Mark Aarons aggregated collection of papers

fonds

1849-2010

Photographs, Textual Records, Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Graphic Materials, Clippings

9661008

19.5 metres of textual material (112 boxes)

Mark Aarons is an author and former ABC Radio National broadcaster and political advisor. He has written six books and published feature and opinion articles in many of Australia’s major newspapers and magazines. He has won various awards for his work, including the 1990 Human Rights Award for Prose.

For two decades beginning in the early 1970s Aarons worked at Radio National, first on the original Lateline program and then on Broadband. He was the founding Executive Producer of the network’s investigative documentary program Background Briefing. He was also an official of the ABC Staff Union and active in many campaigns in defence of the independence of the national broadcaster.

During his years at the ABC Aarons undertook a series of major investigations and collated large collections of files, some of which are deposited in this collection, of documents covering East Timor, the National Civic Council and papers associated with the books he has authored.

Aarons has written widely on war crimes, East Timor (which he first visited in 1975 on assignment for the ABC), the Catholic Church and the Middle East, including best-selling books The Secret War Against The Jews, Ratlines and War Criminals Welcome.

Reference:
Library correspondence file

From 1973 to 1993 Mark Aarons was a broadcaster and reporter in the ABC Radio Special Projects Department (later the Radio Talks and Documentaries Department). During that time he was Executive Producer, Producer, Presenter and Researcher on a series of programs broadcast on ABC Radio Two (later Radio National), including Lateline (1973-76), Broadband (1977-1980), Tuesday Despatch, Background Briefing (1980-1993) and several others.
In the late 1970s he began research into claims that there were numerous World War II war criminals living in Australia and that this was known by US, British and Australian intelligence agencies. The results of this research led to his 1986 radio documentary series 'Nazis in Australia' which prompted the Hawke government's inquiry into war criminals and the establishment of the Special Investigations Unit.
A series of books also resulted from this research including Sanctuary: Nazi Fugitives in Australia (1989) and War Criminals Welcome: Australia, a Sanctuary for Fugitive War Criminals Since 1945 (2001).

COLLECTION 1
Mark Aarons Collection - War Crimes and Related Papers, ca. 1940s-ca. 1990s (compiled 1970s-1990s)

COLLECTION 2
Mark Aarons further papers, 1945-2008

COLLECTION 3
Mark Aarons Collection further war crimes and related rapers, ca. 1940-2008

COLLECTION 4
Mark Aarons papers relating to his book The Family File, 1849-2010