Journey into Darkness

A Holocaust-themed travel diary of a journey Winton undertook in 1999–2000 through Jerusalem, Vienna, Cracow, Lublin, and the sites of the Nazi death camps in Poland.

As a western Gentile, the traveller-diarist is looking for explanations for how a western society came to perpetrate such a mega-crime. He finds disturbing echoes in his own society’s failure to come to terms with its own genocidal past, and its proneness to populist xenophobia and cruel treatment of refugees.

‘Journey into Darkness’ is not just about one of the key moments of disaster in the twentieth century, the Holocaust, and an exploration of the reasons why it occurred in a country as sophisticated and civilised as Germany appeared to be. But it also raises important questions for us as Australians at this moment in our history, questions we cannot afford to neglect.’

Veronica Brady

‘In this profound and compassionate book we accompany a group of people travelling through environments affected by the Jewish Holocaust. Their story is compelling reading, but the journey becomes even more significant as Winton Higgins makes the connections and takes us, in true Buddhist style, into the pain and truth of our own Australian story and invites us to stay there and know who we are.’

Dorothy McRae-McMahon