieve nazi ends. Those efforts were especially directed towards reviving and intensifying a German identity among the substantial minority of the population who were of German descent and equating that identity with National Socialism as the German ideology. In addition, local representatives of the Auslandsorganisation served to provide a degree of control over German seamen in Australian ports. Besides these activities, the limited amount of espionage which was carried on pales into insignificance.