Remembering Their Names

Our Everybody Had a Name (EHAN) project, launched in late 2022, was established to enable the community to honour their loved ones and eternalise their names for future generations within the Melbourne Holocaust Museum memorial room.

When my dad and I were packing up the family home, we uncovered a box of forgotten photos and documents which had belonged to my mother’s cousin, Ruti, who passed away in 1992. I knew throwing the artefacts away would mean burying their family story, because Ruti had no children. I have been sifting through the box and piecing together the photos, names and documents in an effort to preserve her mother’s story of survival and the life she built in the aftermath of the war.

This important project encompasses a digital memorial, with all information received from the public documented in the MHM Victorian Registry of Holocaust Survivors. We are also giving the community the option to dedicate a physical memorial-star plaque by way of donation.

For Tamar, donating a memorial-star plaque to honour Ruti’s mother, Maria, at the MHM is her contribution to preserving Holocaust memory and her family’s heritage:

The project Everybody Had a Name has given me the opportunity to memorialise Maria, Ruth’s mother, in a meaningful way. I know that the star I have donated – and the memory of her name – will exist in perpetuity. Maria was here. She survived, and she had a story to tell.

Donating a memorial star was a decision Tamar knew affected more than just her family. She recognised the importance of providing the wider community – our future generations – a chance to sit and reflect on those murdered during the Holocaust and the survivors who made Victoria their home:

We are proud to have served the public for almost 40 years, not only as a museum but as a dedicated memorial site for Victorian families with a connection to the Holocaust. With this memorial project, their names, their stories, and their legacy will live on in our collective memory.

This memorial room is a hallowed space for our community, where we can remember the survivors who made Victoria home and the family members they lost. I hope that other people will join the campaign to honour their memories in this special way.

by Jayne Josem and Meg Hibbert