Rudolf GIRSCHIK
| First name | Rudolf |
|---|---|
| Last name | GIRSCHIK |
| Country of Origin | Austria |
| Date of Birth | 3.3.1910 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1941 |
| Submitted by | Helga Maria GRIFFIN |
Story
The young graduate in civil engineering, Rudolf Girschik, left Vienna in 1933 during the Great Depression to seek work in Turkey and Iran. Married with two children, he was working on the Trans-Iranian Railway near Iraq in mid-1941 when the British Army invaded Iran to secure the Persian oil for the war. As engineers are suspected of espionage in critical times, the blameless family were designated ‘enemy aliens’ and sent to rural Australia for internment.
With mostly bachelors interned in Iran the Girschik family travelled by sea in a convoy of war ships. The possiblility of attack by a submarine or from the air made it a frightening journey.
The Girschik family lived in a family prison camp in Tatura, Victoria. At its highest population, about 850 people lived in congested condition on just over 6 hectares. Most of the camp’s activities were conducted in German, although there were also Italians, Hungarians and Czechs in a minority.
This story, and the family’s post-war settlement in Australia is described fairly fully by Helga Griffin, Rudolf’s daughter, in her book, ‘Sing me that lovely song again …’ (Canberra, 2006).