JHC receives government grant

I didn’t choose my father and mother, To be taken away to work for nothing. But I am guilty.

I didn’t choose to send my sister and my brother And I didn’t choose to send my father and my mother to the gas chamber and the incinerators.

I watched the smoke And the flames And the sparks. I survived and they didn’t………..

So I am guilty

Phillip Maisel Testimonies Project

The Jewish Holocaust Centre has over 1300 video testimonies as well as over 200 audio testimonies in its collection. These provide eyewitness accounts of the horrors of the Holocaust, as well as glimpses into the vibrancy of pre-war Jewish life in Europe. The collection is widely used by researchers and students of oral history, the Holocaust and a variety of other disciplines.

If you would like to give your testimony or know of someone who is interested in giving a testimony, contact Phillip Maisel. Phone: (03) 9528 1985 or email: testimonies@jhc.org.au

In a fair fight it’s one on one, You have a fair chance of winning. In a fair fight when it’s over it’s done. But when the audience gets into the ring

To help your opponent and do his bidding Because he’s fooled them with his goading.

Knowing he is lying, Knowing he is shying Away from the truth Away from the proof Of anything truthful….believable Of anything meaningful…. credible.

Just standing there exalting, His people accepting And willingly participating In nothing more Than your deleting. That’s not a fair fight, It’s not even a fight.

THE JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE HAS RECEIVED A generous grant of $750,000 from the Victorian Government through the Community Infrastructure and Cultural Precincts Program (CICP). Presented by the Hon Philip Dalidakis, Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, the funds will be used to assist in the planned redevelopment of the Centre. In receiving the grant, the Centre’s executive director Warren Fineberg said: ‘This sizeable grant from the Government of Victoria recognises the importance of the Jewish Holocaust Centre’s work in combating racism and discrimination in all its forms.’

Santa’s Story

When 90-year-old Santa Pelham was persuaded to write her fascinating life story it was initially intended for her memoir to be there for future generations. But Santa’s Story became something more: a cathartic Jewish experience, an inspiration for song and recently, a one-woman show performed by her daughter, South African opera diva, Aviva Pelham. Aviva brings the moving text to life detailing her mother’s journey from Germany, to Spain, to France and then to Africa – punctuated by wonderful live Klezmer music. This is a meaningful and unforgettable story of courage, hope, survival, inspiration and one very special woman.

Santa’s Story has played to capacity audiences in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Helsinki, London, Hurth, Cologne and New York.

Presented in association with the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) and starring Aviva Pelham, Santa’s Story will have its Australian premiere at the Phoenix Theatre, Glen Huntly Road, Elwood at 7:30pm on 15 and 16 November. Bookings: trybookings.com

Do you have any old home videos or audio recordings to add to the JHC Community Archive?

Do you have any old home video, camcorder and audio recordings that may hold rich and valuable content relating to our community of Holocaust survivors in Melbourne? Did you ever return to Europe with family and take video footage of your journey? Or do you have old camcorder tapes of family history with no way of playing them back?

The Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) has recently purchased equipment to make digital copies of those old home videos, camcorder and audio recordings that many of us have stored or about which we have forgotten because we do not have the technology to watch or listen to them.

The JHC would like to help to preserve the memories of our community before this material is lost forever, so please let us know if you have audio or visual material stored in these old formats that we can bring to life again.

For more information please email Robbie Simons, JHC Audio-Video Producer at robbies@jhc.org.au