This book is the first detailed cultural study of Nazi ideology as it was presented to the
interwar Australian public most particularly its German-Australian population. The newspaper
Die Brücke (The Bridge) was launched in Sydney in 1934. It was the brainchild of the League of
Germans in Australia and New Zealand and the German-Australian Chamber of Commerce.
«Deutschtum» (Germanness) was at the heart of its mission as it was at the heart of National
Socialism itself. The question of how Germanness could be defined was at the core of German
political and social debate long before Germany's national formation and only intensified
following it. National Socialism provided a new means of defining «Deutschtum». Die Brücke
seeking to lead a renewed embrace of Germanness among members of the German-Australian
community hoped that German identity would be exhumed from its perceived anglicised entombment
by wholly adopting a Nazi understanding of German self. As such Die Brücke was partially
funded by Germany's Nazi government. Die Brücke's publication represents the most significant
statement made in Australia of a nazified «Deutschtum» and a challenge to the idea that Nazism
was «not for export».
