April 2010 Jewish Holocaust Centre Welcome to the new museum 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 murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945. Vice President: Adam Kreuzer 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 anti-Semitism, racism and prejudice in the Secretary: Elly Brooks community and fosters understanding between people. Treasurer: David Cohen Public Officer: Helen Mahemoff Members: Allen Brostek, Abram Goldberg, Sue Hampel, Henri Korn, Willy Lermer, Alex Dafner JHC Foundation: Chairperson: CONTENTS Helen Mahemoff Trustees: Nina Bassat AM FROM THE PRESIDENT 3 Joey Borensztajn Allen Brostek EDITOR’S LETTER 3 Silvana Layton Jeffrey Mahemoff AO NEW MUSEUM OPENS AT THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE 4 Patrons: Professor Yehuda Bauer A LABOUR OF LOVE 6 Mrs Eva Besen AO SURVIVORS AND LIBERATORS COMMEMORATE Mr Marc Besen AO Sir William Deane AC CBE THE LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ 8 Sir Gustav Nossal AC CBE STAFF AND EXECUTIVE CHANGES AT JHC 10 Mrs Diane Shteinman AM Steven Spielberg NEVER AGAIN 11 JHC Staff: OUT OF THE DARK: THE EMOTIONAL LEGACY OF THE HOLOCAUST 12 Zvi Civins, Director of Education Jayne Josem, Curator, Head of EDUCATION 14 Collections MARCH OF THE LIVING: A PERSONAL REFLECTION 15 Michael Cohen Community Relations’ Coordinator THAT GADGET 16 Phillip Maisel OAM, Head of Testimonies EVENTS 17 Ursula Flicker OAM, Head of Archives Sabina Josem & Rosa Freilich, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY TEAM RESEARCHES THE CENTRE’S HISTORY 23 Librarians Nicole Brittain, Development Manager CLUB JHC 24 Daniel Feldman THE JHC’S BEQUEST PROGRAM GAINS MOMENTUM 25 Project Administrator Lena Fiszman, Office and IT Manager SEEN AROUND THE CENTRE 26 Tosca Birnbaum, Reception FRIENDS 28 Claude Fromm, Assistant Archivist Rae Silverstein, Volunteer Coordinator TO LIFE: JHC FRIENDS ART AUCTION 29 Centre News Editorial Commitee: STORIES FROM THE COLLECTION 30 Editor: Ruth Mushin NEW ACQUISITIONS 31 Pauline Rockman Michael Cohen OBITUARIES 33 Alex Dafner Lena Fiszman THANKS 35 Jayne Josem Moshe Ajzenbud (Yiddish) 13–15 Selwyn Street OPENING HOURS Elsternwick Vic 3185 Mon–Thu: 10am–4pm Australia Fri: 10am–2pm On the cover: t: (03) 9528 1985 Sun & Public Hols: 12pm–4pm f: (03) 9528 3758 Closed on Saturdays, A section of the new JHC museum. e: [email protected] Jewish Holy Days and Photo: Ziva Fain w: www.jhc.org.au some Public Holidays Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in Centre News are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those This publication has been designed and produced of the magazine editor or editorial committee. While Centre News welcomes ideas, articles, photos, poetry and by Izigraphics Pty Ltd www.izigraphics.com.au letters, it reserves the right to accept or reject material. There is no automatic acceptance of submissions. 2 JHC Centre NewsNews FROM THE PRESIDENT visionary Holocaust survivors who Western Ukraine, the town of Pauline created a unique educational and my paternal grandparents and research facility. their ancestors. I am not sure Rockman A sense of excitement and what I will find there – perhaps emotion overcomes me as I walk nothing, as the family was almost through the museum doors and completely obliterated – but I feel it the survivors’ stories leap out is important to tread the landscape. from their exhibits. This is your I shall then travel to Poland to museum, dear survivors, guides lead an international adult group and volunteers. It contains your on the 2010 March of the Living. n December 2009 the Jewish memories and treasures and hopes Holocaust Centre museum we for the future. I know that it is not This year there are 15 participants have known for over 25 years that which you originally created, from Australia and two from New Iclosed its doors for the last time. but be aware that your spirit is Zealand. We are privileged to be We then saw the new museum deeply ingrained in this museum, travelling with a child survivor and unfold before our eyes. Each day I as it will continue to be in the her two sons. would arrive at the Centre to watch future. its development. One morning in In March I was fortunate to be late February one of our survivor On 18 March we had a special present at an extraordinary guides said: ‘Come quickly. Look opening event for our survivor event at the Jewish Holocaust guides and families, the Centre’s what I have found!’ He had found a Centre. Fumiko Ishioka, Director staff and volunteers. We now look photo of his beloved teacher from of the Tokyo Holocaust Centre, the Lodz Ghetto. forward to the official public launch in July. addressed a rapt audience about On 1 March 2010 the new upgraded her quest to acquire an object This year we have had some museum opened its doors to for her museum. This led to the welcome the first students. The changes in staff. We bade acquisition of a suitcase with the transformation that has taken place farewell to Bernard Korbman has far exceeded my expectations. who, as Education Director and words ‘Hana Brady – orphan’ It is a credit to Jayne Josem, then Executive Director over the written on it. Fumiko’s subsequent Curator and Head of Collections, past seven years, brought much discoveries about Hana and her and her fantastic team of workers, to the Centre. I want to thank suitcase resulted in her meeting who have all collaborated on this Bernard for his efforts in many with Hana’s brother in Canada project. To them all: Kol HaKavod! aspects of the Centre’s activities and to the publication of a book. In an interview in the September and his extraordinary input and It was a reality check for me to encouragement throughout the 2009 edition of Centre News, Jayne hear a woman tracing something museum upgrade. Bernard, we said: ‘The aim of this upgrade is so extensively, seeking meaning. wish you well for your future not to change the substance of the Fumiko’s journey brought home museum, but to update the method endeavors. the importance of our work at of delivery of the information to In April I am embarking on a the Jewish Holocaust Centre – appeal to the younger generation journey to the Ukraine, the final that sense of our being not only of visitors that make up the bulk piece in my family jigsaw. I will of our audience.’ This has been be in Kiev and Lvov and several on a journey of remembrance achieved. Our new-look museum smaller but significant towns and commemoration, but also is technologically advanced, but relevant to a rich Jewish history education and change and, above honours the legacy of Melbourne’s that once was. I will visit Kalusz, all, hope for the future. EDITOR’S LETTER and artefacts from the collection. It text and photos is Mishka, a book also incorporates state-of-the-art written and illustrated by Belinda Ruth Mushin interactive technology to appeal to Raffa, a non-Jewish schoolgirl, in younger visitors and to enable the response to Eva’s story. This very survivors’ stories to be heard. moving but accessible story is now What has made the museum displayed in moveable glass panels unique since its establishment in so that you can easily read it if you 1984 is its focus on the stories of wish. And if reading is not your Melbourne Holocaust survivors and ‘thing’, you can go instead to one their families. Take, for example, of the Storypods and use the touch elcome to the new the section on ‘Children’. An iconic screen to learn about children, or Jewish Holocaust photo taken when Auschwitz was any other aspect of the Holocaust, Centre museum, which liberated is central to the display. through the stories of survivors. Wwe are proud to feature It shows a group of children in If you have not already done so, in this edition of Centre News. The camp uniforms behind barbed wire, we hope this ‘taste’ of the new museum now has a new look and with Melbourne child survivor, Eva museum will encourage you to visit clearer displays, so that visitors Slonim, and her younger sister, soon. can see more of the precious texts Marta, in the centre. And near the JHC Centre News 3 FEATURE New Museum Opens at the Photos: Ziva Fain he Jewish Holocaust Centre’s new museum opened in March. The upgrade has been designed to update the method of delivery of the Tinformation to appeal to the younger generation, who make up the bulk of visitors, while retaining the musuem’s special ingredient – the opportunity to interact with survivor guides. The exhibition space has been painted white and a new carpet installed to give it a lift. A monochromatic palette has been chosen to express a sense of memorial, with its lightness providing some relief from the darkness of the Holocaust story. The museum guides visitors through the Holocaust in the order in which events unfolded. Angular walls serve to break up the journey and the simplicity of the museum’s design assists visitors to focus on the content. The display cases have been purpose-built to show off some of the incredible documents and memorabilia from the Centre’s archive, painstakingly collected over 26 years. The museum text has been rewritten and is presented on panels designed to make it easy to read and new photos, including the precious photos of our survivors, have been included.