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 discusses the infamous history of the Dunera & its mostly Jewish internees 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 & niece of two Dunera Boys. She is an internationally renowned art historian & a principal fellow at the University of Melbourne. She has been awarded fellowships to Harvard University & the University of Chicago, & 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, & 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 & genocide. Until December 2020 he was Professor of History & 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, & 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, & a co-author of Dunera Lives: A Visual History and Dunera Lives: Profiles.
Image: Courtesy of Tonia Eckfeld