Colin Tatz AO (18 July 1934 – 19 November 2019) was a South African-Australian academic and public intellectual. He was the director of the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Professor of Politics at the University of New England, Armidale, and Macquarie University, Sydney.

Early life

Colin Tatz was born and raised in the inner city suburb of Berea in Johannesburg, South Africa on 18 July 1934 to Jewish parents. He attended Yeoville Boys School, a primary school in a then predominantly Jewish Yeoville in inner-city Johannesburg. He then attended King Edward VII School in the city. He had his Bar Mitzvah at Berea Shul. He graduated from the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg in Natal province. He funded his studies by working for the local newspaper, The Natal Witness. He studied for a master's degree at the University of Natal under Edgar Brookes, concentrating on native administration.

Career

He emigrated to Australia in 1961, at the age of twenty-six. He made the journey with his wife, Sandra, his cousin Doreeen and her daughters, including Shira Nayman. In 1964 Tatz received his PhD from the Australian National University, publishing a thesis entitled Aboriginal Administration. He was later employed at Monash University as a senior lecturer of politics and sociology. He later had tenures as a politics professor at University of New England and Macquarie University. From 2011, he was involved with the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University as a visiting fellow, then visiting professor and honorary lecturer. He authored several books and published articles on race politics, genocide, the Holocaust, antisemitism, and racism and discrimination in sport.

Personal life

In South Africa, he met his wife, Sandra Melmed. They got married at Berea Shul in Berea, an inner city neighbourhood of Johannesburg. They raised their children together in Australia. Their son, Simon Tatz, was a writer for ABC News and a senior adviser to the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens.

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