VOLUME 12 NO 4 Dear Child Survivors of the Holocaust, we trust you and yours are well and keeping warm. After the success of our seminar with Dr Paul Valent about memories and sharing personal stories with family and friends I felt the need to find out more about my Mother’s experience, a subject that was M th ’ Berlin, B li Holocaust H l never spoken about in our home including til the day my mother passed away. (15 years ago) I am only half way though finding out what happened, learning for the first time about family members names and the places they lived. Never knew the details of my grandparents’ families and my great grandparents. I have mixed emotions because it is exciting to connect with family for the first time and I am so sad understanding family members born in the late 1800s and their children, never survived the Holocaust. One small family, my
AUGUST 2023 mother and her younger sister and their parents arrived on the Romolo leaving by ship from Italy October 1938, arriving in Australia, December, 1938. Learning about my family has given me an even deeper understanding about how CSH reflect on their past and how important portant it is to be able to share what happened and how the memories are still so real. We trust this edition of Connections will give you plenty to reflect upon in the best possible way. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me viv.parry@bigpond.com or Lena lfiszman@bigpond.net.au. Warm regards, Viv Parry and Lena Fiszman Co-Presidents
From Lena’s Desk AI reunites Holocaust survivor with childhood photos Blanche Fixler remembers hiding inside a bed while Nazis searched for her. “I felt them tapping on the bed,” she recalls. “I said, you better not breathe or sneeze or anything - or you’ll be dead.” Blanche was a survivor - she was lucky. Six million Jews like her were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust during World War Two. The names of more than one million of those people are unknown. Now a tool using artificial intelligence (AI) - built by Daniel Patt, a software engineer for Google - could hold the key to putting names to some of the many faces, both victims and survivors, in hundreds of thousands of historic photographs. It found Blanche in a wartime photo which she had never seen before. Daniel’s website, Numbers to Names, uses facial recognition technology to analyse a person’s face. It then searches through archive photos to find potential matches. The software has been cross-referencing millions of
Blanche Fixler and a picture of her as a child, circa 1945. Image source, US Holocaust Museum/BBC.
faces, to try to find matches for people who have already been identified in one photo - but not in others. That detective work - joining the dots - could then help identify some people in photos whose identities are currently unknown. Blanche, who is now 86 and lives in New York, knew about the family snapshot below on the right - but she had never previously seen the group photo on the left,
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Blanche’s face in the archive photo on the left, was previously listed as unidentified - she knew about the family photo on the right. US Holocaust Museum.
Blanche is in the middle of the front line - previously only three people in this photo had been identified. Before Blanche set eyes on the photo, only three people in it had been identified. Thanks to Blanche, and Daniel’s software, that number has doubled. US Holocaust Museum.
which was taken in France during the war. It was Daniel’s AI software which made the connection. Image source, US Holocaust Museum Image caption, Blanche’s face in the archive photo on the left, was previously listed as unidentified - she knew about the family photo on the right. Blanche was known by the name Bronia as a child. She lived in Poland when the Nazis came looking for her and her family. Her mother and her siblings were murdered - but she was saved, thanks to her Aunt Rose, who hid her. Daniel travelled to meet Blanche to reunite her with the lost image from the past. It triggered a long-forgotten memory in her - a French song she learned as a child. Blanche immediately recognised herself standing at the
front of the large group of people, but that’s not all. She also identified her Aunt Rose and one of the boys in the photo - giving Daniel and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum new information to work with. “It’s so important to identify these photos,” says Scott Miller, director of curatorial affairs at the museum. “You’re restoring some semblance of dignity to them, some comfort to their family, and it’s a form of memorial for the entire Jewish community.” “That’s part of the problem. I can’t stress enough how important these photos are of individuals. “We all know the figure - six million Jews were killed but it’s really one person six million times. Every person has a name, every person has a face.” Tom Gerken
CHAG SAMEACH FROM VIV AND LENA!
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Mazal Tov to Associate Professor Louis Roller on being awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
Resistance in Będzin This Yom Hashoah we commemorated Jewish Resistance emphasising that it was more widespread than the well-known revolt in the Warsaw Ghetto. As the press clipping (attached below) from an English Newspaper dated 13 July 1943 reporting on a comment from German radio that there was a significant resistance from Jewish Partisans in B㶝dzin Poland. B㶝dzin, Sosnowiec and Dombrova Gornicza are three neighboring towns located in the Zagł㶝bie district in southwest Poland. On the eve of World War II, B㶝dzin and Sosnowiec supported Jewish communities of approximately 28,000 each, while Dombrowa had 5,000. Soon after the occupation many thousands of Jews came
from the surrounding area swelling the population. In May 1942 the first deportations of 1500 Jews to the death camp in Auschwitz occurred in the region followed by increasing numbers in the months that followed. The Jewish youth from the area under the leadership of Hashomer Hatzair conducted a campaign urging fellow Jews not to report and at the same time began to organize resistance units. They had 3
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been allotted a plot of about 100 acres established in the spring of 1940 it was originally an agricultural farm known as the “Farma” it eventually became their headquarters and was the site of clandestine meetings with Mordechai Anielewicz, Arie Wilner and other leaders of the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto. B㶝dzin was our home town and, in our family, we were told that our uncle Moniek Brauner was one of the partisans who died fighting and his body was never found. Our mother told us that her father banished him from the house as he feared reprisals from the Germans should he be caught and recognised. By the spring of 1943 all Jews were transferred to two adjoining ghetto’s Kamionka and Srodula. Particularly important were the infamous August 1943 selections in B㶝dzin, Dabrowa Gornicza and Sosnowiec, as a result of which 15,000-20,000 Jews were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Significantly considering the 13th July 1943 date of the attached press clipping the Germans wanted to start the mass evacuation on 14th July but were delayed by the partisans for 2 weeks. It was only on August 1st that the Germans commenced the final liquidation of the Ghetto it was said that it was delayed by two weeks. The Zionist youth offered armed resistance in several bunkers which hampered the Germans and forced them to spend two weeks clearing resistance in the ghetto. Thus, their actions gave many thousands of Jews an extra 2 weeks of life. Whilst this may sound futile the Jewish Combat Organisation in B㶝dzin knew about the fate of their brethren in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising that ended 2 months previously, yet chose to resist and not let the Germans decide where, when and in what way they would die. Around one thousand Jews remained after the liquidation. Most were settled in the Sosnowiec labor camp, established on the site of the Srodula ghetto. These Jews labored in workshops as tailors, cobblers or were there to clean up the ghetto, sort property, remove the dead bodies etc. Those who continued the operation of the
24 Rutki Laskier Street, B㶝dzinKamionka
Braune’s shoe shop were by all accounts a minority. These included my parents and eventually myself. The camp was finally liquidated on January 13, 1944 and its prisoners sent to Auschwitz. Our survival was due to us hiding in a bunker constructed in the camp by my late parents which is graphically shown in Art Spiegelman’ s book MAUS. Simply by publishing his name we believe we have scored a victory over the Nazis who tried to erase all evidence of our existence. The victims do not remain nameless and Moniek’s close family is thriving in Australia, Israel and in the USA with a number serving in the Israeli army so his spirit remains. Significantly on Erev Yom Hashoah this year we received from Tomasz Grzaslewicz in Poland notice of the opening of an exhibition dedicated to the ghetto fighters in B㶝dzin at 24 Rutki Lasker St in B㶝dzin-Kamionka a house where members of the Jewish Combat Organisation fought and died as well as many of the details we have published above.
Dedicated by his Sydney based nephews Mark, Jim and Alan Spigelman and niece Marilyn Fox, Connecticut, USA.
Reflections - Paulette Goldberg After writing my story about licorice and how I came to realise why it was so important to me I decided to try to make sense of some of the other feelings I have, knowing that my Child Survivor personal experience played a significant role. Some years ago, it was explained to me that the
“black holes” of lost memories were in a sense my brain’s way of dealing with trauma and now at this stage of my life I no longer fear going down those holes as I search for meaning in the stories I have thought about over and over. Thunder The planes are flying across the sky – the sound is so loud I can feel my mother’s fear as she tells me “It is thunder!” I feel so alone, my mother has no time for me. 4
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Waking up We were sleeping in one bed the three of us and our mother slept in a bed on the other side of the room. I was three and a half years old and tucked in between my sister and brother. Every morning my mother would ask “Has she wet the bed?” and I would hear a loud “Yes!” My mother and I would pretend I was still asleep as she bent over me with her dark hair falling across her face. I was sure she wore it that way to hide the fear that was always present in her eyes. I remember one day my mother, together with my sister and brother went off for the day and I was left alone in a cot with only a nappy. A neighbor brought me lunch. I wish someone would have explained to me they would be coming back. My mother seemed to have no time for me. This memory replays in my dreams to this day – it still wakes me up.
She searches for survivors to look after us. The planes are flying over our roof- the sound is so loud. We rush to the window I cry out “The Germans are here to kill us!” I hear my mother’s frightened voice as she closes the curtains “No, you are wrong it is thunder!”. I remember how scared I was because I knew it was not true – now my memory has blacked out. I cannot trust my mother’s words… I can never trust again. And now… I thank my mother for the gift of life she gave me. How brave she was and how she tried in her own way to protect her children. My black holes of lost memory are finally opening, exposing memories that were too painful and heavy to bear. My trauma is slowly fading. It took a while. I am not there yet.
Greetings from the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, Museum Director & CEO and Seek’ which we have been running for nearly a decade. In this engaging experiential exhibition, visitors will discover the stories of seven Melbourne survivors who were hidden as children during the war. They will learn about the dangers of prejudice and intolerance, alongside lessons about kindness, decency and humanity of those brave enough to risk their lives to hide Jewish children. Finally, we are excited to be installing the newly conserved Child Survivors’ Quilt in the building outside the Hidden exhibition in the coming months. Our approach at MHM is to have impact on students and adults at multiple stages of their lives, and with these exhibitions, as well as our growing public programs and courses, we are starting to really go further than we have gone before in our new museum. We thank you for your support and involvement along the way and hope to see you at an event soon. Best Wishes,
Dear Child Survivors, We are almost finished with our two new permanent exhibitions – and in the next few months will open them to the public. We look forward to welcoming you into these spaces. ‘Everybody Had a Name’ is the title of the main Holocaust exhibition, featuring artefacts, photos and artworks from our collection and survivor testimony as well. Starting with life before the war and ending with life in Melbourne, this exhibition provides an overview of the main themes that come from the Holocaust through 6 galleries. Child survivors are featured throughout including a very poignant display honouring children who were murdered. In the final section there is a panel on the Child Survivors group. ‘Hidden: Seven Children Saved’ is a special exhibition designed principally for 10–14-year-olds, but with potential to impact older visitors as well. This exhibition emerged from our successful education program ‘Hide
Jayne Josem, Museum Director & CEO
Henry Buch: “My MOTL journey reconnecting as an homage to my Father“ By May 16, 1943, the Germans had crushed the uprising and deported surviving Ghetto residents to concentration camps and killing centres.” (USHMM, 2023). However, not all Ghetto residents were killed by the Germans.
Eighty years after the uprising, one survivor who currently lives in Melbourne, returned to the place of his birth with a group of 48 Australians, one of whom was his adored daughter, Debbie. These incredible people formed The 5
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Australian MOTL group with Henry, saying Kaddish at the Majdanek mausoleum, April 2023
simultaneously grief-stricken knowing my Father, his Parents, Grandparents, so many family members and so many millions of innocent children and adults had been starved, beaten, displaced, perished and murdered just because they were Jewish. Yet, I also feel grateful that I was able to share my story, my family’s story, especially that of my Father – Yeshia (Jerzey) Buch. In 1941 my Father, age 32 years was taken to Lipowa No 7 Camp, an extremely brutal Nazi forced labour camp in Lublin. Physically he endured starvation in atrocious conditions, including a Typhoid epidemic, whilst undertaking forced labour for over 12 hours a day, and emotionally suffering not knowing if his baby son, beloved young wife or family were alive. On the 3rd of November 1943, my Father, no doubt emaciated and depleted and knowing his imminent fate, was marched from Lipowa No 7 Lublin to Majdanek, and
Henry giving testimony at Majdanek, April 2023
Australian March of the Living (MOTL) delegation for 2023. They travelled together for two weeks throughout Poland and Israel bearing witness to the Holocaust. As the survivor gave his testimony of what occurred, strong relationships were formed and promises that the Holocaust would “Never be Forgotten” were made. Various types of resistance took place in the Warsaw Ghetto, however one of the greatest acts of resistance and survival was the birth of a child, a Jewish-Polish baby boy who was born in the Ghetto. With the intricate planning, negotiation and bravery by his Uncle, family and people who were sympathetic he was saved. He moved to Australia with his Mother, his two aunts and Babcha. He grew up, made a life for himself and had a family. Many years later he returned to the Ghetto to mourn and validate what occurred during those terrible times and pay respect to his family and those who tragically perished in the Holocaust. This baby boy was me - Henry Buch and I am a Child Survivor of the Holocaust! I was born in the infamous Warsaw Ghetto in Muranowska Street, October, 1941, one year after the Ghetto’s establishment. I lived with my Mother and her sisters in 20 Mila Street - next door to 18 Mila Street, the headquarters of the Ghetto uprising, April 19, 1943. Arriving this year (2023) in Poland the country of my birth, as a survivor, educator and testimony giver for MOTL, I had so many mixed feelings - incredulity, tremendous grief, and gratefulness. How could such atrocities, cruelty and planned annihilation of millions of Jewish people occur? Poland was their home for over 1000 years. How? Why? I feel so very fortunate to have survived, and
Henry’s daughter reading his Father’s letters, Madjanek, April 2023
murdered in a mass shooting in the Aktion Emterfest – Operation Harvest Festival. Our visit to Majdanek Concentration Camp was the hardest for me. At Majdanek I gave witness to my Father’s story. I was able to share our story of survival, resilience, persistence, and resistance with the Australian 6
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wonderful people. As our close knit MOTL group walked through Auschwitz, I discovered that Block 27 unbeknown to me, contains the “Book of Names”, a compilation of all known Holocaust victims. The records – over 4.8 million names is so enormous that it fills the entire room. I was in shock and in awe as I searched the parchment pages of this profound memorial document for my Father Yeshia Buch’s name. And then I found it. After all these years of not knowing, my Father’s death at Majdanek was confirmed for me. Holocaust Survivor Torah honour Over 70 years ago, a Polish family was given a Torah for safe keeping by their Jewish neighbour so that it would not be destroyed. They kept it hidden for years and it became badly deteriorated. At one stage, sections were even used as a doormat! Several years ago, Johnny Daniels, the director of From the Depths, discovered this Torah. Rather than bury as by Jewish tradition, he has embarked on a mission to restore the Torah by seeking out Holocaust survivors around the world to inscribe letters until this Torah is completed. I had the honour, as
Mexican MOTL group with Henry at Madjanek, 2023
group. It was a very emotional experience as I watched my darling daughter, Debbie, and a group of friends that we had formed and met on the journey, read a series of letters that my Father had written to my Mother while he was in the camp. These letters were never sent to my Mother, Helena while my Father was alive, but through her tenacity she was able to ‘obtain’ them after the war. My Father’s letters are very special to me and to listen to
Australian MOTL group arriving at Birkenau on Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day, 18th April 2023
Henry searching the Book of Names at Auschwitz – April 202318th April 2023
a survivor, to be asked to inscribe the letter - Chet. This was particularly significant for me since Chet is the first letter of my Hebrew name, Chaim - meaning life. I feel honoured to have participated in this year’s March of the Living with the Australian delegation – who have become my dearest family and friends. My experience with this intergenerational and interfaith group has been incredibly fulfilling and at times, overwhelming. MOTL was an extremely difficult and emotional journey, but I feel that through telling my family’s story I have created a Legacy and honoured my Father’s memory. I trust that I have made a difference and impacted many people’s lives for the better. In particular, it is my hope that the younger generations, many of whom participated on the March may never have to live through what we had to endure. I hope that after hearing my story young people will remember and pass on the message “Never forget! Never Again!”
his words read out by my daughter in the place where he was murdered was particularly difficult. It made me feel so proud of my Father when I listened to his letters being read, and the comments that people expressed about his story and letters - the deep impact made on so many individuals in our delegation. Together, we said Kaddish, for my Father Yeshia and all who perished. Standing at the site of this large mausoleum in Majdanek, containing the ashes of Holocaust victims, those who were denied a Jewish burial and remain anonymous, or whose whole generation were extirpated and thus had no family who could say Kaddish for them, was an honour and a privilege. Many people on the trip helped me emotionally through this. Throughout this journey I felt like I was with people who understood me, making me feel supported and comforted. They warmed my heart and I feel grateful that I was able to share this experience with such
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Henry inscribing “Chai” in the Torah, with Jonny Daniels, From the Depths, April 2023 Henry and child survivor, MOTL April 19 2023
Henry with his family – the next generation
From the Depths Torah restoration by Holocaust Survivors, Krakow, Poland, April 2023. L-R Rabbi Yosef Nerenberg, Henry Buch, Jonny Daniels, Debbie Buch
CSH Sydney Report Litzi Lemberg CHILD SURVIVORS MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN HOLOCAUST ASSOCIATION ON SUNDAY AUGUST 6TH We spoke with George Foster, President of The Australian Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants with the thought after all these years of our groups coming together. Numbers from both groups are dwindling, we are all survivors and descendants after all. George accepted with enthusiasm so six weeks ago we planned to meet today at Jewish Care Woollahra. A very spacious venue with everything we needed in the way of tea, coffee, drinks and of course food. This was made possible by Valerie Rubel, a second-generation survivor working at Jewish Care whose objective is to make sure
we have everything we need. We were about 35 strong, a majority of child survivors, a sprinkle of older survivors, and quite a few descendants and even a 3rd generation young man. We sat in a large circle’, introduced ourselves briefly, then George spoke saying how pleased he was that we would join their group. I reminded him that it was more of our groups coming together. The question is how do we do that without losing our identity, something we have always fiercely defended from day one. We realise we have a lot of talking to do and logistics to work out but one thing we agree on is that we will meet every two months at Jewish Care and see who comes. This will be somewhat new for the Association who do not meet regularly. We hope that the coming together will 8
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create more energy and discussion among us, especially the second generation who’s stories we have never heard. Many questions were asked and opinions stated regarding our purpose, aims, and affiliations. As with any change, concerns were voiced but a general agreement
was reached that in principle it made sense to join together. The way forward will no doubt be the subject of future meetings together. Litzi Lemberg CSH, Sydney
IN MEMORY Gary Gray Gary Gray (Gustav Josef Crajcar) was born in Sosnowiec, Poland. In April 1942, aged thirteen, he was incarcerated for three years in a number of slave-labour concentration camps. After being liberated from the Sportshule Reichenbach Concentration Camp on May 5th, 1945, he made the trip home and discovered that his parents and younger sister had died in Auschwitz in 1943. He later worked in the Ministry of Commerce in Warsaw for a number of years before discovering that he had two aunts in Australia and
a year later he came to join them. He eventually married and had 3 daughters. He had many jobs but found his niche in selling cars. He is considered one of the top car salesman in Australia. In 1986, Gary Gray began recording his war experiences as a legacy for his three daughters, in the form of short stories. These have consequently gained wide acclaim, having been published in various anthologies, magazines and newspapers. This eventual led to Gary publishing his book “A Spoonful of Soup and other stories” which brings together all his stories, allowing the reader to make that terrible and unforgettable journey with the author. Upon retirement he became a survivor guide at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, recounting his wartime experiences to thousands of students and adults.
Maurie Hoffman In Italy he acquired a general education and compiled his memoirs. In 1949 he immigrated to Australia, dreaming of creating a family and establishing himself in the business world. These memoirs laid dormant for 40 years until he knew it was time to share them with his children and the rest of the world.
Maurie (Maurice) Hoffman was born in Lubaczow, Galicia, Poland in 1929. In his memoir, ‘Keep Yelling: A Survivor’s Testimony’ 1995, he recounts the story of his survival through World War II, first by hiding outside the ghetto in the cellar of his family home, then by escaping to join the Russian partisans in the Galician forests, contending with Ukrainian partisans, German soldiers, hostile Poles and bandits. Orphaned and effectively uprooted after the war, he sought to reach Palestine but his ship, intercepted by the British, was forced to dock in Italy.
DEDICATION To my mother Regina for insisting that I run from the annihilation. In memory of my father David, my brother and sisters and all the victims of the Holocaust. To the future of my son David and daughter Regina.
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