September 2013 Jewish Holocaust Centre Raoul Wallenberg becomes Australia’s first honorary citizen The magazine of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne, Australia Registered by Australia Post. Publication No. VBH 7236 JHC Board: The Jewish Holocaust Centre is dedicated to the memory of the six million Jews President: Pauline Rockman OAM murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Immediate Past President: We consider the finest memorial to all victims of racist policies to be an educational Shmuel Rosenkranz program which aims to combat antisemitism, racism and prejudice in the Secretary: Elly Brooks community and fosters understanding between people. Treasurer: David Cohen JHC Foundation: Helen Mahemoff Members: Goldie Birch, Allen Brostek, Alex Dafner, Cedric Geffen, Abram Goldberg OAM, Sue Hampel, Paul Kegen, Viv Parry, Willy Lermer CONTENTS JHC Foundation: Chairperson: Helen Mahemoff Trustees: From the President 3 Nina Bassat AM Editor’s letter 3 Joey Borensztajn Director’s cut 4 Allen Brostek Education 5 David Cohen Jeffrey Mahemoff AO Honorary Australian citizenship for Raoul Wallenberg 6 Patrons: Frank Vajda and Raoul Wallenberg 7 Professor Yehuda Bauer Postcard from Sarajevo 8 Mrs Eva Besen AO Mr Marc Besen AO Mazal tov to Kitia Altman OAM and Abram Goldberg OAM 10 Sir William Deane AC CBE Reflections on the Anne Frank exhibition 11 Sir Gustav Nossal AC CBE The ghettos 1943: the beginning of the end 12 Mrs Diane Shteinman AM Remembering the uprising 14 Steven Spielberg Witnessing the Warsaw Ghetto uprising 15 JHC Staff: Warren Fineberg, Executive Director A Dutch story of survival 16 Zvi Civins, Director of Education A short history of my life 17 Jayne Josem, Curator, Head of Collections Musings on modern Poland based on conversations with Ola Bramson 18 Michael Cohen, Community Relations Coordinator Lost and found at the Salvos 19 Reuben Zylberszpic, Development What happened to the Jewish communities of North Africa Manager during the Second World War? 20 Phillip Maisel OAM, Head of Testimonies Project From Melbourne to Magdeburg 21 Robbie Simons, Testimonies Assistant My March of the Living journey 22 Coordinator / Audio-visual Producer Tammy Reznik, Education Officer Reflections on the Student March of the Living 23 Rae Silverstein, Volunteer Coordinator Breaking down walls by building them: victims, perpetrators, Claude Fromm, Assistant Archivist and the work of Rwandan Stories 24 Daniel Feldman, Project Administrator Book review: Lion Hearts 25 Julia Reichstein, Librarian / Information Manager JHC Social Club 26 Lena Fiszman, Office and IT Manager Friends of the Jewish Holocaust Centre 27 Tosca Birnbaum, Reception Seen around the Centre 28 Centre News Editorial Commitee: Stories from the Collection 30 Editor: Ruth Mushin New acquisitions 31 Michael Cohen Lena Fiszman Meet the team: a week in the life of the Jewish Holocaust Centre Library 32 Jayne Josem Introducing new Jewish Holocaust Centre staff 33 Pauline Rockman OAM Honouring Jewish Holocaust Centre volunteers 34 Reuben Zylberszpic Moshe Ajzenbud (Yiddish) Jakob Frenkiel: leaving a generous legacy for future generations 35 Community news 36 On the cover: Raoul Wallenberg. 13–15 Selwyn Street OPENING HOURS Elsternwick Vic 3185 Photo: Thomas Veres, the photographer Mon–Thu: 10am–4pm Australia for Raoul Wallenberg who documented the Fri: 10am–2pm Holocaust in Budapest. t: (03) 9528 1985 Sun & Public Hols: 12pm–4pm Inset: Peter Farkas and Frank Vajda f: (03) 9528 3758 with Wallenberg’s Honorary Australian Closed on Saturdays, Citizenship certificate e: [email protected] Jewish Holy Days and w: www.jhc.org.au some Public Holidays This publication has been designed and produced by Izigraphics Pty Ltd www.izigraphics.com.au 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 News welcomes ideas, articles, photos, poetry and letters, it reserves the right to accept or reject material. There is no automatic acceptance of submissions. 2 JHC Centre NewsNews FROM THE PRESIDENT the war, and Ambassador Petersson Irena Sendler, and he made a significant recalled with emotion the stories she contribution to Jewish-Polish relations. Pauline had told him. On a more personal note, he also played a poignant role in the memorial Rockman OAM The Red Cross rescued about a service for his late cousin Abe Frenkiel, thousand Jewish women from a Centre guide who was part of the Ravensbruck camp towards the end of family he discovered in Australia. the war and brought them to Sweden to recuperate. Sweden’s record, like In July we welcomed Senators that of most countries at the time, is Fifield and Ryan, together with David ‘mixed’ according to Dr Robert Rozett Southwick MLA and Kevin Ekendahl, n a crisp sunny autumn of Yad Vashem. Although in the 1930s and councillors from the City of Port day in May, together with the Swedes had implemented a pro- Phillip. our Executive Director Germany policy, in the 1940s they saved Warren Fineberg, I attended To Kitia Altman and Abe Goldberg, a O thousands of Jews from extermination. well deserved mazal tov on receiving a ceremony at Government House Canberra to confer Honorary Australian In January 2000, Sweden hosted an Medals of the Order of Australia (OAM) Citizenship on Swedish diplomat international gathering to promote in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday honours. Raoul Wallenberg. Wallenberg saved awareness of the Holocaust that Kitia and Abe have contributed thousands of Hungarian Jews in was attended by heads of state from significantly to the establishment and Budapest during the Second World numerous countries. It resulted in development of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, a commitment that continues War by providing them with ‘protective the creation of the Task Force for today. passports’, and he is the first person International Cooperation on Holocaust on whom the honour of Honorary Education, which has played an integral I hope that like me you look forward Australian Citizenship has been role in Holocaust education around the to reading our fantastic Centre News. bestowed. world. Australia has not yet completed Every edition is so full of wonderful the requirements for membership, but articles and reports! I must commend I felt so proud to be an Australian it is our hope that we will eventually our editor Ruth Mushin and her team on citizen and could not help thinking join. their great work, and I am thrilled that how my late parents would have felt. the Yiddish section, written by Moshe Formerly from Europe, they were The Centre farewelled the outgoing Ajzenbud, is still a feature. so grateful for, and so valued, their Polish Ambassador and welcomed Australian citizenship. The gracious in his place His Excellency Pawel I leave the last words to Robert words of the Governor-General and our Milewski. We look forward to continued Todesco, a recent work experience then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard would collaboration in future. student at the Centre: ‘I have seen the have made them equally proud. consequences and the great hurt that We also farewelled the Israeli racism can have on the world and I am The following week the Swedish Ambassador, His Excellency Yuval determined not to let this happen again. Ambassador, His Excellency Sven-Olof Rotem, who will be greatly missed. I leave the Jewish Holocaust Centre Petersson visited the Centre for the first Among the many events he attended with valuable experience… it has time. As a young child, his mother had were the memorial service on Yom opened my eyes to a better future.’ welcomed former concentration camp Hashoah, and the function to honour prisoners to their village at the end of Polish Righteous Among the Nations L’shana tova EDITOR’S LETTER Holocaust Centre. For me, his article child survivor, Frank Vajda, who was has even more impact when you saved by Wallenberg, to complement Ruth Mushin read the personal accounts of those the eloquent words of the Governor- who were there. So, we bring you the General, Her Excellency Quentin Bryce. riveting first-person accounts of Berysz Our third and exclusive feature is Aurbach, who took part in the Warsaw ‘Postcard from Sarajevo’, the reflections Ghetto uprising, and Kitia Altman, who of social anthropologist, writer, was in the Bedzin Ghetto when news and survivor of the war in Bosnia- arrived of the events in Warsaw and Herzigovina, Hariz Halilovich. Hariz’s inspired the inhabitants of Bedzin to words are particularly poignant as they n 1943, the Nazis stepped up their take a stand. were written during his recent journey ‘Final Solution’ and liquidated the We celebrate the conferring of through Europe. Writing of the places majority of European ghettos. In Honorary Australian Citizenship he visited, Hariz says: ‘They represent a this edition of Centre News, to I on Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish continuum both in my personal history commemorate the 70th anniversary diplomat who saved thousands of and in the history of many of those whose last presence can be seen in the of what Dr Bill Anderson calls ‘the Hungarian Jews. He is a fitting person black-and-white photos displayed at the beginning of the end’, we bring you to be the first to receive this honour Jewish Holocaust Centre and similar his thoughtful analysis of that time. from the Australian Government. places commemorating the Holocaust.’ Dr Anderson is an academic, and And again, how fortunate we are to consultant and educator at the Jewish have the moving story of Melbourne I hope you enjoy this edition. JHC Centre News 3 DIRECTOR’S CUT volunteers who supported the Anne material and DVDs. He is currently Frank exhibition, an enterprise we developing the iTextbook project – a Warren could not have hosted without their cutting-edge resource for students Fineberg generous support.