Looking into the Abyss: 1939–1941

Focussing on the first years of the war with Germany, Chapter 5 shows that the Australian coverage of the Jewish plight was influenced by a mix of factors, including the idioms and cultural influences of Australian reporting, treatment of sources, press adherence to wartime censorship policies, and pragmatic military concerns. The fate of the Jews was reported at a distance and was dependent on the will of news editors. What were the Australian people told and what photographs did they view after the outbreak of war to the eve of the invasion of the Soviet Union, as the Nazis swiftly conquered most of Europe? The chapter will chart the vivid accounts of ‘Nazi terror’: the slaughter of hostages, the mass deportations to Poland, the creation of ghettoes, the widespread executions and, finally, news of the concentration camps. Despite the priority given to reporting the Australian military campaigns, a group of committed editors ensured that news of the genocide of the European Jewry reached Australia.