PhotoExhibit 11
Wolf Matsdorf. Story of a Refugee.
1907-1989

The late Wolf Matsdorf was a refugee from Nazi Germany, and a social worker. He migrated to Australia in 1938. While working in prisons, he also ran a bookshop. He was very active in the Australian Jewish Welfare Society. The archivist first met Wolf Matsdorf when he had already migrated to Israel. At this time, from after 1970 till his death, he wrote a regular column for the Australian Jewish News.

The picture, taken in the 1940s shows Wolf Matsdorf on the left, Kitty Fisher and Sam Karpin.
Wolf presented the Archive with papers and photographs and a manuscript on the Gros Breeseners which was published by the Archive at the request of his widow, Hilda. The Gros Breesenrs were young men trained in agriculture at a farm in Silesia, to equip them for immigration. In 1938, as refugees from Hitler, they immigrated to Ausralia. Richard Dreyfus, one of the Gros Breesener boys, and a close friend, assisted in the editing of the book, writing the preface and supplying a glossary.

Cover of The Story of the Gros Breeseners which was published by the Archive.
1970s with Hilda his wife
At the display of the Australian Jewish Times and other Jewish journals at the International Colloquium of the Jewish Press with Conor Cruise O'Brien, former editor of the Observer, London. Taken at the Israel President's residence in Jerusalem (6th February 1983).
At the display of the Australian Jewish Times and other Jewish journals at the International Colloquium of the Jewish Press with Conor Cruise O'Brien, former editor of the Observer, London. Taken at the Israel President's residence in Jerusalem (6th February 1983).
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