This is the introduction to an unpublished eulogy prepared by Viktoras Baltutis for Vilius Janonis, a First Transport passenger who died in October 2016. It is held in the Australian Lithuanian Archives.
Viktoras was a younger brother of two First Transporters, twins Petras and Povilas Baltutis. He had to wait in Germany another 9 months after they left, until August 1948, to himself board a ship to Australia. This would have coloured how he saw the selection process and his destination.
At the beginning of 1947, Australia became interested in the Baltic people living in DP camps in Germany. When the Commission arrived, it showed Australian cities that were untouched by war bombs, images of the land of endless expanses and how a light car, driving along Sydney's northern beaches, threw daily newspapers to people living on them.
The views were great: Australia's vast fields and thousands of grazing sheep.
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| A 1948 photograph of Australian sheep grazing Source: National Archives of Australia |
A group appeared that agreed to go to this distant and little-known land, Australia. When the Commission arrived, it recruited those who wanted to go, checking political "sins": had you had served Germany in the Nazi army?
Various clarifications and a thorough health check-up awaited. If even the smallest stain on the lungs was found, that person was no longer allowed in. Some laughed that here, as in Lithuania, it was like buying a horse at the market, only there was no negotiation.
843 Baltic people registered to go to Australia: 114 women and 729 men. Only single people were recruited. All participants were required to sign a two-year employment contract, which stated that participants would be required to work wherever the Australian government assigned them. After two years, you would be free to choose a job.*
On October 30, 1947, the first emigrants left for Australia after being transported from the Diepholz camp to the port of Bremerhaven. The First Transport was the American Army ship, Gen. S. Heintzelman, which carried 439 Lithuanians.
The rest in Germany waited impatiently for news. A few months later, the first letters with photos arrived. They were encouraging and hopeful.
*This paragraph has been written with the benefit of hindsight. The 843 figure is those who actually boarded the Heintzelman, of those selected: possibly thousands "registered". As has been discussed several times in entries to this blog, the original contract length was one year, not two.
Contributed by Daina Pocius.
