Anzac Day stories at war memorial ‘not true’

Perth academic accuses Australian War Memorial of peddling falsehoods on Anzac Day.

Murdoch University lecturer Dean Aszkielowicz has criticised Anzac Day stories at the Australian War Memorial.

A Perth academic who told his students that he believed Anzac soldiers were “killers” has also ­accused the Australian War Memorial of peddling falsehoods by linking Anzac Day to the Aust­ralian way of life.

During a lecture earlier this month, Murdoch University history lecturer Dean Aszkielowicz ­referred to a section of the war memorial website that says Australians continue­ to invoke the Anzac spirit — including the concept of egalitarianism, a sardonic sense of humour and a contempt for danger — in times of hardship.

“Very few things that the Aust­ralian War Memorial claims on its website about Anzac Day are true,” Dr Aszkielowicz told stud­ents on March 12. “The war was not fought for our way of life, nor could anyone at the time have ­articulated what our way of life was or what it is now.

“If I asked you what the Australian­ way of life is, you probably­ couldn’t answer me, you’d probabl­y give me some foggy ideas, probably something to do with mateship I suppose.”

AWM director Brendan Nelson­ yesterday slammed the comments as “offensive in the extreme”.

The Australian revealed yesterda­y that Dr Aszkielowicz told first-year arts students at Murdoch­ in the same lecture that many of the young people who ­attend annual Anzac Day services in Gallipoli were “drunk”. In an audio recording, he also described Anzac Day as a “cliche” that would diminish in popularity.

When asked by one student whether he thought the Anzacs should be viewed as murderers, Dr Aszkielowicz said: “If you go and you kill people, whether it’s in a foreign campaign or not, then you’ve killed people and you’re a killer.”

The Australian has been told some of the students in the School of Arts course are concerned about an apparent left-wing bias and that they are being given only one side of the argument about Australian history and culture.

But Murdoch University defende­d Dr Aszkielowicz, saying students were encouraged to draw on arguments and views from across the political and ­academic spectrum.

“In the context of these lectures­, our academics provided ­informed but challenging comment respectfully — this is academic freedom in action,” it said.

Dr Nelson yesterday offered to host Dr Aszkielowicz on a tour of the memorial in Canberra. He said he would also be happy to give the Murdoch students a lecture­ on Anzac and Gallipoli.

“These comments on Gallipoli and Anzac Day are offensive in the extreme,” he said. “These young Australian volunteers, including­ Aboriginal Australians, gave their all and — in the case of 8700 — their lives for our then young nation.

“They respected the Turks and the Turks respected them. They also forged in bloody sacrifice a bond within which Australia and New Zealand live today.”

Dr Nelson said Anzac Day was not about war. “From the blood and the horror emerged stories of love and friendship; love for friends and between friends; love of family and of our country,” he said. “It is the day we honour men and women whose lives have been ­devoted not to themselves but to us, and their last moments to one another.’’