Centre News September 2017 The magazine of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne, Australia

Preserving the memories of the Holocaust

Registered by Australia Post. Publication No. VBH 7236 JHC Board: The Jewish Holocaust Centre is dedicated to the memory of the six million Co-Presidents Pauline Rockman OAM Jews murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945. and Sue Hampel OAM We consider the finest memorial to all victims of racist policies to be Treasurer Richard Michaels an educational program that aims to combat anti-Semitism, racism and From the Presidents Vice-President David Cohen prejudice in the community, and fosters understanding between people. Secretary Elly Brooks Pauline Rockman OAM and Sue Hampel OAM Other Directors Allen Brostek Anita Frayman Abram Goldberg OAM Paul Kegen Phil Lewis IN THIS ISSUE Helen Mahemoff HE JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE CONTINUES TO BE A and Melanie Raleigh. They are not strangers to the Centre, as Melanie Raleigh From the Presidents 3 hive of activity. Over 21,000 schoolchildren pass through each has been involved in various ways. We were also delighted Mary Slade T our doors annually and we hold a range of public events, that Abram Goldberg OAM has become the Centre’s second Life Editor’s letter 3 among them public lectures, memorial commemorations and films. Governor, honouring his constant dedication and commitment JHC Foundation: to the Centre from the early years. Director’s cut 4 Together with the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission, the Chairperson Helen Mahemoff Centre held an evening to honour Elie Wiesel (z”l) one year since We recently bade farewell His Excellency Mr Pawel Milewski, who Trustees Nina Bassat AM Education 4 his passing, with a keynote address by Rabbi James Kennard. served as Polish Ambassador to Australia for the past four years. Joey Borensztajn Events such as this are key to our vision of providing a place for During his period of office we enjoyed a most cooperative and Allen Brostek Thank you Moishe Ajzenbud 5 the commemoration of the Holocaust in Melbourne. fruitful association, working to foster ongoing dialogue between David Cohen the Polish and Jewish communities. We shall miss Ambassador Jeffrey Mahemoff AO Selflessly helping their fellow Jews 6 Another wonderful collaborative venture was the presentation Milewski. We wish him well in his future endeavours. Dr Feng Shan Ho: sparing no effort to save Jews 8 of A Night to Remember: The Ghetto Cabaret in conjunction JHC Staff: with the Kadimah, with eight sell-out shows in July. We encourage you to check our website for our calendar of Executive Director Warren Fineberg Tribute: portraits of child survivors of the Holocaust 10 events and hope to see you at the Centre in the near future. In July we also launched the filmTies That Bind – from Auschwitz to Curator and Head of Collections Jayne Josem Forever grateful 12 Cummeragunja, directed by Viv Parry. The launch featured Uncle Shanah tovah Boydie, the grandson of William Cooper, and Moshe Fiszman, Director of Education Lisa Phillips Looking forward by looking back 13 Holocaust survivor and Centre guide. An exhibition of Holocaust- Director of Community inspired art created by Aboriginal men of the Galiamble Centre Relations & Research Dr Michael Cohen The international story of the Kindertransports 14 was mounted in conjunction with the launch. Director of Marketing and Development Leora Harrison Combating the defeat of memory 16 The Centre has also hosted a number of international speakers, Development Manager Reuben Zylberszpic including Professor Christopher Browning, a leading Holocaust My life story 18 Director of historian who spoke about ‘Holocaust Denial and the Historian Testimonies Project Phillip Maisel OAM My service as an Austrian Intern as Expert Witness’, and Pulitzer Prize recipient Professor Peter Editor’s Note Librarian/Information at the Jewish Holocaust Centre 19 Balakian, who spoke about ‘Cultural Destruction: The Armenian Manager Julia Reichstein Genocide and the Holocaust’. Jewish philosopher and scholar Ruth Mushin Archivist Dr Anna Hirsh Honouring my great-grandmother Professor Steven Katz, together with his wife Rifka, also visited the Centre and addressed staff and volunteers. Audio-Video Producer Robbie Simons by returning to Poland 20 Education Officers Fiona Kelmann JHC Social Club 21 Sue Hampel was in Geneva as an Australian delegate to the Anatie Livnat International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, as Australia OSHE (MOISHE) AJZENBUD HAS BEEN EDITING THE Archive Assistant Claude Fromm Inauguration of the Young Friends moves towards liaison status within this important organisation. Yiddish section of Centre News since it began in 1984, of the Jewish Holocaust Centre 22 and it is with some sadness that we announce his Executive Assistant Evelyn Portek Pauline Rockman represented the Centre at the Queensland M retirement. As Alex Dafner says in his moving tribute in this edition Finance Officer Leon Mandel Friends of the Jewish Holocaust Centre 23 Yom Hashoah commemoration where she addressed the Jewish of Centre News – in English and Yiddish – Moishe has made a Office Manager Lena Fiszman communities of Brisbane and the Gold Coast, while Sue Hampel huge contribution, not just in compiling the Yiddish section for Communications Officer Tosca Birnbaum JHC launches Collections Online 24 spoke at the University of Queensland. We were very impressed by so many yaers, but in helping to memorialise the language of the the commitment of young people to Holocaust memorialisation. Volunteer Coordinator Rae Silverstein New acquisitions 25 majority of victims of the Holocaust, and the lingua franca of the Bookkeeper Daniel Feldman With the passing of the older generations, it is important for Jewish Holocaust Centre in its early days. A hartsikn dank Moishe; Community news 26 Database Coordinator the next generations to play an active role in the organisation of we wish you all the best in your well-deserved retirement! and IT Support Daniel Feldman these memorial events. In Melbourne Mandy Myerson and Bianca Also featured in this edition are the moving stories of Holocaust Sam Kaplan Saltzman did just this by organising a well-attended young people’s survivors and JHC museum guides Lusia Haberfeld and Joe memorial event at the Centre. Centre News: 13–15 Selwyn Street OPENING HOURS Scwarzberg. Jayne Josem reports on the journey to Poland she Elsternwick Vic 3185 In June, Centre guides took part in a seminar for museum docents undertook with Szaja Chaskiel and a film crew to make a film that Editor Ruth Mushin Mon–Thu: 10am–4pm Australia at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem will help future visitors to the JHC to ‘walk’ with a survivor through Fri: 10am–2pm in Jerusalem, completing 80 hours of Holocaust studies. The his memories. Dr Anna Hirsh mines the extensive JHC collection t: (03) 9528 1985 Sun & Public Hols: 12pm–4pm On the cover: seminar not only provided intensive learning about the Holocaust to bring you stories of Jewish people in Melbourne who selflessly f: (03) 9528 3758 Closed on Saturdays, and guiding skills, but also enabled participants to form helped refugees and Holocaust survivors to escape Europe and Szaja Chaskiel, Holocaust survivor and e: [email protected] Jewish Holy Days and lasting friendships. settle in Melbourne; English doctoral student Amy Williams writes JHC museum guide, revisits Auschwitz w: www.jhc.org.au some Public Holidays about the Kindertransports; and US-based Australian academic Photo: Jayne Josem At our last Annual General Meeting, we were delighted to Professor Paul Bartrop urges us to remember the Pontian genocide. welcome three new Board members: Anita Frayman, Phil Lewis I hope you enjoy the articles and our fresh new design. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in Centre News are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine editor or editorial committee. While Centre This publication has been designed and produced News welcomes ideas, articles, photos, poetry and letters, it reserves the right to by Grin Creative www.grincreative.com.au accept or reject material. There is no automatic acceptance of submissions. JHC Centre News 3 Fifth anniversary of the Jewish Holocaust Centre with Moishe Ajzenbud (second from right). Director’s cut Education Photographer: Sam Cylich Warren Fineberg Lisa Phillips

HE JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE’S CONSTITUTION HAS NE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECTS OF four articulated purposes: to establish a permanent working at the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) is T location in Victoria (and elsewhere) for all materials, O losing our precious survivors. I will never forget exhibits, writings, photographs and memorabilia that relate to the sudden passing of the gentle Simon Michalowicz, and the Holocaust; to maintain a museum, library and research area the sad loss of the much-loved Max Zylberman during open to the public; to improve knowledge of the Holocaust; and my first year at the Centre three years ago. From Simon’s to conduct research activities, courses and seminars. testimony, I will always hold the image of him as a young boy in wooden shoes on a death march, pleading for help Our museum is accredited by Museums Australia (Victoria), giving from a peasant and receiving none. I will always remember donors the confidence that artefacts donated to the museum are Max speaking faster as he reached the end of his testimony documented properly, stored, restored and preserved. to students, as he had so much to share. There are many Thank you survivors I wish I had met. And there are those that I did We continue to hold over 100 events annually, including seminars meet, and miss, among them Sonia Kempler, Fred Steiner such as the outreach program – the Lillian Renard Teachers’ Seminar and Max Stern. – together with the Rosalky Professional Development Program for Moishe Ajzenbud guides and volunteers, and lectures by visiting academics. These Sadly, in February this year, Willy Lermer, a giant of our are in addition to our popular Holocaust Education Program and education program and of the JHC, passed away. I will the Mina Fink Guide course. never forget first hearing Willy’s testimony in the early 1990s Alex Dafner when I visited the Centre with my Presbyterian Ladies’ We have recently held three human rights events: the College Year 11 history class. Willy’s powerful testimony commemoration of the Pontian genocide, the Ties that Bind was seared in my memory, especially his message of ‘do film and exhibition undertaken with the Aboriginal community, not hate’. In 2014, Willy as elder statesman of the JHC and a lecture by Pulitzer Prize recipient and leading specialist FTER SOME 33 YEARS OF DEDICATED SERVICE TO Principal. During some 15 years Moishe also presented a Yiddish accepted me warmly as the new Director of Education. I on the Armenian genocide, ‘Cultural Destruction: The Armenian the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC), chiefly as the radio program on the ethnic community radio station 3ZZZ. greatly appreciated his total support and willingness to Genocide and the Holocaust’. A writer and editor of the Yiddish section of the Centre hand over the reins of the Centre to the next generation. News, veteran wordsmith Moshe (Moishe) Ajzenbud, is retiring. With the loss of his friend Romek Mokotow last year, Moishe The library has recently expanded to become a research I was privileged to watch Willy weave his magic with each As a representative of the Kadimah, Moishe was involved in also lost his Yiddish fonts’ computer setter. Romek used to type centre, and is well serviced by volunteers under the direction new audience of students, young or old. I was able to the establishment of the Centre before it opened in 1984, and Moishe’s articles for Centre News, including collected items about of librarian Julia Reichstein. Julia also chairs the JHC Publishing witness each group responding to Willy’s testimony in a subsequently became a member of the Executive Committee and the Holocaust, its commemoration, and about individual Holocaust House committee of skilled volunteers involved in publishing similar way to the way I had reacted when I first heard him the first Honorary Secretary. At that time Yiddish was the main survivors in Australia and beyond. Holocaust survivor stories. Lena Fiszman coordinates the speak all those year ago. language of the founding committee members; they wanted not With the departure of Moishe Ajzenbud as editor of the Yiddish film club with guest speakers ranging from academics to film only to memorialise the tragic deaths of six million Jews, but also The absence of Willy, and of other survivors, is keenly section of Centre News, the era of Yiddish as a living language directors. The Social Club has experienced strong patronage, to remember and preserve their vivid and inspiring language. felt by all who worked closely with them, yet, at the same at the Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Centre has almost come thanks to coordinator Barbara Sacks, supported by Adele Pakula. time, their loss has energised the JHC Education team. to an end. Although this era, which began in 1984 when the Each year an intern from the Austrian Service Abroad program Moishe Ajzenbud’s contribution to the Centre, and particularly We know that there is much work to be done to ensure founders, volunteers and many of the survivors used Yiddish attends the Centre to give a year of voluntary service. Armin to Yiddish life in Melbourne, is almost without parallel. He is their incredible stories, defying the Nazis’ goal of murder, as their day-to-day and administrative language may be over, Schoepf, who has just left, made an outstanding contribution the last of a small number of recognised, award-winning, local continue to be heard. The ‘Custodians of Memory’ project Yiddish should, without any doubt, be memorialised, not only as to the Centre. Yiddish writers, and the author of a half-dozen published books continues to develop, and Robbie Simons and I have been and historical accounts. He has contributed to numerous local the language of the majority of the six million Jewish victims of With plans to redesign our Centre to provide space for the capturing our survivors’ responses to our ‘18 Commonly and overseas newspapers and periodicals over many years. He the Holocaust; but as the language that served and enabled the increasing number of students and members of public attending Asked Questions’ project. This and other projects define was the founder and, for more than 50 years, the Yiddish editor creation and development of this important centre and museum, programs, we have compiled a register of our significant the direction of the education program in keeping the of the Kadimah’s journal Di Melburne Bletter (The Melbourne and its particular warm, Jewish, welcoming spirit. And Moishe installations, including stained glass windows, Pillars of Witness voices of the Melbourne survivors central to all that we do, Chronicle). Concurrently, over many years, he was involved Ajzenbud has most certainly made an important contribution to by Andrew Rogers, the Eternal Flame, and the child survivors’ and to honour their legacy. in the governance of the Kadimah, serving as President from its memorialisation. textile collage. We have also compiled the names of donors to 1988 to 1992, and as Honorary Secretary twice, from 1979 to We plan to continue the Centre News Yiddish pages in the existing parts of the Centre to ensure appropriate recognition 1980 and from 1993 to 1998. He also served as the Honorary future. However, with the departure of Moishe Ajzenbud as continues in our new facilities. We are grateful for the generous Secretary of the BUND – the General Jewish Labour Bund. He its longstanding editor, an era has come to a close. We thank support accorded to the JHC by the State Government towards wrote 60 years of ‘Bund’ in Melbourne, 1928–1988, published in Moishe profusely for his enormous contribution, and wish him our planned renovations, and thank the Jewish Holocaust Melbourne in 1996. much health and a long life! Centre Foundation for its ongoing judicious fiscal management and support. Moishe also made an important contribution to the teaching of Yiddish in Melbourne. He began as a Yiddish teacher at the Alex Dafner is former Vice President of the JHC and former Sholem Aleichem Sunday School in 1958 and in 1984 became its President of Kadimah.

4 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 5 Selflessly helping their fellow Jews Three stories from the JHC Archives

Anna Hirsh

HERE ARE NUMEROUS STORIES OF COURAGE, convent. When they returned to Melbourne, the Pells dedicated into the Vichy Army until generosity and compassion, which shone a light in defiance themselves to helping survivors start new lives in Australia. They November 1942, when T of the unethical acts and despair generated by Nazi hatred. named themselves as guarantors on over 40 visa applications, and Germany occupied Vichy In addition to the Righteous Amongst the Nations, countless Jews generously did what they could to help virtual strangers; people France. The French Army acted courageously and with integrity, and many risked and lost known only through contacts. Daughter Fay recalls that numerous was disbanded and the their lives to defy evil. people stayed in the family home, cared for by the Pells, until Nazis began to round up these new Australians could get on their feet in their new country. Jews for deportation. After Formal organisations including the Australian Jewish Welfare several close encounters, and Relief Society assisted many refugees, and people such Marcel decided to desert. as Mina and Leo Fink, and Theo Wolff worked hard to bring He and his brother survivors to Australia through Jewish relief organisations such Hermann joined the as the ‘Joint’ (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) Maquis resistance which and ORT. Landsmannschaft organisations including Bialystokers included many Jews, most and Warsawers, and the Kadimah, were important sanctuaries of whom hid their Jewish 1 for newcomers. There were also many selfless individuals who  Dr Maccabee Mushin, Melbourne 1971 identity. Marcel modified helped their fellow Jews trapped in Europe, or waiting to migrate his surname to Drager to to start new lives. Here are three different stories of altruistic and  Yiddish was his first language, and as there were few Yiddish- sound more French. Max Drajer, Camp de Septfonds 1940 heroic deeds. speaking doctors in Melbourne many Jewish refugees, and later While the rest of the family were hidden in Ardeche, Holocaust survivors, found their way to his surgery in East St Kilda. Szulim and Sara Pell’s story articulates this generosity and altruism Marcel was involved in smuggling over 200 Jewish children He looked after them and their families, and also documented despite devastating loss. Szulim Pell (1917–2002) was born in Warsaw into Spain, in collaboration with ORT. Small and young-looking, their medical histories in an effort to obtain restitution for them to Joshua and Fayge. Anticipating the spread of discrimination Marcel accompanied these children – many of whom had lost from the German government. He would not charge his patients against Jews under Nazism, Szulim managed to obtain a visa to their parents to the deportations – on trains across the border. until he was sure they could afford payment, so many did not pay Australia, and arrived in Melbourne in 1938. The outbreak of war He was also a courier for the British Intelligence, disguising for some time. prevented him from bringing his relatives to Australia; they were himself as a French schoolboy as he travelled between destined to die in the Warsaw ghetto and Auschwitz. The Mushin brothers were active in sponsoring Jews to leave Toulouse and Marseille on trains full of Nazi soldiers. Once a  Sara and Szulim Pell, Melbourne 1946 soldier asked him why his bag was so big and heavy. Bluffing, When Sara Ruda (1920–2002) went to Geitle Pell to have a dress Europe before the war and in helping new immigrants to settle Marcel invited the German soldier to look inside the bag, made for Rosh Hashanah, she met Geitle’s brother Szulim on the in Melbourne. They also spoke out against anti-Semitism and Maccabee Mushin (1903–1977) was born in Metullah, Palestine which was full of school books. Luckily this tactic worked, and veranda, playing his banjo, and was attracted to him. But by the prejudice through their involvement in the Jewish Council to (now Israel) in 1903, the third son of Chana and Nachman. He the soldier left him alone. After the war, Marcel participated in time of her next dress fitting, Szulim had already left for Melbourne. Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism. Alick and Aaron both acquired his unusual name as he was born during Chanukah, the served as presidents on the Council, and Maccabee wrote two underground activities, including assisting Jews in DP camps Sara Ruda, one of five sisters, was also from Warsaw. Her parents, Festival of Lights. Their parents had come from Russia and were publications about anti-Semitism for the Council; And Thou Shalt to go to Israel. Mayloch and Chana (nee Alpert), ran a butcher shop on Pulowska committed to helping to build a Jewish state, but as their children Tell Your Child…, a booklet for parents published around 1947; Marcel’s immediate family, as well as a cousin in Paris who had also Street. In early 1939 Mayloch took daughters Sara and Munia to were sick and malaria was rife, they decided to leave. They came and a companion booklet for children titled This is Our Story, co- been in the French Resistance, survived the war. All his extended Australia, with the intention to bring out the rest of the family. to Australia, as it was only country where they could gain entry, authored with six others. family from Russia, Poland and France were murdered by the When war broke out, this became impossible. It is believed arriving in Melbourne in 1906. As times were tough, Maccabee’s Nazis and their collaborators. Max met and married Rywka Katz that family members either died in the Warsaw ghetto, or were two brothers, Alick and Aaron, had to leave school when they Marcel Moszek (Max) Drajer (1919–2012) was born on a boat that (1919–1982) in 1945. Rywka had escaped from Poland to France deported to their deaths. In Melbourne, Mayloch worked as a were 12 to go to work to help support the family. Maccabee, as was taking his parents Chiel Manel and Esther from Poland to with her stepfather, but all of their family in Eastern Europe were labourer and Sara and Munia sewed gloves. the youngest, was luckier: he won scholarships, and was able Luckenwalde, Germany. Concerned about the rise of Nazism, in to complete his schooling and study medicine at the University 1929 the family left Germany for Paris, where they had relatives murdered in the Holocaust. The Drajers emigrated to Australia Sara and Szulim were reunited at the Kadimah in Melbourne in of Melbourne. At the age of 26, he became the youngest ever and friends. with their young daughters in 1949. 1940. They married and, after the war, they went to Europe to medical superintendent at the Alfred Hospital. find their families. Sara stayed in England where daughter Fay was Marcel was granted French citizenship and drafted into the born, and Szulim ventured eastwards and managed to locate his Some 10 years later, after working and travelling overseas, French Army in 1940. After the Germans occupied Paris in Dr Anna Hirsh is JHC Archivist. Thanks to Emeritus Professor aunt Mudjia and her daughter Hunia, who had been hidden in a Maccabee returned to Melbourne and went into private practice 1940, Marcel’s regiment narrowly avoided capture. He was Suzanne Rutland for generously assisting with historical details, as a GP. This was his true calling: he was a good diagnostician and wounded in battle and spent three weeks recovering in Vichy and whose own parents selflessly assisted refugees and survivors; 1 Professor Suzanne Rutland has written extensively on this topic, including Suzanne Rutland an empathetic listener, always wanting to hear his patients’ stories France. Afterwards, he joined his parents and siblings, who were and thanks to Faye Morris, Ruth Mushin and Sylvia Starr for and Sarah Rood, Nationality: Stateless, Destination: Australia, JDC and the Australian Survivor Community, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, New York, 2008. rather than rushing to write out a prescription. living under false papers in Toulouse. Marcel was then drafted providing family histories.

6 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 7 During his lifetime, my father rarely spoke about his humanitarian efforts, although thousands were the direct beneficiaries of his Dr Feng Shan Ho life-saving Shanghai visas. Many thousands more benefited indirectly from his actions by learning of Shanghai and escaping sparing no effort to save Jews there. My father was never reunited with any of the people he had helped. He was unknown to most of them.

In my two-decade quest for documentation and survivors, I have Manli Ho had the good fortune to find some of the beneficiaries of the Shanghai visas. My father is gone, but for me, he lives on through them. They have become my mishpocheh.

The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones. The late Lily Skall (née Seiden) of Melbourne was one of the — MARK ANTHONY IN SHAKESPEARE’S JULIUS CAESAR survivors who shared her story with me in 2008. She and her family fled Vienna and went to Shanghai by ship. Lily and her then- boyfriend Ernst Skall – who had fled earlier across the border to Switzerland – met up and were married in Genoa before boarding WENTY YEARS AGO THIS SEPTEMBER, MY FATHER city’s Chinese government had fled when the Japanese occupied the Conte Biancamano. Lily’s family had been forced to purchase quietly passed away in San Francisco, California, at the age the city, Shanghai harbour was left unmanned, without passport first class ship’s tickets in Vienna, but Ernst’s ticket, provided to of 96. I often think of this line from Shakespeare because control or immigration procedures. As a result, anyone could land T him in Switzerland, was for steerage. So, Lily and Ernst spent their my father’s humanitarian feat at a time of great evil would have without documents. honeymoon in steerage, her younger brother having refused been buried with him had chance not led me to uncover and to give up his first-class bunk. After the war, Lily and Ernst painstakingly document a history unknown for more than 60 years. The Shanghai visas provided the proof of emigration required  Dr Ho with by Nazi authorities for Jews to leave and to be released from immigrated to Australia. Manli Ho, 1977 My father, Dr Feng Shan Ho, was among the first foreign diplomats concentration camps. They could also be used to obtain permission The question I am most often asked is why a man from China would to save Jews from the Holocaust in Nazi- to ‘transit’ through other countries on be willing to help Jews when others would not. My father’s own occupied Europe. Posted to Vienna, the pretext of going to Shanghai. Shanghai visa #3639 explanation was simply this: ‘Seeing the Jews so doomed, it was Austria, in 1937, he was appointed issued by Dr Ho  only natural to feel deep compassion and, from a humanitarian China’s Consul General one month ‘I knew that the visas were to Shanghai standpoint, to be impelled to help them.’ after the Anschluss in March 1938 and in name only’, my father would later recall. ‘In reality, they provided a means witnessed the anti-Semitic persecution In the year 2000, my father was posthumously designated by for Jews to find a way to get to the USA, and reign of terror that ensued. the State of Israel as a Righteous Among the Nations for his England or other preferred destinations.’ ‘humanitarian courage’ in the rescue of Jews. On 21 April 2015, To render Austria and Germany In his two years as Chinese Consul General in Vienna, my father 77 years after he first issued visas, a commemorative plaque in his Judenrein or ‘cleansed of Jews’, Nazi By using Shanghai as an ‘end not only had to deal with the Nazis, but he also faced pressures honour was unveiled at the site of the former Chinese Consulate- authorities combined coerced expulsion destination’, my father also put the from his home government. Desperate to salvage deteriorating General in Vienna. and economic expropriation to force Chinese port city on the map for Jews in other Nazi-occupied territories as a diplomatic relations with Germany, Chen Chieh, the Chinese Jews out. They told Jews that if they My father was born into poverty in rural China in 1901 and lost his refuge of last resort that required no ambassador to Berlin, had ordered my father to desist from produced proof of emigration – such as father at age seven. A brilliant student, he attended missionary entry papers. Word spread rapidly and issuing visas to Jews. When my father disregarded these orders, a visa to a foreign country – they, and schools and the College of Yale-in-China. He obtained his PhD in some 18,000 European Jews escaped Chen launched a witch-hunt. On 8 April 1939, roughly a year after relatives imprisoned in concentration 1932 from the University of Munich, where he witnessed the rise to Shanghai in 1938 and 1939. my father began issuing visas, he was punished with a demerit for camps, would be allowed to leave. of Adolf Hitler. In 1935, he joined the Chinese Foreign Service and disobeying orders. served for nearly 40 years before retiring to San Francisco. Many Jews tried to emigrate, but found Eric Goldstaub was one of the many Jews who lined up at the Chinese A few months earlier, the consulate building at 3 Beethovenplatz almost no country willing to allow In 2007, 10 years after his death, my father was buried in his Consulate-General in Vienna. He had them entry. Their plight was further had been confiscated by the Nazis on the pretext that it was beloved hometown of Yiyang in China’s Hunan Province in  Dr Feng Shan Ho, circa 1938 visited 50 foreign consulates before exacerbated by the resolution of the Jewish-owned. The Chinese Nationalist government not only accordance with his wishes. Engraved by his gravestone in his obtaining 20 Shanghai visas. When Evian Conference on 13 July 1938, which did not protest this breach of diplomatic extraterritoriality, but own calligraphy is a poem which he wrote on New Year’s Day, the anti-Jewish pogrom known as made it evident that nearly none of the refused to issue funds to my father to relocate. However, my 1947, which illustrates the defining principle of his life: that Kristallnacht erupted in Germany and Austria on November 9–10 32 participating nations was willing to accept Jewish refugees. father moved the consulate to much smaller quarters around the having received bountiful gifts, it was his duty to give back to 1938, both Goldstaub and his father were arrested, but with the corner at 22 Johannesgasse and paid all the expenses himself. his fellow man. In his memoir Forty Years of My Diplomatic Life, my father wrote: Shanghai visas as proof of emigration, they were released within ‘Since the Anschluss, the persecution of Jews by Hitler’s “devils” days and embarked for China. How many visas were issued by the Chinese consulate in Vienna The gifts Heaven bestows are not by chance, became increasingly fierce … I spared no effort in using every under my father’s watch? After more than seven decades, it is The convictions of heroes not lightly formed. On Kristallnacht, my father faced down the Gestapo at gunpoint means to help, thus saving who knows how many Jews!’ impossible to find exact figures. There was no ‘Schindler’s List’. Today I summon all spirit and strength to help his friends, the Rosenbergs. His intervention effected the Urging my steed forward ten thousand li. Unlike his fellow diplomats, however, my father faced a unique release of Mr Rosenberg from detention, and enabled the family What we do now know, according to the only surviving archival dilemma: as most of his home country and its ports of entry had to leave Vienna safely for Shanghai. documentation, was that the Chinese Consulate in Vienna issued – Dr Feng Shan Ho, 1947 been occupied by Japan since 1937, any entry document issued an average of 400 to 500 visas a month in 1938 and 1939. And, the by a Chinese diplomat would certainly not be accepted by the Most other Jewish families, like that of Karl Lang, did not have serial numbers of visas that I have found indicate that a little more Japanese occupiers. such personal intervention. On Kristallnacht, Lang was among the 30,000 Jewish men arrested and deported to concentration than a year after the Anschluss, nearly 4000 had been issued. Manli Ho is a journalist who has uncovered the long-buried In order to help Jews, my father devised an ingenious way to use camps. He was only released from Dachau after his wife obtained There is also evidence that in addition to visas, my father provided history of her father’s humanitarian efforts. She lives in San an entry visa as a means of escape. His entry visas were issued to a Shanghai visa as proof of emigration. The Lang family left other documents to help Jews who did not have passports into Francisco and Maine, USA, and is currently working on a book only one destination – the Chinese port city of Shanghai. As the Austria for England and then made their way to the United States. which visas could be stamped. about her father.

8 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 9 The exhibition titled ‘Tribute: Child Survivors of the Holocaust’ Tribute was held at the Jewish Holocaust Centre earlier this year. Portraits of child survivors of the Holocaust

 Paul Valent  Eve Frenkel-Singh  Gary Fabian  Marietta Elliott  Albert Roller  Floris Kalman

When artist Jeffrey Kelson was working on ‘Tribute’, an exhibition of portraits of Holocaust survivors ‘TRIBUTE: CHILD SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST’ shows the lives of child survivors through the held at the Centre last year, he was moved to explore more deeply the stories of those who were medium of a painted portrait and a sketch of the sitter as a young child. In the words of the artist: children when the Second World War began. Theirs is a journey of innocence surrounded by evil, and of building a life from a lost childhood. Fewer than ten per cent of Jewish children survived In these portraits and sketches I have tried to describe the sitter’s journey: what has been the Holocaust. These are some of the portraits and sketches from the exhibition. lost and also what has been found. This exhibition is a tribute to the children these survivors once were and to the lives they went on to build. I hope it also raises questions about children in war zones and those suffering persecution today.

10 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 11 Forever grateful Looking forward

Lusia Haberfeld by looking back

Jayne Josem AM A CHILD HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, AND I VERY OFTEN think of the shocking time of the Shoah and the people who I saved my life, risking their own. I admit with great regret that I do not even know the names of most of those people, as we only met for a few moments. Some of them, however, I did get HE JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE (JHC) IS CURRENTLY of Szaja as he spoke to them and answered their questions. He to know. to eat. He told me to never come to the fence again as it was very developing a suite of offerings as part of our museum was possibly one of the first Jewish survivors they had met. dangerous. He was my fourth angel. T and education program, including survivor testimony and My father was the first person who saved me, caring for our family archival displays of photographs, documents and artefacts. One We filmed in the streets of Lodz, trying to locate important sites in the Warsaw Ghetto till he could do so no longer. As a result, we I discovered after the war that Chaim Kaminsky was a kapo in initiative is the making of a film about Szaja Chaskiel, a Holocaust that now bear no trace of Jewish life. We found some fading were sent to my first concentration camp, Majdanek. There, at a Sonderkommando, and that he worked in the Underground, helping survivor and JHC museum guide, in which he revisits his hometown painted stencils on the ground indicating where the ghetto selection, aged only 12, I was directed towards the gas chambers. to form the Auschwitz resistance. The Germans murdered him. and sites where he was incarcerated during the Holocaust. Similar fences once were, and some buildings with poignant stencil art images of children who once lived there. We visited the Placed in a big yard, together with other children and old women, to projects undertaken by Yad Vashem, the film will enable visitors It was Chaim Kaminsky who directed me to a woman named to immerse themselves in the past by ‘walking’ with a survivor beautiful and haunting Lodz Jewish Cemetery, reputedly one I knew I was going to die. A Jewish prisoner from Czechoslovakia, Schmitka, a kapo in the area where all the clothes from Jewish through his memories. of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Poland, where 180,000 Jews however, noticed me. At a critical moment he came in, took my transports were stored. She was a good woman who did no harm. were buried, and the chilling grass plains known as the ‘ghetto hand and led me to the sauna next to the yard. She was my fifth angel. Szaja kindly volunteered to undertake this arduous trip with fields’, where over 40,000 people were hastily buried during the wonderful support from his partner, Odette. We went to his war, without tombstones. The whole episode took only a few seconds. I hope nobody noticed Thanks to Kaminsky, I worked for Schmitka as a runner. She saved hometown of Wielun, Poland, as well as the former Lodz Ghetto, it for his sake. I will always think of him as an angel who saved a my life on many occasions. It was she who saved me when Dr We then travelled to Weimar to spend a day in Buchenwald. and Auschwitz and Buchenwald Concentration Camps. At each 12-year-old girl from death. I hope he Mengele, the ‘Angel of Death’, took Beginning at the gates inscribed with the words ‘Jedem das seine’ – of these sites Szaja, who was 10 when war broke out, recounted survived. I do not remember his face. I my number at the selection. On that ‘to each his own’ – where he had entered as a prisoner, Szaja led us his experiences, revisiting difficult memories. His journey was only remember his striped uniform; the occasion I believed that I was surely to kinderblock 66 where he and the other children were protected She would put me on captured on film by cameraman Piers Mussared and director uniform of the Nazis’ victims. He was my going to die. When I told Schmitka that by a group of political prisoners, led by Antonin Kalina. This was one Danny Ben-Moshe. second angel. top of the highest bunk my name was on the list she arranged to of several instances where Szaja was helped by others – people who have it deleted. I was saved again. She were vital to his story of survival against the odds. In Majdanek, there were selections in the barrack and We began in Auschwitz where, over two days, Szaja described his was a sweet angel. arrival at the selection ramp and his memories of the camp. The every week. As I was only a child, and At the chilling Buchenwald crematorium, Szaja lit a memorial cover me with blankets Auschwitz personnel were extremely helpful and supportive of our the Germans murdered 1.5 million Two thousand women were sent two candle in memory of all those he encountered who did not survive. endeavour and provided educator Ryszard Bielski to assist us. Jewish children, I would have been one so that the SS woman weeks later, naked, in lorries, to the gas Finally we filmed him walking back through the gates, recalling of them... if it would not have been for who came to inspect us chambers, which worked day and night After a well-earned day off in Krakow we headed to Wielun where, that precious moment of liberation when he and around 900 other the Polish woman, whose name I do not to murder Jews. Fire came from the thanks to the help of a local Jewish woman, Beata Zajac, we were orphans marched to freedom. These boys became known as the know, who was in charge of our barrack. would not see me. chimneys and the stench of burning treated to wonderful hospitality and support as we visited Szaja’s ‘Buchenwald Boys’ who were cared for, given vocational training She would put me on top of the highest bodies was ever-present throughout the childhood home and other sites. The woman who currently lives on and assisted to leave Europe. bunk in the barrack and cover me with camp. When I arrived at my last camp, the site of Szaja’s home was very welcoming, but the low point was blankets so that the SS woman who came to inspect us would not Szaja was one larger group of Buchenwald Boys who came to Bergen-Belsen, I met a woman who said to me: ‘Schmitka is here. our visit to the site of the former cemetery where Szaja’s father had see me. I was saved that way each time there was a selection. The Melbourne, a group that still maintains close bonds. We have also Go find her.’ I did. been buried after his murder by the Gestapo in 1942. The Nazis Polish lady was my third angel. But for her, I would have died. filmed the most recent ‘Buchenwald Ball’, a joyous gathering of had destroyed the cemetery and used the tombstones to build a There was total starvation in Bergen-Belsen. Fortunately, I was able seven ‘boys’, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. pool. After the war, the Poles cemented over the graves and built In my second camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, my mother became very to work for Schmitka again. She would call me to her office every These scenes that will make an uplifting end to the film, showing the town swimming pool. The pool, which is still in use, gives no ill with malaria. I was walking in camp one day, when a woman I day and would give me two slices of bread. That is how my mother rebirth and continuity in a new country. did not know told me to go to the fence – the electrified fence, and I were able to survive in Bergen-Belsen. indication of its sinister history, and local councillors have no wish behind which were the gas chambers. She told me that at the to erect a plaque by way of explanation, as they fear no one would Szaja Chaskiel’s wartime experiences can give our visitors gas chambers they had everything from the incoming transports, I am grateful to the woman, and others, who told me, for whatever use the pool. invaluable first-hand insight into the horrors of the Holocaust including medicine. It was, however, very dangerous to approach reason, what to do. Some were known to me; others remained through the eyes of someone who was very young at the time. By the electrified fence, since one could be shot by a German soldier anonymous. However, I remember them all with love and gratitude. Our next stop was Lodz where we were well looked after by Dr filming on location, visitors can engage with the landscape in which from the watchtower. I only wish they too were rewarded with the kindness they showed Zofia Trebacz, museum assistant at the Radegast Memorial, the the atrocities occurred, and learn about the resilience of one young towards me and that I could thank them personally. I owe them, one site of the deportation of Lodz Jews to Auschwitz. Dr Trebacz boy, and the help of others. I nevertheless approached the fence where I met a man named and all, my life. guided us through the former ghetto area for two days, assisted Chaim Kaminsky. I told him what I needed. He was so nice to me. by her husband Michal, an academic specialising in Jewish history. He gave me the medicine and also gave me a lot of good things They were surely angels. Polish school children visiting the Radegast Memorial were in awe Jayne Josem is JHC Curator and Head of Collections.

12 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 13 The international story of the Kindertransports

Amy Williams

Amy Williams is in the second year of her PhD at UK-based Nottingham Trent University, on a scholarship funded by Midlands3Cities/ AHRC. Her research continues her Master’s dissertation on Kindertransport memory narratives in fiction books, and focuses on national and international perspectives of the Kindertransports. She has completed an internship at Beth Shalom (The National Holocaust Centre and Museum) in Nottinghamshire and assisted in the curation of two exhibitions: Rethinking and re-evaluating the narratives of the Kindertransport through identity, artefacts, and testimony and Legacies of the Holocaust. In May 2017, Amy visited the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) on an international research field trip, and presented her research.

EN THOUSAND CHILDREN CAME TO BRITAIN TO refugees. The first aim of my PhD project is to map out the ways escape Nazi persecution between 1938 and 1940. This in which the ‘Kindertransportees’ were received in their host T rescue operation has come to be regarded as one of the countries, something that has only partially been researched greatest refugee stories in British history. However, this story is not despite a growing body of work on the Kindertransports. only a British one; it is also an international story as the children The second objective is to identify, for each country, how the  Amy Williams at the JHC found new homes in many other host nations such as America, memories of these programs have been expressed in fiction, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Belgium, France, and autobiographies, museums and memorials. The third focus of Holland. The ‘Kindertransportees’ journeyed through many the thesis is to compare these memories and explore interactions different countries before arrival at their host nations. Those who between them. Despite differences, I believe it will be possible conducted interviews with Kindertransport survivors and their exhibitions also show that while Britain interned some of the found new homes in Australia, for example, sometimes arrived to identify broad national patterns within each country. Finally, families. This research trip extended my knowledge of the Kinder, in Australia they thrived and found a new home. The after immigrating firstly to Britain. This could be regarded as a the PhD dissertation will provide an international comparison of Kindertransport program as well as my understanding of the JHC exhibit is unique because it shows that children travelled second wave of the Kindertransport rescue effort programs. memory of the Kindertransports. The research will explore how Dunera Boys, the Deckston Children and the British Evacuee to other nations before they arrived in Britain. The fact that Lore national memory patterns intersect with global ones. Children who were relocated to these countries. This led me to the first went on a Kindertransport to Belgium is interesting because Britain provided a shelter for these children who came from Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) in Melbourne where I presented many have come to believe that the children journeyed directly a variety of different backgrounds – economically, socially, I recently journeyed to the South Pacific to find out more about a paper that discussed how the Kindertransport rescue efforts to Britain. While many did indeed do so, this story documents a politically, and in terms of their religious and cultural upbringing the international story of the Kindertransport rescue efforts. are represented in British museum exhibitions, and how these variation on this route of travel. The JHC exhibition also places and Jewish identity. However, during the Second World War I travelled to Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne and compare with museums in America, New Zealand and Australia. the Kindertransport rescue efforts within the wider context of Britain interned some of these Kinder. This meant that the original Adelaide, where I visited museums, archives and libraries, and the Holocaust as the programs feature in the ‘children during the In Britain, the Kindertransports have been portrayed in a very host nation became an interim place of transit, and some children Holocaust’ section of the museum, located next to the story of celebratory light and many museums do not question this view. were transported to countries such as Australia as ‘enemy aliens’ Jacques Bromet, who was murdered in Auschwitz along with his Visitors to these museums are not invited to consider what as they were regarded as a threat to Britain, and they were viewed parents, illustrating the other strand of fate children faced during happened to the parents of the children who were rescued as potential spies. Some Kinder who were deported to Australia the Holocaust. Juxtaposing these stories also conveys a sense since the children were treated well when they came to Britain, travelled on the infamous HMT Dunera. that trains were used both as ‘trains to life’ and ‘trains to death’. nor are they invited to consider those who were interned. In From these wider stories, it is important to understand that Australia, on the other hand, the story of the Kindertransport Another example of the international narrative of the Kindertransport narratives are not limited to the popular notion is presented as more complex and diverse. The JHC’s museum Kindertransports is found in the Sydney Jewish Museum, where that Britain was a destination from the countries of flight such exhibit does this extremely well. For example, the story of Lore the display extends the narrow British definition of the transports. as Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Additionally, Oliver (previously Oschinski) is presented as part of the children’s This museum exhibition portrays how some children journeyed the British perspective on this historical event tends to be very exhibition. Lore first travelled from Berlin to Belgium and then to and found new homes in places such as Switzerland and Palestine positive. It says little about more negative experiences such as Britain on a Kindertransport. In Britain she was later interned as as part of the Kindertransport program. internment, domestic service and adapting to a new way of life an enemy alien, before being reunited with her mother. In regard many times without any family members present to guide the to the sensitivity of young people viewing the exhibit, what is not I am grateful for the support of the JHC, and for the opportunity children into adulthood. included in Lore’s story is the suicide of her father in Berlin. to meet Kindertransport and other Holocaust survivors while I was there. My thesis examines the different memories of the Kindertransport This one story shows that the British national narrative has been rescue efforts in the countries that gave new homes to the exported to other countries, but it is then critiqued and challenged children, such as the USA, Australia and Britain. These memories by museums in Australia. Australian museum exhibitions suggest Readers who have any information about the Kindertransports were shaped by the role of these countries in the Second World that life was not rosy for the Kinder who found refuge in Britain, and/or would like to contact me about my research may email me War, their post-war development and their policies towards  Lore Oschinski’s Kindertransport tag and sketchbook and that adapting to a new way of life was difficult. The Australian at [email protected]

14 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 15 Combating the defeat of memory

Paul Bartrop

N MAY 2017, THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE TOGETHER hands of their captors. And all three were Christian minorities with the Coordinating Committee of Pontian Associations for confronting a non-Christian Islamic tsunami. Ithe Commemoration of the Genocide of Greeks of Pontos held a commemoration of the Pontic genocide (1913–1922). The The late Elie Wiesel experienced the Auschwitz and Buchenwald commemoration was held at the Jewish Holocaust Centre and concentration camps, and witnessed the death of his father, Professor Paul Bartrop was the keynote speaker. This is an edited mother and one of his sisters at the hands of the Nazis. In 1986 version of his address: he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At his Nobel lecture, he spoke about the astonishment of his generation when looking at  Professor Paul Bartrop I would like to begin by sharing a quote with you: the state of the world just a few decades after the liberation of The military arrived in the village on a Saturday … The men the death camps: were working in the fields and the women were inside their If someone had told us in 1945 that in our lifetime religious Young people not only see the world in a different light than their Turks, and bringing it to a broader audience. A member of the houses. There were hundreds of soldiers. They gathered the wars would rage on virtually every continent, that thousands parents and grandparents, but they have an entirely purpose- second generation whose mother survived the genocide of the men and brought them to the courthouse, where they locked of children would once again be dying of starvation, we built infrastructure, the internet, through which to see it. Through Pontic Greeks, Thea, like me, is also in interested in memory – and them inside. The women and children were locked inside a would not have believed it. Or that racism and fanaticism social media, with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, the defeat of memory – when the tyranny of time intrudes and when, church. The men could hear the rattle of machine gun fire and would flourish once again. Nor would we have believed that Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr and many others, they discuss every as William Shakespeare had the King say in Henry V: ‘Old men forget.’ the screams of the women. The women were being raped there would be governments that would deprive men and possible issue, living in a virtual-reality universe constructed … The soldiers took the children and smashed their heads women of their basic rights merely because they dared to in cyberspace, complete with hypertext links that can open up Considering why people forget and the urgent need for us to against the ground. dissent … How is one to explain all this unless we consider things they might not even have thought about before they rescue the memory of survivors, Thea said: the defeat of memory? began. They forever lament a lack of speed in world where faster Memory is the window through which we view history from Then the soldiers rested. The massacre was a lot of work. The is better and fastest is perfection. those who have lived it. Perhaps we can say that memory is soldiers closed the door on the building and chatted … Later It is to combat this defeat of memory that we must dedicate the soul of history, for the survivors of these historic events they would kill everyone inside … The village was razed. It ourselves, not just to any single case of genocide, but to all Given this new world is built around speed and haste, there is a can also give us an insight into what they felt and dreamed was never reconstructed. cases of massive human rights abuses, genocide and crimes great need for us to stop every now and again in order to catch and hoped for, and how they pieced together their shattered against humanity. Despite the horrible experiences of the 20th our breath and take stock. If we want to know where we are lives. Without their memory we might be completely at the That account contains a number of images that might sound century, war is still with us, as are intolerance, racial hatred and heading, we need to know where we have come from. Not to do mercy of the fabricators of our own history. familiar, yet it does not come from the experience of Greeks at the ethnic murders. so is simply to float aimlessly through time and space. The trap hands of the Ottoman Turks and their allies during and after the we face now is that, with everyone running around doing his or Let me conclude with the words of General Roméo Dallaire, First World War. Rather, it comes from a survivor of the genocide We need to study and teach these things, and remember for her own thing, it is hard for us to keep our eye on the big picture. the commander of the United Nations troops in Rwanda during that took place in Guatemala at the beginning of September the sake of the future. We have a responsibility not only to recall This is why it is essential that we do our best to apply ourselves to that country’s genocide in 1994. General Dallaire disobeyed the 1982. When the soldiers in that country committed their atrocities those who perished, but to know why we do so. Of course we the task of transmitting the central values of our heritage to those orders he received from UN headquarters not to get involved they acquired spiritual ancestors from decades before, in a will remember for our own sakes; for family members lost, for following in our footsteps. in stopping the killing, and by doing so his own actions saved country thousands of miles away. These ‘virtual teachers’ were the people who were killed, for the generations unborn as a up to 30,000 people from certain death. After he was relieved the perpetrators of genocide from the Ottoman Empire. result. But we must also remember, because we dare not forget. The Book of Joel in the Bible opens with the words: ‘Hear this, you of command and, reflecting on what had happened during that If we forget, ignorance will triumph; hatred, intolerance, bigotry, old men, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land … Tell your horrible time in 1994 when a million people were killed in the In the scholarly work in which I engage I often find myself having discrimination and brutality will again become fashionable. And children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their space of a hundred days, he said: ‘All humans are human [and] to rescue the finer details of historical events. Where the Ottoman above all, democracy will become vulnerable. children another generation’ (Joel 1: 2-3). An Australian, Richard there are no humans more human than others.’ genocides are concerned, I seek to ensure that the experiences Hall, has written this slightly differently in another context: ‘We I discuss are not lost altogether on a wider population that often ... need to remember the past, so that we can be vigilant against I think all survivors of genocide, from any background, would hope has no memory of these events. those who have learnt nothing.’ for a time when to be human means that we are more morally aware because we know of the potential existence of radical evil As we know, poorly remembered historical events can often Today we remember the martyrs and mourn their loss. But the in every human society, and when we recognise the duty we each lead to outright denial, as the Greek, Armenian and Assyrian challenge is to go one step further than this. A people’s identity is have to look out for the interests of all. And I think that this is communities know only too well. There is a remarkable similarity not only measured through a model of death; it is also important the message that all of us here today, looking ahead but with a between the three experiences of these three Christian peoples to embrace life. Those who have gone before would have wanted memory of the past, must take out into the world. in Ottoman Turkey after 1915: all were subjected to massacre, that for themselves, and we do their memory a disservice if we deportation, dismemberment, torture and other atrocities. seek anything less for ourselves and the generations to come. A large proportion of the deaths occurred as a result of death Professor Paul Bartrop is Professor of History and Director of  Members of the Pontian Greek marches; many of those who died were the victims of heat, Thea Halo is the main person in the United States responsible for the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Florida community with Dr Michael Cohen starvation and thirst, exposure and incessant brutality at the rescuing the history of the Greeks at the hands of the Ottoman Gulf Coast University, USA.

16 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 17 My life story

Joe Szwarcberg

WAS BORN IN 1930 IN KOZIENICE, POLAND. AS I WAS Shema, but he fired shots above our heads, deliberately missing the youngest child in our family, my two brothers and us and laughing at having tricked us. My service as an Ithree sisters spoilt me. My father was a well-respected leather wholesaler and we lived comfortably in a warm Jewish In August 1944 I arrived at Buchenwald, another horror camp. I environment, surrounded by a loving family and friends. would lie on my bunk talking to my friends during the night; by morning they had died. Ten to 20 died of starvation every day, Austrian Intern As a young boy I walked to the synagogue with my father, and I became used to the sight of dead bodies. proudly holding his hand. I had a good voice and often sang at the Jewish Holocaust Centre solo in the synagogue choir. My kind and generous mother People used to arrive from different camps, including Auschwitz, worried about me, always making sure that I had plenty to eat. where I knew my father had been. One Sunday when I was Armin Schoepf Every Thursday night she made extra challah and fish that she not at work, I saw a man I thought was my father. I ran up and gave to poor people on Friday for their Shabbat meal. hugged him, but suddenly realised he was someone else. I was devastated. I have never forgotten that day. I was later told that Our lives changed when the Germans marched into Kozienice and my father was shot on the death march from Auschwitz, as he established a ghetto. They would take away the men to work, so was too weak to keep walking. His body was left in a gutter. HERE SHOULD I BEGIN? AFTER APPLYING FOR modern and interactive exhibition. I received a warm welcome my father and my brothers hid in the attic. I was very frightened, the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service, I arrived in and learnt much from the experience. but had to go out to find food for the rest of the family. I risked We were liberated by the American army on 11 April 1945 and it W Melbourne from the west of Austria just over a year ago my life running from the ghetto to the Polish village nearby, and was the happiest day of my life. I was 149 cms tall and weighed to serve as an intern at the Jewish Holocaust Centre. This was my first My work at the Centre also saw me fully involved in the would have been shot on the spot had I been caught. only 32 kilos. The Red Cross cared for our group of 130 young visit to Melbourne. Since then I have had an incredible time meeting many events held at the Centre, including much schlepping, boys – known as ‘Buchenwald boys’ – before sending us to a people full of courage, strength and compassion, exploring new photography, ushering and technical tasks. However, I was In August 1942 I was taken to Wilka, a labour camp where Jewish orphanage in France. I went to school to catch up on the places and ways of life, as well as improving my skills while working always rewarded by being able to sit down to attend wonderful I witnessed my brother Benjamin being shot. A few months later, schooling that I had missed and have happy memories of my on interesting – sometimes very demanding – projects. talks and performances, which made up for any of the more I was taken to Skarzysko, another slave labour camp. I was only time there. I am still close to the Buchenwald boys in Melbourne mundane jobs. 12 and on my own. As I was too small to be assigned to work, I – we are closer than brothers as we survived those horrendous At the end of my internship at the Centre, as I reflect upon my built up my shoes with wooden soles to make myself look taller. times together. experience, there are some standout moments that I would like What I enjoyed most was not the one-off events, but something The Germans did not want children in the camp, but a woman to share. that happened every day: simply spending time with all the bribed a guard with some diamonds she had hidden, so he My three sisters survived the Holocaust and migrated to lovely survivors, who put so much effort into this great cause and allowed ten of us the stay. The other 50 were taken away and Australia, so at the age of 17, I left Europe to join them. Ten The ‘big one’ that immediately comes to mind is my work who accepted me – even without a Viennese accent! Although shot. Only five of us eventually survived. years later I met my wife, Tania, and established a successful with art historian Dr Anna Hirsh, JHC Archivist. I assisted there are so many capable guides at the Centre, and I have no retail shoe shop. Tania and I had a son and a daughter. We now Anna in her work with the University of Melbourne for the training as a guide, I was occasionally able to serve as a guide As we could not survive on the food rations, I sang in exchange have six grandchildren who give us much naches. exhibition The House Talks Back, an exhibition about the life for German-speaking visitors to the Centre, something that of an extra piece of bread. I worked in a warehouse that supplied and work of architect Dr Ernest Fooks. I was fortunate to join challenged me by putting my knowledge of the Holocaust to raw materials for the ammunition factory, and had to carry heavy My survival is a miracle, given my separation from my family at the project from the beginning and to remain involved until the test. cases. I contracted typhus and was very weak, but had no choice such a young age and the hardships I endured. I cannot forget the very successful exhibition. My brief was to translate Dr but to keep working. Looking back, it is hard to believe that I the sight of Germans marching into Kozienice and cutting off Fooks’s thesis and other works from the German original. After 10 months I am glad to say that I never tired of my tasks. survived those terrible conditions. my grandfather’s beard with a bayonet, nor the sound of his Seeing how much people appreciated the result made up for all I am also very grateful for the wonderful people to whom I could screams, nor seeing them shoot my brother. However, in spite the sleepless nights that were necessary to finish the work on time! turn when I was unsure, or when things were not going the way The guard in Skarzysko was a very cruel man. Once he lined up of Hitler’s evil persecution, my sisters and I survived and have I had hoped. What I learned at the JHC has been invaluable, 15 boys facing a wall with our hands above our heads and told continued the chain of Jewish life and tradition through our I also had the privilege to accompany the Courage to Care and as I think about the years ahead, I hope not to waste what us we were to be shot. I cried for my mother and we all said the children and grandchildren. exhibition to Bendigo and learn about and help out with the very I learned but to use those lessons in my day-to-day life.

18 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 19 Honouring my

great-grandmother  (l-r) Hilary Friedland, Lillian Kline and Barbara Sacks by returning to Poland

Kurt Brown

 (l-r) Maya Lee, Barbara Kamler and Barbara Sacks HAT DOES THE HOLOCAUST MEAN TO ME? IF you had asked me this before 2011, I would have said W ‘nothing’, because I knew very little about the Shoah until a secret was revealed to me that would change my life forever. (l-r) Braham Korman, Debra Korman, Monique Miller and Judy Feiglin

Growing up, I never knew much about my great-grandmother and never even thought of questioning the tattooed numbers on her arm. One day in primary school, however, I was reading about the iconic ‘voice’ of the Holocaust, Anne Frank, and saw a picture of Holocaust survivors showing their tattoos. It was then JHC that I realised that my great-grandmother was Jewish. After a couple of months I worked up the courage to ask her about what had happened to her, and she shocked me when she told me she that had survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen Belsen. Social Club I felt as though she was finally relieved to talk about her past.

My great-grandmother died a year ago. After she died I felt an Barbara Sacks obligation to convert to Judaism and learn about my people and  Kurt Brown with members of the Australian student MOTL contingent my heritage. I soon learned about the March of the Living (MOTL) program, which took Jewish youth to Poland and to Israel to visit the me realise that there is an absolute necessity for Israel to exist. If former extermination camps and then experience the miracle of Yom Israel had existed during the Second World War, the Holocaust OLOCAUST SURVIVORS, VOLUNTEERS AND GUIDES, Ha’atzmaut in Israel. I then contacted Cedric Geffen, co-president of may not have happened, as millions of Jews may have been able together with their friends, look forward to the monthly March of the Living Australia, and explained my situation to him. He to find refuge in their biblical homeland. Since I have not yet meeting of the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) Social Club. replied: ‘Anyone who identifies as a Jew is more than welcome.’ I H  Paul Grinwald and Nicole Herzog converted but still consider myself Jewish, I felt very happy to The Club has continued to attract stimulating and informative was terrified that the rest of my student March of the Living group arrive in Israel – and I have been so inspired by the people. speakers. Participants always ask searching questions and take would not accept me as I was the only non-Jew, but they did the part in lively discussion after each presentation. the tensions of leaving one’s country and settling in a new place, exact opposite. Every single student in my group accepted me as March of the Living is an amazing immersion program that I and read prose poems from her collection Leaving New Jersey. one of them and I shall always love them dearly for that. strongly urge others to experience. Holocaust survivors will not Over the past few months our topics have ranged from the An Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Education at be around forever, and it will be up to young people like me and Middle East and social justice to some more personal stories. In I promised myself that I needed to commemorate my family in Deakin University, Barbara is the author of academic books, others to tell the survivors’ stories. We must bear witness to the April, Lillian Kline, a skilled and passionate mentor and facilitator, journal articles, a poetic memoir and poems. Poland, and that if it was too much to cope with, I would never atrocities committed against the Jewish people in order to make delivered a stimulating and thought-provoking address titled again return to Poland. sure they are never repeated against any human being. For me, ‘A Perspective of the Complex Situation in the Middle East Eitan Drori’s address was titled ‘The Eternal Capital of Diversities: the MOTL program was a moving and important experience, and I from Afar’. Lillian, who has lectured in communications law and Jerusalem’. Eitan is the Executive Director of the Australian Auschwitz shook me to my core. This was my great-grandma and the shall always hold the memories and friends I made on it very dearly. on the Middle East conflict, is currently a board member of the Friends of the Hebrew University – Victorian Division and founder Nazis wanted to kill her for being born Jewish. I was asked by Jarrod, Castan Centre for Human Rights at Monash University and of and President of Israelis in Australia. He has more than 20 my madrich, to share my great-grandmother’s testimony at the ruins I have been inspired to educate more people about the other boards. years’ experience in fundraising and building business network of Crematorium III in Birkenau. I looked up halfway through speaking Holocaust in order to teach the lessons it provides – never to relationships for the State of Israel in Europe, Asia, Africa and to see my entire group crying. As soon as I finished I felt as though let hatred win and to ensure no group of people ever has to Continuing the social justice theme, but on a more personal note, Australia, and strives to strengthen the bond between Israelis my family had finally been remembered after 74 years. Walking go through something like that again. Eventually I am hoping Debra Korman spoke on ‘How an Asylum Seeker Came to be living in the Diaspora and the State of Israel. through Majdanek broke my heart. I hated it. I was walking out of to work alongside the Sydney Jewish Museum in educating Living in My Home’. Debra is involved in a number of community what was once the gas chambers and said to my friend Skyla Shultz school students about the Holocaust. For me, MOTL was the projects, including organising a weekly food van staffed by 80 The JHC Social Club attracts between 45 and 60 people regularly, (an American girl from Boca Raton, Florida), ‘I can’t take any more of experience of a lifetime, and I strongly urge other students to volunteers at her synagogue, Kehilat Nitzan. She took into her and welcomes members of the community to attend for bagels and this! I just want to go home!’ Her reply was something I shall never participate as soon as they are able to do so. home a young Iranian asylum seeker, a gesture that has been life- coffee, and for stimulating and lively discussion. The Club meets forget. She said, ‘But Kurt we are going home, we’re going to Israel.’ changing for both the young Iranian and the Korman family. monthly on Thursday mornings at the Jewish Holocaust Centre.

I then realised that across the Mediterranean Sea was a land that Kurt Brown was a participant in the Student March of the Living Professor Barbara Kamler spoke to the members of the JHC was yearning for me and for thousands of others to return home to group in April 2017. He is a student at Tomaree High School, Social Club about ‘Stories of Leaving and Relocating Lives’. For further information about the JHC Social Club, please contact it. Coming to Israel after the March of the Living in Poland made Port Stephens, NSW. Through her personal narrative, she shared her thoughts about Barbara Sacks on 0404 224 498.

20 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 21 Inauguration of Friends of the Jewish The Young Friends of the Holocaust Centre Jewish Holocaust Centre Goldie Birch and Elly Brooks Mandy Meyerson and Bianca Saltzman

HE FRIENDS COMMITTEE MEETS regularly throughout the year OUNT SCOPUS COLLEGE GRADUATE  (l-r) Bianca Saltzman, Sally Felzen and Mandy Meyerson T and is committed to supporting Mandy Meyerson and Bialik College the social and educational programs M graduate Bianca Saltzman teamed of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, both up with the Jewish Holocaust Centre at practically and financially. We achieve this the beginning of this year to create a new through recruiting new members, holding organisation known as ‘The Young Friends of the functions to raise money and volunteering Jewish Holocaust Centre’. to assist with events at the Centre.

Inspired by their recent trips to Poland where Our committee comprises a wonderful they visited various memorial sites, death group of dedicated people: Goldie Birch camps, concentration camps and other and Elly Brooks (Co-Presidents), Sabbie places of significance to Jewish life and Berger, Vivienne Golabek, Annette to the Shoah, Bianca and Mandy realised Hayman, Sue Lewis, Rosi Meltzer, Rhonda provide additional storage for testimonies,  Rwandan Genocide Memorial that what was missing in the Jewish community Norich, Alice Peer, Cynthia Spicer, Lauren and a hand-held temperature and humidity commemoration at Parliament House, Hobart in Melbourne was a strong connection Spitalnic-Majtlis, Raizi Worcester and data logger for the curatorial staff. between the generation of survivors, who Edna Vexler. In April, Elly Brooks was invited to attend We held a sell-out evening screening have had a lasting impact on the community, the 23rd Rwandan Genocide Memorial Friends have funded projects to the value the movie Denial at the Classic Cinema. and today’s generation of Jewish youth who at Parliament House in Hobart where of around $35,000 this year, including the Based on Deborah Lipstadt’s acclaimed do not have the same connection to the she spoke about being the daughter of purchase of a high-quality scanner for the book, History on Trial: My Day in Court Shoah. The further we shift away from the a Holocaust survivor, and the lessons the Archives department, back-up drives to with a Holocaust Denier, the movie years of the Shoah, the more detached we Jewish people have learnt more than 70 recounts Lipstadt’s legal battle with David inevitably become, so that it is increasingly years after the Holocaust. Irving, who accused her of libel when she difficult for younger people to identify with declared him a Holocaust denier. The Friends team continues to go from the Holocaust as the most unprecedented strength to strength, and we look forward genocide in history. We are delighted that the Young Friends to planning further activities to continue group has become a new addition to our to support the work of the Centre. We We believe it is imperative that the current team. These young adults are aware of thank all who supported our functions generation – the last generation to witness their responsibility as the last generation over the past year, and look forward to firsthand accounts from survivors – realises the importance of The further we shift away from to be first-hand witnesses to the survivors’ another exciting year. its responsibility to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust. the years of the Shoah, the more testimonies, and it is gratifying that they The proliferation of Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism makes detached we inevitably become...  Young Friends Yom Hashoah are involved in continuing the work of the We wish you a shanah tovah and well over our task more urgent, as a future without survivors renders it commemoration at the JHC Friends group. the Fast. increasingly difficult for subsequent generations to combat At the beginning of the year, the Young Friends hosted their first these evils. event at the Jewish Holocaust Centre at which Holocaust survivor, Lusia Haberfeld, told her compelling story of survival to a group Bianca and Mandy decided to establish ‘The Young Friends of of 60 university students. Young Friends also held their own Yom the Jewish Holocaust Centre’ organisation as a way of addressing Hashoah commemoration on 24 April, following the community Become a Friend of the Jewish Holocaust Centre these issues. The Young Friends organisation aims to bridge commemoration at the Robert Blackwood Hall. Over 130 young the gap between the generations through various education & support the activities of the Centre. people attended this moving ceremony. programs and initiatives. Working with the Jewish Holocaust The Friends of the Jewish Holocaust Centre plays To become a Friend of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, we have been involved in running programs to which The Young Friends plan to follow these events with initiatives an important role in providing financial support to Centre, simply download and complete the form the younger generation can relate, and which help motivate aimed at introducing young adults to the mission and work of the the Centre through membership subscriptions, raffle from jhc.org.au For further information please participants to learn and understand more about the Shoah. We Centre. We expect that the growing support we have enjoyed will book sales, sales of the Entertainment Book and contact Goldie Birch on (03) 9528 1985 or have formed a committee of five young adult members – Mandy continue and hopefully guide the younger generation to take on social fundraising functions. email [email protected] Meyerson, Bianca Saltzman, Jarryd Shaw, Gabe Chait and Justin more responsibility. By adopting their role as custodians of the Fulop – all of whom share the same passion for remembering lessons and values learnt from the tragedy of the Holocaust, we the Shoah and combating Holocaust denial. will ensure that never again does history repeat itself.

22 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 23 German occupation of Vichy France, Max joined the Maquis, the French Resistance. JHC launches New Donated by Silvia Starr, daughter of Max and Rywka Drajer.

Collections Online acquisitions 4. Kurt Ehrmann collection of documents and photographs, which chart the experiences of Kurt Ehrmann, who was Anna Hirsh on a Kindertransport to the UK in 1939, and was later deported to Australia as an ‘enemy alien’ on the infamous SS Dunera. Donated by Dr David Ehrmann, Kurt Ehrmann’s son. HE JEWISH HOLOCAUST The JHC Collections Online Centre (JHC) is proud to project, which was launched 5. Letters between Gyulane (Magda) Desi T announce the launch of in April this year, commenced and Gyula (Julius) Geiger, 1944–1945. This our integrated search engine some three years ago, thanks collection contains approximately 160 love ‘JHC Collections Online’. To to the generosity of the Helen  Shofar found in Czechoslovakia letters and postcards, mostly written in date, accessing the Centre’s Macpherson Smith Trust. This by Moshe Piterman, 1945 Hungarian, with a few in German. Magda information has been fairly project explored technological and Julius were reunited and married after cumbersome for researchers solutions for the delivery of our the war. Donated by Simone Jacobson, and others, whether in collections databases: archives, granddaughter of the Geigers. Melbourne, around Australia testimonies and library. The HE FOLLOWING ARE NEW and survived five concentration camps, or overseas. As well as many idea was to streamline these additions to the Centre’s collection including Auschwitz. After his liberation 6. Sara and Szulim Pell collection of enquiries from Australians, we three discrete collections into T from January–June 2017. We are so from Theresienstadt, he collected items letters, photos and documents, and three respond to numerous requests one search engine. As a bonus appreciative of these rare and important from desecrated synagogues, including drawings by Jakob Pell. These items for information from overseas. the platform also searches the historical documents and artefacts that this shofar. Donated by Professor Leon belonged to Szulim and Sara Pell and their National Library of Australia’s enhance the historicism of the Holocaust, Piterman, Moshe Piterman’s son. families. Jakob was Szulim’s older brother, Since its establishment over Trove database, giving particularly with their Melbourne a talented artist who was murdered in three decades ago, the JHC has researchers further access to a connections, which makes the Jewish 2. Jud Süss film brochure. Jud Süss is one Auschwitz. His drawings are a valuable developed into a professional wealth of information. Holocaust Centre (JHC) Collection of the most infamous Nazi propaganda addition to the JHC art collection. organisation with a strong unique. Thank you to our donors for films, deriving its popularity from anti- profile in the Jewish and wider Professor Andrew Markus their generosity. Donations of original Semitic tropes, instigated by Nazi Minister communities. JHC Collections launched this important initiative. Holocaust artefacts are always welcome, for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. Süss is Online will serve to streamline Professor Markus holds the Pratt and we also welcome donation of originals presented as the archetypal Jew, a sinister our work and enhance our Foundation Research Chair of where copies were previously donated to figure of greed and evil. Donated by professionalism by consolidating Jewish Civilisation at Monash the Centre. Please contact JHC’s Archivist Daley Bornsztejn, grandson of Abram our impressive collection of University and is a Fellow of the Dr Anna Hirsh to make an appointment: Goldberg OAM and Cesia Goldberg. books and other printed materials Academy of the Social Sciences [email protected] – theses and memoirs, video in Australia. He highlighted 3. Marcel (Max) Drajer collection of testimonies and our archival the value of this new tool that 1. Shofar, ritual horn, found by Moshe photograph and documents. Max Drajer repository – into a modern online provides unprecedented global Piterman near Terezin in Czechoslovakia was born on a boat as his parents left resource centre. access to our unique collection after the Second World War. Moshe the USSR for Germany in 1919. They later  Wedding photo of David and of Holocaust materials. Piterman was born in Piczac, Poland, immigrated to Paris in 1929. After the The idea of putting our Tamara Sallman, Germany 1947 collections online first JHC Collections Online is in its 7. Metal suitcase, army rucksack, photos germinated a decade ago, infancy. The architecture is in and landing permit. David Sallman served in and was helped at the time to place but it will take time for our  Kurt Ehrmann, Yorkshire 1939 the Red Army and the Polish Army, and was become a reality through the team to upload content onto the an army translator, knowing Russian, Polish generosity of Judy and Alex site. Every item needs thorough and English. After the war he was involved Resofsky in loving memory of checking and the work is time- with Bricha, the Jewish underground their parents, Mor and Lenke consuming and tedious. At the organisation that helped smuggle Jewish Resofsky; Jeno and Berta Frisch; moment a small proportion of our  refugees to pre-State Israel on illegal boats. Adolf and Berta Winkler and all Four generations of the Resofsky family archives are online. Most of our Donated by Stella Sallman, daughter of their siblings. testimonies are listed, and while David and Tamara Sallman. a few are instantly viewable, most We engaged a consultant at that time to review the JHC will be available to view upon request. This facility is excellent 9. Gerda and Ian Fink collection of collection and consider how best to make it more accessible. for both local and overseas researchers and families of survivors. The dedicated staff and volunteers in the collections areas photographs, documents and objects. of Testimonies and Archives began work on improving our Gerda and Ian were in hiding in Germany databases and exploring ways of delivering the information to You can find JHC Collections Online at during the war and migrated to Melbourne the public. collections.jhc.org.au/presto/home/home.aspx in 1947. Donated by Patricia Donohue, a close friend of the Finks.

24 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 25 ➍

➎

➒ ➓

➊

➏ Seen around the centre

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➑  ➊ (l-r) Anne Sztajer and ➒ Members of the Jenny Wajsenberg Sudanese community ➋ Joe de Haan (centre) with members of the with Dutch visitors to JHC Board the JHC ➓ (l-r) Dr Dvir Abramovich, ➌ ➌ (l-r) Lin Bender AM, Rabbi James Kennard and Warren Fineberg and Warren Fineberg Claire Higgins  (l-r) Prof Hon Barry ➍ (l-r) Rosa Krakowski Jones AC, Jeffrey Kelson, and Estelle Rose Viv Parry and Dr Paul Valent ➎ (l-r) Harry Borden and  (l-r) Sue Hampel OAM and Arnold Zable Abram Goldberg OAM ➏ (l-r) Henry Buch, Tali Nates, Rita Gottlieb and Herschel Balter ➐ (l-r) Lena, Franka and Moshe Fiszman and Daniella Severi ➑ (l-r) Jayne Josem and Prof Andrew Markus

26 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 27 Two poems JHC receives by Bernie Williams government grant

I AM GUILTY THE FIGHT HE JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE HAS RECEIVED A generous grant of $750,000 from the Victorian Government I didn’t break down the I didn’t make us stand I didn’t choose my In a fair fight it’s one on one, T through the Community Infrastructure and Cultural Precincts door and drag us into for hours without space father and mother, Program (CICP). Presented by the Hon Philip Dalidakis, Minister for You have a fair chance of winning. the street. Small Business, Innovation and Trade, the funds will be used to To move, to sit, to To be taken away to In a fair fight when it’s over assist in the planned redevelopment of the Centre. In receiving the I didn’t march us sleep, to pee or shit. work for nothing. it’s done. through the night and grant, the Centre’s executive director Warren Fineberg said: ‘This I didn’t put us in the But I am guilty.  (l-r) Aviva and Santa Pelham, Cape Town 2012 into the square. But when the audience gets into sizeable grant from the Government of Victoria recognises the over crowded place the ring importance of the Jewish Holocaust Centre’s work in combating I didn’t make us sit all And watch my family I didn’t choose to send racism and discrimination in all its forms.’ night in the freezing To help your opponent and do sink deep into the pit. cold and sleet. my sister his bidding Santa’s Story But I am guilty. I didn’t make us climb and Because he’s fooled them with on the truck, forced by my brother his goading. those who didn’t care. I didn’t shove us into And I didn’t Knowing he is lying, the cold damp stinking When 90-year-old Santa Pelham was persuaded to write her But I am guilty. choose to send Knowing he is shying shed. fascinating life story it was initially intended for her memoir to be I didn’t make us all strip my father Away from the truth there for future generations. But Santa’s Story became something I didn’t make us line up and stand there naked and Away from the proof more: a cathartic Jewish experience, an inspiration for song and and load us onto the recently, a one-woman show performed by her daughter, South Then march into the train. my mother Of anything truthful….believable African opera diva, Aviva Pelham. Aviva brings the moving text barracks for a bug- I didn’t make the to the gas chamber Of anything meaningful…. to life detailing her mother’s journey from Germany, to Spain, to ridden bed. France and then to Africa – punctuated by wonderful live Klezmer people leave their and the incinerators. credible. Boards hard and rough, music. This is a meaningful and unforgettable story of courage, worldly goods. Just standing there exalting, in death and dying, I watched the smoke hope, survival, inspiration and one very special woman. Just lying there getting caked. And the flames His people accepting wet in the pouring rain. Santa’s Story has played to capacity audiences in Cape Town, But I am guilty. And the sparks. And willingly participating Crammed into wagons Johannesburg, Helsinki, London, Hurth, Cologne and New York. In nothing more hidden in the woods. I survived and they Presented in association with the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) I didn’t choose my didn’t……….. Than your deleting. But I am guilty. sister and brother,  (l-r) Nick Staikos MP, Helen Mahemoff, Sue Hampel OAM and the and starring Aviva Pelham, Santa’s Story will have its Australian So I am guilty That’s not a fair fight, Hon Philip Dalidakis MP. Photographer: Peter Haskin, Australian premiere at the Phoenix Theatre, Glen Huntly Road, Elwood at For sick and horrific It’s not even a fight. Jewish News 7:30pm on 15 and 16 November. Bookings: trybookings.com experimenting. Phillip Maisel Testimonies Project

Do you have any old Do you have any old home video, audio recordings that many of us The Jewish Holocaust Centre Philliphas over 1,300 videoMaisel testimonies as camcorder and audio recordings have stored or about which we have well as over 200 audio testimonies in its collection. These provide home videos or audio that may hold rich and valuable forgotten because we do not have the content relating to our community of technology to watch or listen to them. eyewitness accounts of the horrorsTestimonies of the Holocaust, as wellProject as recordings to add to Holocaust survivors in Melbourne? The JHC would like to help to preserve glimpses into the vibrancy of Thepre-war Jewish JewishHolocaust life Centre in Europe. has over 1300The video testimonies as Did you ever return to Europe with the JHC Community the memories of our community before collection is widely used bywell researchers as over 200 audioand testimoniesstudents inof its oral collection. These provide family and take video footage of this material is lost forever, so please history, the Holocaust and a varietyeyewitness of otheraccounts disciplines. of the horrors of the Holocaust, as well as your journey? Or do you have old Archive? let us know if you have audio or visual glimpses into the vibrancy of pre-war Jewish life in Europe. The camcorder tapes of family history with If you would like to give your testimony or know of someone who material stored in these old formats collection is widely used by researchers and students of oral no way of playing them back? that we can bring to life again. is interested in giving a testimony,history, contact the Holocaust Phillip and Maisel. a variety of other disciplines. The Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) Phone: (03) 9528 1985 or email: [email protected] If you would like to give your testimony or know of someone has recently purchased equipment For more information please email who is interested in giving a testimony, contact Phillip Maisel. to make digital copies of those Robbie Simons, JHC Audio-Video Phone: (03) 9528 1985 or email: [email protected] old home videos, camcorder and Producer at [email protected]

28 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 29 Recognising the contribution of JHC volunteers Estate Gifts

We acknowledge the Jewish Holocaust Centre and Foundation bequestors for their generosity and vision. May their memory be a blessing.

Regina Adelfang Magda Horvat Sonia Mrocki Mary Starr Anonymous Sabina Jakubowicz Victor Muntz Georgette Steinic Erika Bence Betty Janover Kalman & Elka Bajla Parasol Samuel Stopnik Elza Bernst Basia Kane Edith Peer Sonia Suchodolski Susan Blatman Thea Kimla Elizabeth Peer Geoffrey Tozer Gitla Borenstein Lola Kiven Lilian Renard Josef Tyler  (l-r) JHC volunteers David Prince, Julie Cohen, Moshe Fiszman and Rona Zinger receive awards from City of Glen Eira Mayor Cr Mary Delahunty Joseph Brown AO OBE Leslie Klemke Gerda Rogers Chana Annette Uberbayn Majer Ceprow Izabella Krol Beatrice & Rose Rosalky Emanuel Wajnblum OLUNTEERS WHO GIVE OF The JHC congratulates: Ester Blau (500 years); Marion Majzner (10 years); David Richard Charlupski Eva Rivka Knox Hadasa Rosenbaum Kathe Weisselberg their time unstintingly to the hours); Julie Cohen (1000 hours); Elaine Prince (20 years); Mary Slade (500 hours); Bertha Fekete Pinek Krystal Shmuel Rosenkranz Ludvik Weisz Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) Davidoff (10 years); Moshe Fiszman (10 Sylvia Starr (500 hours); Rona Zinger (10 V John Fox Nona Lee Szmul Rostkier Hannah Wiener were recognised by the City of Glen Eira years); Jack Ginger (1000 hours); Harry years); and the late Willy Lermer (20 years) at a ceremony during National Volunteer Kamien (10 years); Esther Koss (10 years); whose posthumous award was accepted Jakob Frenkiel Ivor Leiser Bencjan Rozencwajg Pinkus Wiener Week in May. John Lamovie (20 years); Sue Lewis (10 by his daughter, Anne Sztajer. Cecilia Freshman Ruth Leiser Irene & Ignacy Rozental Sabina Winter Romana Frey Charlotte Lesser Leslie Sandy Ludwik & Rita Winfield Sara Frucht Kurt Lewinski Joseph Scharf-Dauber Chaya Ziskind Walter Geismar Sara Liebmann Helen Sharp Sofia Zitron Fania Gitein Julek & Ada Lipski Otto Shelton Cesia and Abram Goldberg OAM Samuel Gnieslaw Abram Malewiak Raymond Harry Schiller Arnold Hacker Janina Marcus Marianne Singer celebrate 70 years of marriage Bessie Heiman Don Marejn Sara Smuzyk Mendel Herszfeld Anna Mass Owsiej Sokolski BRAM (ABE) GOLDBERG AND Cesia thought Abe, who was playing We congratulate Abram and Cesia on Cesia Amatensztajn grew up in table tennis, was handsome, and Abe was their 70th wedding anniversary, and ALodz, Poland, only three blocks smitten as soon as he set eyes on Cesia. wish them many more healthy and happy away from each other, but never met They married two years later, when Cesia years together. there. Both came from warm and happy was 18. Anxious to go as far away from homes, but their lives were shattered Europe as possible, they boarded a ship when the Nazis invaded Poland. Their for Melbourne in 1950, part of the wave of families were eventually forced to Jewish immigrants who came to Australia Become a Partner in Remembrance move to the Lodz Ghetto, where they after the war. both witnessed death and experienced Abe and Cesia worked hard to establish hunger and fear. In August 1944, they The Jewish Holocaust Centre Foundation ensures the continued existence of the Centre and supports its important work. themselves, but also managed to enjoy were transported to Auschwitz, Cesia Funds raised through the Foundation are invested, with the earnings providing an ongoing source of income for the life to the fullest, going to concerts, with her family and Abe six days later Centre to support its operations and programs into the future. theatre and dances to make up for lost with his mother. Both teenagers were time. They had two children, Charlie, For more information on how you can help support the Foundation and how your support will be recognised, separated from their families, who were born in 1952 and Helen, born seven years please contact Helen Mahemoff, Chair of the Foundation on 0417 323 595 or email: [email protected] sent to the gas chambers on their arrival. later, and are now proud grandparents After enduring unimaginable hardship, and great-grandparents. Following Abe and Cesia were liberated by the their retirement, Cesia worked tirelessly Allies nine months later. as a volunteer at the Kadimah and Abe In 1945, when Abe was 21 and Cesia was became involved at the JHC as a guide  Cesia and Abram Goldberg OAM 16, they met at a social club in Brussels. and member of the Executive.

30 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 31 Rosa Freilich Mashe Weiner a treasured mentor a quiet achiever

Julia Reichstein  Mashe Weiner and her Bernard Korbman daughter Betty, circa 1946

osa was truly befitting of her name. She was nurturing and warm, yet ready to brandish her thorns ashe Wiener was one of the most amazing Mashe and I formed a bond from the very beginning of my tenure R should anyone dare challenge the wellbeing of her loved women I have ever met. I will cherish her memory at the JHC, and she would come into my office to chat about how ones or ideals. Rosa’s quiet strength and convictions carried a M until the end of my days. She rarely spoke about her she felt about the direction Centre was taking. She never criticised presence that spoke volumes and enveloped one, yet she shunned experiences during the Holocaust in detail to anyone, as every those with whom she worked. On one occasion when someone attention and sought no accolades. time she did so she became too emotional. But, when at times it was being critical of a fellow-worker, Mashe’s reply was: ‘It’s not  (l-r) Sabina Josem was just the two of us, she told me snippets, so that after eight a question of whether you like this person or not, it is about what Rosa became my mentor in 2009 when I began working as a and Rosa Freilich years of working together, she shared quite a few personal and this person offers the Holocaust Centre that is important.’ volunteer in the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) library. I had recently intimate aspects of her life with me. graduated with a library information management qualification.  Rosa Freilich, Melbourne 1947 When I was invited to go to Israel, Mashe came into my office, When JHC curator Jayne Josem introduced me to the library, she During the Holocaust, Mashe was a partisan, yet never glorified closed the door and said, ‘Bernard, you are going to Yad Vashem said, ‘Rosa and Sabina have been in charge of the library since 1984. her own heroic deeds. She never and we are very proud of you. But our Zaida, my beloved grandfather, for Rosa’s lesson plan finally You won’t be allowed to touch anything but Rosa will be nice and wanted to be acclaimed for surviving or always remember that you are there to to crystallise and for our bond to be sealed. I did not cope well will look after you!’ for living through the harsh conditions represent the Jewish Holocaust Centre with Zaida’s passing and took time off from the Jewish Holocaust that she endured, nor for her active of Melbourne, so that when it is your My first day working with Rosa and library co-founder Sabina Josem Centre. I shut myself off from many things, but when Rosa picked participation in fighting those who turn to give a talk, you will always wear a was 15 June 2009. As Jayne predicted, Rosa was quite lovely to me, up the phone and reached out, I knew I owed it to her to listen. She butchered and murdered Jews. jacket and a tie.’ I protested that no one but and I was not permitted to touch anything! ‘I will tell you when did not try to give me any pearls of wisdom, but she let me know in Israel wore ties, no matter his position However, her inability to give her you are ready to touch the books,’ Rosa declared. how much she cared. or the institution he represented, but testimony in public did not detract she did not accept my argument. So, I When I returned to work, Rosa took my hands and said softly, ‘Julie, What unfolded over the course of our four years working together from her passion and productivity at wore a jacket and tie during the three today you will catalogue.’ was a relationship echoing The Karate Kid. Rosa said ‘no’ to me the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC). lectures I gave and had photos taken to often, forbade me to use the computer and ensured that I earned Mashe believed passionately that I was not a brilliant cataloguer and I made many mistakes. I prove that had I kept my promise! And every new task. the study of the Holocaust should be prepared worksheets so that I could practise at home and, by as I thought, I was the only one to do ‘Rosa, could I please borrow books?’ mandatory, and that those who were 2011, I produced a flawless worksheet. Rosa’s response was: ‘Julie, so. When I showed her the photos, she ‘Julie (never Julia), you will borrow, darling, but not today. able to talk to the public about their giggled and in effect told me that I had you are ready.’ Rosa rewarded me by allowing me to open and You are not ready.’ experiences should be encouraged to done the right thing. mind the library by myself each Wednesday between 10:00am and ‘Rosa, I’d really like to learn how to catalogue.’ do so. She, on the other hand, would 2:00pm. However, she often visited to go through my cataloguing serve the Centre behind the scenes Mashe had a very strong love of Israel ‘No Julie. First you will stamp the books. You need to read errors from the previous week. She would also talk to me about life them before you can describe them.’ and ensure that it functioned at the and was a passionate advocate for the and love, and make sure that I was eating enough! highest level possible. Jewish State, defending Israel from ‘Rosa, I’m just going to take some notes about the collection.’ her detractors. Yiddishkeit was also ‘No, Julie.’ ‘You know something, Julie?’ said Rosa. ‘You make mistakes, but As a founding member of the World at the core of her neshome and she ‘I just wish to understand more – about the material, about you are alright. You will take over from me one day.’ Federation of Polish Jews and of the served the Jewish community actively the Holocaust.’ JHC, Mashe was always a doer. She Rosa’s prophecy came to fruition in 2013 following her retirement through organisations other than the ‘Julie, put your pen down. What will your notes tell you? You never sought glory for her actions, as we can see in photographs and that of Sabina. We had had a rocky transition period that tested JHC and the World Federation of Polish Jews. will never know anything about being in the Holocaust. You where she is rarely at the front. However, she was always there to our friendship, but had found resolution in accepting that we would can’t learn it. You need to remember it happened. And you do the cleaning, preparation of food and any odd job that was Mashe wore her heart on her sleeve, and her love for her fellow not always agree on library matters, while assuring each other that need to help tell others.’ required. Jews, her love of life and her sense of humour could be seen in our friendship would prevail. her sparkling eyes. One of the hardest lessons came one morning in 2010 when Rosa In the very early days of the JHC, before cleaners were employed, Rosa’s last visit to the library was in early 2015, when refurbishments reprimanded me for the way I phrased something: Mashe would wash toilets, kill rodents, vacuum, sweep and dust Mashe, you taught me that a title does not make the person, had been completed. ‘Julie, why did you say 1.5 million children died in the Holocaust?’ the museum. And if we had a teachers’ in-service day, Mashe and hard work, self-discipline and dedication are the measure ‘I read the statistic in …’ ‘Julie, this is lovely. It’s really wonderful.’ It took a while for me to would save the Centre money by arriving at 7:00am to prepare by which we should be judged. You taught me that honesty is a ‘No, not the number. Why did you say they died?’ realise she was praising the library. the food, drinks and table settings. She would then stay, listen to key attribute to being a real mensch. And Mashe, above all, you ‘I… I don’t understand, Rosa.’ the lectures and organise the cleaning up. taught me that true heroism shines through from within and not ‘No Jewish child died Julie. They were murdered. Old people ‘You know something?’ she continued. ‘You are a good girl.’ I said from self-aggrandisement. Your heroism will always shine bright die. Sick people die. Children don’t die. You need to think about nothing. I simply held my Rosa in my gaze. A teacher and vision Mashe was on the executive of the Federation of Polish Jews, in my heart and soul. your words... You are not ready to catalogue.’ never more perfect. where she served as treasurer. She and Michael Nadvourney It all left me quite bewildered, but each week I returned to Rosa. were very influential in helping to set up the Australian Society of Polish Jews and Their Descendants, the reincarnation of the Bernard Korbman OAM is the former Executive Director of the It would take a major event in my life later that year – the loss of Julia Reichstein is the JHC Librarian and Information Manager. World Federation of Polish Jews. Jewish Holocaust Centre.

34 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 35 King’s Christian College Princes Hill Secondary College King’s College Warrnambool Reservoir High School Kolbe College Ringwood Secondary College School visits Korowa Anglican Girls’ School Rosebud Secondary College Mazal tov Kyabram P-12 College Rosehill Secondary College Lakeside Lutheran College Roxburgh College Lakeview Senior College Rutherglen High School 2016 Lara Secondary College Ruyton Girls’ School Launceston College Sacre Coeur Lavalla Catholic College Sacred Heart Girls College Leibler Yavneh College Salesian College Engagement Births Birthdays Lilydale High School Sandringham College Loreto College Santa Maria College To Julie Cohen on the engagement To Susie and Gaby Nozick on the To Susan Onas on Lowanna College Scotch College of her granddaughter Amy Ginsburg birth of their great-granddaughter her 70th birthday Lowther Hall AGS St Aloysius College Loyola College Over 21,000 students from schools and universities across Victoria, St Augustines College to Adam Spicer Riley Rogers Luther College St Bernard’s College To Pauline Rockman OAM as well as some from interstate and overseas, visited the Jewish Mackillop College St Brigid’s College Holocaust Centre last year. These are the schools that visited: Manor Lakes College To Annette and Marvin Weinberg on her 70th birthday St Francis Xavier College Maranatha Christian School St John’s College Marriages on the birth of their grandson Marcellin College To Miriam Zimmet on St Joseph’s College Marian College Ararat Jack Lewis St Leonard’s College To Szaja Chaskiel on the marriage of her 70th birthday Marist-Sion College Academy of Mary Immaculate CRC North Keilor St Mary MacKillop College Matthew Flinders College his granddaughter Marni Chaskiel to Aitken College Dandenong High School McClelland College St Mary’s College Albert Park College Daylesford Secondary McGuire College St Mary’s of the Angels Benjy Levy Bat Mitzvah Alexandra Secondary School De La Salle College Anniversary McKinnon Primary School St Peter’s College Alkira Secondary College Dimboola Memorial SC Melbourne Girls Grammar St Stephen’s School To Sue and Phil Lewis on the To Tova Rubinstein on the Alphington Grammar School Donvale Christian College To Abram Goldberg OAM Melbourne High School Shelford Girls’ Grammar Aquinas College Dromana College marriage of their son Dion to Renee occasion of the bat mitzvah of her Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School Shepparton ACE College and Cesia Goldberg on their Assumption College Drouin Secondary College Melton Christian College Shepparton High School granddaughter Mia Rubinstein Ave Maria College East Doncaster Secondary To Rona and Eric Herz on the 70th wedding anniversary Mentone Girls’ Grammar Sherbrooke Community College Avalon College Elisabeth Murdoch College Mentone Grammar Siena College marriage of their son Marc Herz Avila College Eltham College Met School Albury Somerville Secondary College Bacchus Marsh Grammar Elwood College Mill Park Secondary College Southern Teaching Unit to Murni Novisari Ballarat Clarendon College Emmanuel College Mirboo North Secondary College Star of the Sea College Ballarat Secondary College Encounter Lutheran College Mitcham Girls High School Staughton College Balranald Central School Fintona Girls’ School MLC Strathcona BGGS Bayside Christian College Fitzroy High School Monivae College Strathmore Secondary Beaconhills College Flinders Christian Community Montmorency Secondary College Sunbury College Belmont High School Footscray City College Mooroolbark College Sunbury Downs College Berwick Secondary College Forest Hill College Mordialloc College Sunshine College Berwick Tec Fountain Gate Secondary College Mornington Secondary College Sunshine College Ardeer Beth Rivkah College Frankston High School Condolences Mortlake College Surf Coast Secondary Bialik College Galen Catholic College Mount Clear College Templestowe College Billanook College Geelong Baptist College Mount Erin College The Grange P-12 College Boort District School Geelong High School Mount Hira College The Peninsula School To Vivien Dobia and Helen Reisner on the death of their mother Saba Feniger Box Hill Secondary College Genazzano FCJ College Mount Lilydale Mercy College Thornbury High School Brauer College Gilmore College Mount Ridley P-12 Timbarra P-9 College Brentwood Secondary College Gippsland Grammar To Vivienne Elton and Warren Fineberg on the death of their father and father-in-law Zyga Elton Mount Scopus College Tintern Schools Brighton Grammar School Girton Grammar School Mount St Joseph’s Girls’ College Toorak College Brighton Secondary College Gisborne Secondary College To Rosa Krakowski on the death of her daughter-in-law Bev Simon Mundaring Christian College Trinity College Broadford Secondary Gladstone Park Secondary Murtoa College University High School Brunswick Secondary College Gleneagles Secondary School To the Freilich family and Phillip Maisel OAM on the death of Rosa Freilich Nagle College Upper Yarra Secondary Buckley Park College Glen Waverley S C Narre Warren South Secondary College Upwey High School Bundoora Secondary Glenroy College Nazareth College To Debbie and Leon Mandel on the death of their mother and mother-in-law Elisa Sostheim Urrbrae Agricultural High School Carey Baptist Grammar Good News Lutheran College Neerim District College Victoria University Secondary Camberwell Girls Grammar Goulburn Valley College Newhaven College Victory Christian College To Betty and Lorraine Weiner on the death of their mother Mashe Weiner Camberwell High School Greensborough College Northern Bay College Victory Lutheran College Carwatha College Hampton Park Secondary School Northern College Wanganui Park Secondary Casterton Secondary College Healesville High School Nossal High School Warragul Secondary School Cathedral College Bendigo Heathmont College Notre Dame College Warracknabeal Secondary Catholic College Sale Heathdale Community College Nunawading Christian College Warrnambool High School Catholic Ladies’ College Heritage College Oakleigh Grammar School Catholic Regional College Melton Highvale Secondary College Oberon High School Waverley College Caulfield Grammar Highview College Our Lady of Mercy College Waverley Christian College Caulfield Grammar Wheelers Hill Hillcrest Christian College Our Lady of Sion College Wellington Secondary College Chairo Christian College Hopetoun P-12 College Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Werribee Secondary College In Memoriam Charlton College Hoppers Crossing Secondary Overnewton Anglican College Wesley College, Melbourne, Cheltenham Secondary College Huntingtower School Oxley Christian College Elsternwick and Glen Waverley My parents Moshe Szyja and Masha Cykiert and siblings Adela, Christian College Geelong Ivanhoe Grammar Pakenham Secondary College Western Port Secondary College Clonard College Jells Park Primary School Padua College Rosebud Whittlesea Secondary College Mirla, Sulen Yizthok, Bluma, Bajla Miriam and Abraham Cykiert Cobram Anglican Grammar John Fawkner College Padua College Mornington Williamstown High School Cobram Secondary College John Paul College Parkdale Secondary College Woodleigh College Remembered by daughter Tova Tauber, children and grandchildren Copperfield College Keilor Downs College Pascoe Vale Girls College Wooranna Park School Cornish College Kew High School Penleigh and Essendon Grammar Vermont Secondary College Corryong College Keysborough Secondary College Penola Catholic College Yarra Valley Community School Craigieburn Secondary College Kilbreda College Presbyterian Ladies’ College Yarra Hills Secondary Cranbourne East Secondary Kilvington Grammar School Presentation College Yarra Valley Grammar Cranbourne Secondary College King David School Preshil School Yea High School

36 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 37 JewishCare My Community. My Choice.

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38 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 39

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40 JHC Centre News JHC Centre News 41 משה אײַזענבוד - אַ דאַנק אײַך !

נאָך בערך 33 יאָר זײַן טעטיק אין חורבן צענטער, הויפּטזעכלעך ווי דער שרײַבער און דעדאַקטאָר פֿון דער ייִדישער זײַט פֿון די "צענטער נײַעס", האָט דער וועטעראַן רעדאַקטאָר משה אײַזענבוד, אים צו לאַנגע יאָרן, אויפֿגעגעבן זײַן טעטיקײַט. אײַזענבוד איז געווען פֿאַרבונדן מיטן שאַפֿן פֿון דעם חורבן צענטער נאָך פֿאַר דער גרינדונג, אַלס פֿאָרשטייער פֿון דער קדימה, און איז געוואָרן דער ערן סעקרעטאַר אויפן עקזעקוטיוו קאָמיטעט פֿונעם חורבן צענטער נאָך דער גרינדונג אין 1984. צו יענער צײַט איז ייִדיש געווען די אומגאַנגס שפּראַך פֿונעם גרינדונגס קאָמיטעט. זיי האָבן געוואָלט נישט נאָר אויפהאַלטן דעם זכּרון פון דעם טראַגישן אומקום פֿון די 6 מיליאָן ייִדן, נאָר אויך פֿלעגן און געדענקען זייער שפּראַך, ייִדיש - אַ שטאָלצע, לעבעדיקע שפּראַך וואָס האָט אינספּירירט מיליאָנען ייִדן.

משה אײַזענבודס בײַשטײַער צום חורבן צענטער און צום ייִדיש-ייִדישן לעבן אין מעלבורן האָט כּמעט נישט קיין פֿאַרגלײַך. ער איז דער לעצטער פֿון אַ קליינער צאָל אָנערקענטע, באַלוינטע, היגע ייִדישע שרײַבער. ער האָט אַרויסגעגעבן אַ האַלבן טוץ ביכער און היסטאָרישע אויסגאַבעס און געשריבן פאַר פֿיל היגע און אויסלענדישע צײַטונגען און צײַטשריפֿטן. ער איז געווען דער גרינדער, און במשך פֿון קנאַפּע 50 יאָר, דער ייִדישער רעדאַקטאָר פֿון דער קדימהס צײַטשריפֿט "די מעלבורנער בלעטער". גלײַכצײַטיק איז אײַזענבוד במשך פֿון לאַנגע יאָרן געווען דער פֿאָרשטייער אויפֿן קדימה קאָמיטעט און געדינט אַלס פּרעזידענט פֿון דער קדימה צווישן 1988 און 1992 און אַלס ערן סעקרעטאַר צוויי מאָל ,פֿון 1979 ביז 1980 און פֿון 1993 ביז 1998. ער איז אויך געווען דער ערן סעקרעטאַר פון בונדישן קאָמיטעט און אָנגעשריבן "די געשיכטע פֿון בונד אין מעלבורן 1928 ביז 1988".

משה אײַזענבוד האָט אַ סך צוגעגעבן דעם ייִדיש לימוד אין מעלבורן. ער האָט אָנגעהויבן אַלס לערער אין דער שלום עליכם צוגאָב שול אין יאָר 1958, און אין 1984 געוואָרן דער פֿאַרוואַלטער פֿון דער שול. במשך פֿון 15 יאָר האָט משה אײַזענבוד אָנגעפֿירט און פּרעזענטירט אַ ייִדישע ראַדיאָ אוידיציע אויף דער עטנישער ראַדיאָ סטאַציע 3ZZZ. מיטן אַוועקגיין אין דער אייביקײַט פֿון זײַן חבֿר ראָמעק מאָקאָטאָוו, האָט משה אײַזענבוד פֿאַרלוירן זײַן ייִדיש לשון קאָמפּיוטאָר זעצער, וועלכער פֿלעגט אַרײַנקלאַפֿן משהס אַרטיקלען און געזאַמלטע שריפֿטן וועגן חורבן און אָנדענקס פֿײַערונגען, אין אויסטראַליע און אַרום דער וועלט, פֿאַר די "צענטער נײַעס". מיטן אַוועקגיין פֿון משה אײַזענבוד אַלס רעדאַקטאָר פֿון דער ייִדישער טייל פֿון די "צענטער נײַעס", שליסט זיך אויך כּמעט אינגאַנצן די תּקופֿה פֿון ייִדיש ווי אַן אָנזעעוודיקע שפּראַך אינעם חורבן צענטער אין מעלבורן. און משה אײַזענבוד האָט געמאַכט אַ וויכטיקן צושטײַער צו דער פֿריעדיקער תּקופֿה און מיר דאַנקען אים זייער און ווינטשן אים אַ סך געזונט און אַריכות-ימים!

JHC Centre News 43 SEPTEMBER 2017 The magazine of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne, Australia

I Am My Brother’s Keeper HONOURING THE RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS SPECIAL EXHIBITION

Many Jews who survived the Holocaust owed their lives to the incredible courage of more than 26,000 non-Jews who, at the risk of their own lives, defied the Nazis and their accomplices. These non-Jews, subsequently awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Jerusalem, allowed at least some light to shine through the darkness of a period of unparalleled evil in world history. THIS TRAVELLING EXHIBITION FROM YAD VASHEM TELLS JUST A FEW OF THEIR STORIES, STORIES WHICH HAVE A POST-WAR AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION.

“I WAS SCARED TO DEATH, LIKE EVERYBODY. BUT I MADE UP MY MIND RIGHT THEN: IF I CAN HELP, I WILL.” Maria Szul, POLAND

(l-r): Melbourne Righteous Janek Kostanski pictured on the Aryan side of the barbed wire in Warsaw, with Ajzyk Wierzbicki on the Jewish side.

JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE 20 November 2017 – 31 January 2018