My Jewish father found sanctuary in that town
It was with a heavy heart that I read the article in Tuesday’s Age about a couple in the Mallee town of Beulah flying a swastika flag over their recently purchased home. One of the home owners is reported to have defended her right to fly the flag because of her German heritage.
My parents lived in Beulah from 1939 to 1942, and my father, Martin Margulius, was the local doctor serving the residents of Beulah and other towns and farms in the region. He, too, was of German heritage. Unfortunately for him he was of German Jewish descent and like his brother before him escaped Nazi Germany and eventually made his way to Australia in 1939. His parents, grandparents and most of our family who remained in Germany were murdered in the Holocaust. It is sadly ironic that the Nazi flag was flying over the town in which our father finally found sanctuary and a home after fleeing the Nazis.
To see a Nazi flag flying in the town my father loved and served has caused me immense pain and anguish. This is not the welcoming Beulah that my parents lived in and spoke about so warmly as I was growing up.
Dennis Martin, Brighton
This is un-Australian
The home owner says she was flying the flag on her house in Beulah because of her German heritage. She should know that it is illegal to do so in Germany and is punishable by up to three years in jail. While the police were waiting on legal advice and the local council, state and federal governments have condemned the flying of this flag, no immediate action was taken. It is clearly against the spirit if not the letter of anti-discrimination laws.
More than this, it is offensive to the families of the more than 27,000 Australians killed and 23,000 wounded in World War II. They fought to defeat the Nazis and their murderous regime. Some self-described patriots use the Nazi symbol but it’s time we called it what it really is – un-Australian.
Pauline Brown, Woodend
It’s got nothing to do with ‘German ancestry’
The flying of this flag has nothing to do with “German ancestry”. If you want to display your German ancestry then perhaps fly the German flag. This flag represents an affiliation with a political party that not only cowardly murdered millions of Jewish people but also was in direct conflict with Allied troops in the Second World War.
It is also a direct insult to our serviceman and women who fought against the Nazi regime to give us the freedom we enjoy today. Make no mistake, Hitler wouldn’t have spared non-Jewish citizens had he been victorious.
Julian Roberts, Burwood
At least people spoke out
The report of a Victorian couple flying a flag featuring a swastika and other Nazi-related symbols over their home, justified by the resident as honouring her German ancestry, has appropriately raised significant issues and concerns.
It is at the same time heartening to read that this action has outraged some of the couple’s neighbours and has led to condemnation by both the government and opposition. This is a key example of the power of those who choose not to be bystanders in the face of unacceptable behaviour.
It is only the silence of witnesses to such a display that potentially leads to the unaware and ill-educated admiring that defeated, discredited philosophy.
Tony Weldon, Caulfield
An insult and a chilling reminder
The Nazi flag with all the evil that it represents should never be flown in our nation.
Peter Curtis, Werribee South
(Letters in ‘The Age’ 16/1/20)