Layton, Julian David (Oral history)

British officer served with Pioneer Corps and as Refugee and Internee Liaison Officer with Home Office in GB, Australia and Germany, 1939-1946

REEL 1 Background in GB, 1904-1936: family; education; employment with family stockbrokeage firm. Aspects of period as civilian in Australia and GB, 1936-1939: story of becoming involved in Jewish refugee problem in Australia, 1936; reason for interest in Jewish refugee problem; description of voluntary work for Bloomsbury House, London; criteria used for selection of refugees to emigrate to Australia; support from prominent Jewish families in GB; opinion of selection process; role in setting up Kitchener Refugee Camp at Richborough; description of camp and purpose; story of negotiations with Adolf Eichmann; situation in Kitchener Refugee Camp at Richborough on declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939. Recollections of period as officer with Pioneer Corps and as Refugee and Internee Liaison Officer with Home Office in GB, Australia and Germany, 9/1939-1946: story of Lord Reading addressing refugees about volunteering for Pioneer Corps; duties with Home Office on Isle of Man; attitude to internment of refugees on Isle of Man; description of refugees leaving aboard HMT Dunera for Australia, 7/1940. REEL 2 Continues: Lingfield Racecourse Internment Camp for trans-migrants to United States of America; reason for moving to Australia, 3/1941; arrival and initial impressions; reaction to experiences of refugees aboard HMT Dunera, 7/1940-9/1940; opinion of conditions in Hay Internment Camp; valuables looted from passengers aboard HMT Dunera; role in exposing looting and compensation of passengers; duties in other refugee camps; obtaining transfer of internees from Hay to Tatura Internment Camps, Australia, 1941; rank and main tasks; accommodation; story of Italian survivors of SS Arandora Star refusing to return to GB and allocation of employment; question of lost transports; method of recruitment into Pioneer Corps; attitude of internees to Pioneer Corps; varying attitudes of Australian authorities to internees; problem of using orange flashes for Jewish members of Labour Corps. REEL 3 Continues: negotiations with Australian authorities to allow internees to join Australian Pioneer Corps; relations between internees and local population; attitude towards internees and policy of internment; contact with Home Office officials including Herbert Morrison and Sir Frank Newson-Smith; description of work involved in preparing a transport; importance of concealing identity of internees joining the Pioneer Corps; conditions in camps; opinion of British Government's compensation for looting aboard the HMT Dunera; comparison of treatment of refugees from countries other than GB; further comments on treatment of internees by Australian authorities; reason for leaving Australia, 1/1945; attitude to success of role and replacement; further work for Home Office including being sent as Herbert Morrison's personal representative to visit concentration camps in Germany; effect of visiting concentration camps on refugee work; attitude towards British Government's policy of internment and own experiences.