The Unwanted Australian - The incredible story of Severyn Pejsahowicz. Serevyn was also the head of the Yiddish program on SBS, many years ago.
A number of elderly migrant Australians want official acknowledgment they were unfairly treated by past governments after being denied citizenship on political grounds for decades after World War Two. An investigation by SBS has found they were among hundreds of migrants given adverse security
records and refused naturalisation - and, together with their communities, kept under sustained surveillance by Australia's domestic spy agency, ASIO.
The investigation reveals that in the same period, thousands of migrants were listed on a secret index. For internment and other restrictions in the event of emergency, solely on account of their perceived or confirmed political beliefs.
Severyn Pejsahowicz is one of those people. unfortunately he passed away in 2007, but we are still able to tell his story, and use some of his past interviews which were recorded in Sydney back in the year 2000.
