Inside the Dunera: Beyond Conventional Narratives

Join us to celebrate the launch of Tonia Eckfeld’s No One Knows Their Destiny: The Eckfeld Records: Inside the Dunera Story, in collaboration with Monash University Publishing.

In this panel discussion, Professor Eckfeld will discuss the infamous history of the Dunera & its mostly Jewish interns with Professor Emeritus Paul Bartrop, with Dr Seumas Spark as moderator. Who were the real men who sailed on the infamous ship, & how did the voyage transform their lives? Eckfeld draws on a deeply personal history to tell the story of her father & her uncle, Jewish refugees whose lives were shaped indelibly by their wartime experiences & internment – each to very different outcomes. Challenging popular or conventional ideas of the Dunera, these stories unearth new perspectives on the impact of war, trauma & legacy on family relationships.

About the Panellists
Professor Tonia Eckfeld is the daughter and niece of two Dunera Boys. She is an internationally renowned art historian and a principal fellow at the University of Melbourne. She has been awarded fellowships to Harvard University and the University of Chicago, and honorary professorships to Zhengzhou University and Northwestern Polytechnical University in China. She wrote the book Imperial Tombs in Tang China, 618-907. The Politics of Paradise, and is a consultant for documentary films for National Geographic, History Channel and others.

Professor Emeritus Paul R Bartrop is a multi-award-winning scholar of the Holocaust and genocide. Until December 2020 he was Professor of History and Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Research at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Florida, where he is now Professor Emeritus of History. He is also a Principal Fellow in History at the University of Melbourne. Across a varied career, he has held numerous other positions including as Visiting Professorial Fellow at the University of New South Wales Canberra, and as Ida E. King Distinguished Visiting Professor of Holocaust Studies at Stockton University, New Jersey.

Moderator Seumas Spark is an Adjunct Fellow in History at Monash University, and a co-author of Dunera Lives: A Visual History and Dunera Lives: Profiles.

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