MIGRANTS’ FEAR FOR CHILDREN

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28490, 21 January 1958, Page 8

MIGRANTS’ FEAR FOR CHILDREN

Races Abroad By Young Swimmers

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, January 19. The parents of the wonder swimmers John and lisa Konrads fear that if their children compete in championships abroad the Russians might kidnap them, according to the Sunday newspaper, the “Sun-Herald.”

John, aged 15, and lisa, aged 13, between them have set eight world swimming records in the last fortnight. Their parents fled their home in Riga, Latvia, at the end of World War II and migrated from Germany to Australia in 1949. The “Sun-Herald” quoted Mrs Konrads as saying that she would be reluctant to allow her children to compete in swimming events, even in Britain. “It is too close to the Iron Curtain.” she said. “John and lisa are too young to understand the danger, but we have seen Communist ruthlessness and we know.” “We would never allow them to compete in a Communist country.

They could just disappear and we would never see them again.” While John was in Melbourne with the Australian swimming team during the 1956 Olympic Games his parents forbade him to go near the Soviet liner, Gruzia, which brought Russian athletes to Australia, the “Sun-Herald” said.