Nazis in Australia

The Special Investigations Unit, 1987-1994

Graham Blewitt

$39.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Schwartz
07 July 2025

History; Australasian & Pacific history

The incredible story of the special investigations unit that tracked down the Nazis who called Australia home after World War II.

In 1986 journalist Mark Aarons presented a Radio National series, which established that a significant number of Nazi collaborators and war criminals - particularly from Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania and Yugoslavia - had settled in Australia after World War II.

Aarons' explosive reporting led to the formation in 1987 of the Special Investigations Unit, which investigated over 800 suspected war criminals living in Australia. This book gathers the recollections of historians, archaeologists, police investigators, SIU leaders, translators and lawyers to create a detailed insiders' account of the unit's efforts to prosecute Australian residents and citizens believed to have participated in horrific war crimes.

The SIU left an important legacy. As well as pursuing justice for victims of the Holocaust, it demonstrated that historical investigation of war crimes was possible, even decades later. In the words of former SIU director Graham Blewitt, 'Australia should be proud that, for a brief period in our legal history, we stood up and did the right thing. There was a time when Nazi collaborators living in Australia were wondering when the SIU knock on the door would come.'

By: Graham Blewitt
Imprint: Schwartz
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 1mm, Width: 1mm,
Weight: 1g
ISBN: 9781760645588
ISBN 10: 1760645583
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 07 July 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Mark Aarons is a former ABC investigative reporter whose 1986 Radio National series Nazis in Australia led to the creation of the SIU. He is also the author of War Criminals Welcome- Australia, a Sanctuary for War Criminals Since 1945 (2001). Graham Blewitt AM was a public prosecutor and National Crime Authority officer, the Special Investigations Unit's deputy director (1988-1991) and director (April 1991-June 1992), and the head of the War Crimes Prosecution Support Unit (1992-1994). He was later the deputy prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.