WORLD WAR II FOCUS: In 1940 An Austrian Jewish publisher named Goldschmidt retreated to England.  Alas, it was a frying pan into the fire.  This legitimate citizen of Hitler’s Germany in England was considered an alien and promptly arrested.  Perhaps he could be forgiven for wishing he had remained in Austria where Jewish publishers were in truth not persecuted. 

Soon afterwards the luckless Goldschmidt found himself a passenger on the SS Dunera en route to Australia.  During the voyage, British sailors ransacked his cabin and stole everything they thought had value. Their plunder did not include the publisher’s treasured library which they considered worthless.  This they tossed overboard.  Records later revealed that at the time U-Boat U-56 was stalking the British troopship and had fired three torpedoes.

Two missiles missed their target and one failed to explode.  Then, to attack the liner with its deck gun the crew found Goldschmidt’s German-language books bobbing about in the water. 

As this suggested the ship was carrying German prisoners-of-war the U-Boat officers abandoned their attack. The crew and the passengers of the SS Dunera, unaware of their lucky escape due to the unfortunate incident, blithely sailed on.  

The prisoner was embittered to the end of his days at the loss of his irreplaceable library.  Perhaps he would not have felt so bad had he realised that a despicable act carried out by British seamen had saved not only his own life but the lives of many others. PLEASE SHARE OUR STORIES.

NOTE: This story and 56 similar secrets of World War II can be rediscovered in the newly published The All Lies Invasion by Michael Walsh. Click Der Schelm to buy the book.