Sanctuary? Remembering Postwar Immigration

Re-published 2012

Sanctuary? explores the stories of the 170 000 immigrants who fled a ravaged Europe in the ten years following the Second World War. Told in their own words, these very moving and sometimes humorous stories provide insight into the era of the Displaced Persons Scheme in Australia. A reflection of life in the migrant camps and what it meant to be a “New Australian”, the book features photographs, press reports and memorabilia of postwar immigration.

This photograph of an unknown woman represents the Displaced Person at the end of the Second World War: stateless, past life in a small suitcase, future uncertain. From a UN transit camp, she is waiting to sail to a new country. This photo inspired the original book cover of Sanctuary? in 1988.