Friedrich (Frederick) Hermann Jordan

Friedrich (Frederick) Hermann Jordan
Friedrich Jordan with wife and children in Collinswood in Adelaide before the war. Courtesy Rex Jordan.

Friedrich (Frederick) Hermann Jordan was born in Leipzig in 1901. In 1927 he jumped ship in Port Adelaide and worked in a number of jobs over the following years. He married an Australian woman and had two children.

At the time of the outbreak of war the family was living in Collinswood in Adelaide. Jordan was arrested almost immediately but then released on parole a few days later. He was, however, interned in May of the following year and sent to the Tatura camp in rural Victoria. While there he appealed twice against his internment, but unsuccessfully. There were concerns that he associated with known Nazis and that he held pro-German views, possibly under the influence of the Nazis with whom he was interned in Tatura.

In March of 1944 he was transferred to Loveday, where he remained until January of the following year. With other Germans he was then transferred to Tatura and not released from internment until February of 1946.

Friedrich (Frederick) Hermann Jordan
Correspondence to the Director General of Security in November 1944 shows official curiosity about the extent of Jordan’s pro-German views. NAA: NAA: A367, C68807 Jordan Frederick Hermann
Friedrich (Frederick) Hermann Jordan
Still in Tatura months after the end of the war in Europe, Jordan is a signatory to a letter seeking to explain previous pro-German attitudes and behaviour. NAA: A367, C68807 Jordan Frederick Hermann.

Sources:

NAA: MP1103/2, PWS3021, Prisoner of War/Internee; Jordan, Friedrich Hermann; Year of birth - 1901; Nationality - German

NAA: MP1103/1, PWS3021  Prisoner of War/Internee: Jordan, Friedrich Hermann; Date of birth - 13 July 1901; Nationality - German

NAA: A367, C68807  Jordan Frederick Hermann

Personal communications, Rex Jordan