VOICES - Spring 2022

Remembering the past, inspiring

the future.

Spring 2022

The magazine of Melbourne Holocaust Museum

Co-Presidents

Pauline Rockman OAM Sue Hampel OAM

Vice-President Michael Debinski

Treasurer Richard Michaels Secretary Mary Slade Board Directors Abram Goldberg OAM Helen Mahemoff OAM Elly Brooks

Prof. George Braitberg AM Melanie Raleigh Paul Kegen Phil Lewis Simon Szwarc

MHM FOUNDATION

Chairperson Helen Mahemoff OAM Trustees Allen Brostek Jeffrey Mahemoff AO Joey Borensztajn AM Nina Bassat AM Phil Lewis

OFFICE OF THE CEO

Museum Director & CEO Jayne Josem

Executive Assistant Navrutti Gupta

ORGANISATIONAL SUPPORT

Chief Operating Officer Laura Etyngold Finance Manager Roy John People & Culture Specialist Anna Berhang

Special Projects Officer Daniel Feldman Admin & Finance Support Officer Georgina Alexander Survivor Liaison Officer Rae Silverstein

EDUCATION

Head of Education Dr Simon Holloway Pedagogy Specialist Lisa Phillips Education Programs Manager Tracey Collie Education Officers Fanny Hoffman Melanie Attar Soo Isaacs Education Administrator Sarah Virgo Bennett

ENGAGEMENT & PHILANTHROPY

Head of Engagement & Philanthropy Aviva Weinberg Grants & Partnerships Manager Lorelle Lake Digital Media Specialist Robbie Simons Communications & Marketing Meg Hibbert Specialist

Public Programs Specialist Alice McInnes Administrative Support Lana Zuker EXPERIENCE

Chief Experience Officer Jennifer Levitt Maxwell

& RESEARCH

& Research Dr Anna Hirsh Librarian & Information Manager Julia Reichstein

Manager of

Collections Graduate Julia Catania Translator Michael Rose

Pauline Rockman OAM & Sue Hampel OAM MHM Co-Presidents

From the Presidents

In the early 1980s, a group of Melbourne Holocaust survivors were well advanced in their preparation to create a Holocaust Museum, a place of education and commemoration, a place where their personal stories could be told. In her recently published book ‘For the Greater Good’ Margaret Taft writes about Leo and Mina Fink, particularly of Mina’s role in the creation of this museum.

Margaret notes, “She (Mina) was convinced that the museum’s greatest strength lay in its message, a message that would reverberate in perpetuity. The museum’s retelling of the Holocaust had to be an instructive lesson, an active educational tool for the living and for the future, and not just a passive, albeit memorial to the dead and the past.”

Mina played an extraordinary role in the creation of our Holocaust Museum. Her legacy lives on in our institution. Four decades later, in 2023 our new and rebranded Melbourne Holocaust Museum will reopen, a place of education, research and remembrance, as our founding survivors had designated. We have inherited their legacy and

how proud they would have been to see how their vision has evolved.

Our goal is to reach every Victorian school student, and this mission is even more vital in these uncertain times. With the opening of this world class museum, we will create a common path for Holocaust education. It is our sacred mission to honour the survivors.

As we finalise the new building, we commend everyone who is working intensively on this project, under the leadership of the indefatigable Jayne Josem. We recognise the efforts behind the scenes – from those who have worked on exhibitions, education, the visitor experience, organisational support, the collections, curatorial artefacts and fundraising. All your collective efforts will ensure our success, well into the future.

We are excited to be hosting Sara J. Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), to deliver the Rosenkranz Oration in November. We look forward to welcoming you soon.

From the Editor

As we come closer to opening the doors of the new Melbourne Holocaust Museum to the public, we are excited to share our new name and look of our magazine. Voices of the past and future are the pillars that continue to grow the MHM and we use this platform to share them with you.

In this issue we are excited to unveil our new brand identify and the rationale that underpins it. We also take you on the journey of redevelopment of our building with Kerstin Thompson Architects and introduce our permanent Holocaust exhibition, Everybody Had a Name. We feature an inspiring speech made by Nina Bassat entitled ’The Triumph of Memory’, an overarching theme for this issue.

In every issue we honour the voices of survivors as well as community members they have inspired. We pay tribute to those we lost – Phillip Maisel and David Prince.

Welcome to Voices, where we remember the past, and inspire the future.

Lina Leibovich

Unveiling our new identity

We recently unveiled our new brand identity, designed in partnership with CHEP Network. CHEP Network is one of Australia’s largest and most successful creative agencies. It applies creative thinking and a solution design approach to support ambitious brands becoming positive forces in society.

The highly regarded agency works with clients such as: Flybuys, IKEA, NRMA, Telstra, Samsung, Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation and donated a significant portion of its services to Melbourne Holocaust Museum.

The new brand identity enhances our vision to ignite visitors’ sense of humanity, kindness and bravery through the voices of survivors. The branding also nurtures our position as Australia’s largest institution dedicated to Holocaust education, research, and remembrance, as it visually elevates our quest to inspire a better future.

“Holocaust survivors founded our museum almost forty years ago, and we are honoured to continue to carry their legacy,” our Chief Experience Officer, Jennifer Levitt Maxwell, commented. “CHEP’s design aids our responsibility to pass on the lessons of the Holocaust to the next generation, embedded with hope and strength to build a brighter future.”

CHEP Network Managing Director, Jonny Berger, added, “Everyone at CHEP couldn’t be prouder of this work. It has personal significance for me, and I’d like to dedicate this project to the memory of my grandparents and the millions of others murdered during the Holocaust. We thank MHM for inviting us to apply creativity and design to help this important Australian institution.”

The rebranding process began in 2021 with audience research, including focus groups with volunteers, teachers, and visitors, alongside donor interviews, to understand and define key audience groups. This formal research informed the next stage of brand strategy work, completed lowbono by Total Brand Value, which included multiple workshops with the MHM Leadership team and Board Members. This strategic work has been the north star guiding the brand design and other activations like experience planning for the new museum.

MHM Manifesto

Built by a community of survivors, the Melbourne Holocaust Museum is dedicated to you – the next generation. Inside this museum we hope to ignite your sense of humanity; and empower you to champion kindness, bravery, and fairness wherever you go. As custodians of truth, the MHM is committed to honouring the lives of survivors and the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

Together we have a shared responsibility to not only preserve the fragments of the past but transmit their lessons too. As it’s these personal stories which act as a catalyst to spark entire generations to better themselves, each other and the world.

Within these walls, we house their stories. Under this roof, we raise their voices. And when you leave, we ask that you carry their memory forward.

Design concepts of new MHM branding by CHEP Network

concepts of new MHM

Design Rationale

Rich with symbolism, our word mark is made up of fragmented type. Representing the fragmentation of Jewish life after the Holocaust. And the survivors dedicated to piecing those fragments back together to re-establish their lives and commemorate those lost.

Centered around the seen and unseen, our design language can be interpreted in two parts. Whilst the missing elements symbolise the Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust, the remaining fragments symbolise the survivors. A group of people who came together to rebuild their families and communities. Piece by piece. Carrying fragments of their culture, memories and knowledge to this museum – to show that kindness and hope can prevail.

At the heart of our brand mark is the Star of David.

A powerful reminder of our Jewish identity that existed long before the Holocaust and will continue to thrive into the future. Overall, this design is not only an acknowledgment of the loss of life and culture caused by the Holocaust, but also the strength and shared responsibility to build a brighter future. One that champions humanity and serves as a catalyst for others to do the same.

branding by CHEP Network

TheArchitectural Design

With the construction of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum now complete, we look forward to welcoming visitors next year to appreciate its accomplished architectural design by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Former MHM Communications and Marketing

with Kerstin Thompson Architects

Specialist Tahney Fosdike recently spoke with Kerstin Thompson, Principal of KTA and Adjunct Professor at RMIT and Monash Universities, to gain a deeper understanding of the knowledge, process and passion KTA invested into our new building.

When did you start working on the new MHM building, and what principles have driven the project from these early days?

We commenced working on the MHM (then JHC) in 2016. Light was always a central driver for the architecture of the MHM. Light is linked to illumination, illumination to knowledge, and given that education is central to the MHM’s purpose, it seemed appropriate to deploy light as a motif in creating welcoming, functional spaces especially for the education, research, and event spaces. It was an early decision to deliberately distinguish MHM from many museums of the Holocaust that feel very closed. From the beginning we strived to create a building that felt open and welcoming to the community while also engendering calmness and safety - gardens were always envisaged for visitor relief.

How does architecture influence a site of memory like a Holocaust museum?

Architecture’s role in a Holocaust museum is fraught. Can or should architecture be deployed to speak of the Holocaust? Some museums have used architecture in figurative and associative ways to render the horror by reproducing forms and materials extracted from notorious sites of trauma; for example, dark brickwork and wire from Auschwitz. We have not chosen this approach because it risks trivializing rather than enabling an understanding of the history and memory of trauma. Instead, we used a decidedly abstract architecture that recognises that the Holocaust remains outside of representation. It is the content – the artefacts and museum programs – and in the case of MHM its people (particularly the survivors and their families), that can attempt to speak of the unspeakable.

How has culture and history been incorporated into the building design?

The façade reinforces MHM’s role as cultural repository by integrating the original heritage building and treating it as an important artefact of the museum. Embedded in the south-eastern corner, the heritage building forms the cornerstone for the future MHM as a bearer of cultural memory. It links the past and future. The distinctive corner turret remains a defining feature of the streetscape, a shadowline reinforcing its silhouette on the new skin; internally, its significance is reinforced through its transformation into a dramatic lightwell illuminating the memorial space. It is the symbolic heart of the museum, in which the lives lost during the Holocaust are remembered.

To visually and physically connect the façade and interior with the community and street, the facade is variegated through a combination of clay and solid glass bricks. Why glass bricks? The November Pogrom of 1938

We also extend our deepest thanks to the following KTA team for their work on our new building:

Martin Allen

Anne-Claire Deville

Scott Diener

Darcy Dunn

Lauren Garner

Thomas Huntingford

Claire Humphreys

Paul Lau Kelley Mackay

Leonardo Meister

Sophie Nicholaou

Tamsin O’Reilly

Ben Pakulsky

Karina Piper Jasmine Placentino

Toby Pond Leo Showell

Hilary Sleigh

Kerstin Thompson

became known as Kristallnacht, “night of broken glass”, where the fragility of glazed facades became synonymous with the pogram itself. The incorporation of glazed areas in the façade of the MHM indexes the relative freedom to express cultural identity in Melbourne in 2022 and aligns with MHM’s mission for educational programs which aim to combat antisemitism, racism and prejudice in the community and foster understanding between people.

Can you reflect on a personal favourite space in the realised building?

The central public circulation spine which encompasses the stairs, circulation and breakout areas which links all levels and the MHM’s various activities. This space is designed to provide some relief for visitors more affected by the difficult museum content. At the western end are views towards either the courtyard, garden terraces or the bay. At the eastern end the beautiful play of light through the glass brick screen and birch trees. These views out combined with the skylights, the use of mirror in them, and other reveals, reflect the world – the sky, clouds, rooftops of nearby house - outside to remind visitors of their location, in time and place, situate them here in contemporary Melbourne. Together, these devices bring outside in to help bring people back from the difficult worlds and histories they have encountered and engaged with in the museum spaces.

How will this building stand out in Melbourne’s cultural landscape?

MHM will act as a beacon of hope. Within Elsternwick, it will be a valued community asset and place of gathering, and on Selwyn Street, especially at night, it will glow from within celebrating life. Strong and delicate, secure and open, the new MHM is built of substantial and enduring materials appropriate to the significance of this museum within Melbourne’s cultural landscape.

About Kerstin Thompson

Kerstin Thompson is an Australian architect, born in Melbourne in 1965. Thompson is a committed design educator and regularly lectures and runs studios at various schools across Australia and New Zealand. Thompson was elevated to Life Fellow by the Australian Institute of Architects in 2017 and awarded member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honors.

She plays an active role promoting quality design within the profession, and the wider community, through her position as Panel Member on the Office of the Victorian Government Architect’s Design Review Panel and Board Member for Melbourne Housing Expo, a research group led by the University of Melbourne. A passionate defender of civic space and advocate for extracting new life from our built heritage KTA’s redevelopment of the Broadmeadows Town Hall won the 2020 Victorian Architecture Medal.

Triumph of Memory

Holocaust survivor Nina Bassat’s speech from the Yom HaShoah commemoration and 180th anniversary of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation (the Toorak Synagogue) on 28 April 2022.

Numbers, so many numbers. My mind fails to understand them, my heart cannot open to them. It is too vast, too remote. Even decades after the Shoah, what happened is incomprehensible. The enormity of the loss deprives it of all humanity. But we did not lose numbers – we lost people. Young people, old people, children and babies. So I start to think of individual names, and of places: Cecilia Katz in Belzec, Chaya Wargon in Treblinka, Meilech Przysuski in Auschwitz. Then I think of the names for whom there is no place: Izydor Katz, Srulek Wargon, Rysia Zinger. It is only then that our minds and hearts can relate to what we have really lost. It is only then that we can understand that the reason we are here is to remember and to commemorate the lives not lived, the tears not shed, the laughter never shared.

It is the baker, Shmuel from Krakow, and the tailor, Berel from Warsaw, it is the midwife who brought into the world all the Jewish children in a shtetl 60 kilometres from Lwow, the musicians from Vienna who never played the next concert and the mothers who never nursed their babies.

Wherever there are Jews in the world, whether it is in Melbourne or in Tel Aviv, in Buenos Aires or in London, in Milan or in tragic, beleaguered Kyiv, on Yom HaShoah we stand as one to think about the lives which

by Nina Bassat AM

were extinguished, the sorrow which many of us will bear to our dying days, and which we as a people will bear beyond that.

We have lost them all. We have been deprived of so much, that you start to wonder if the void can ever be filled. You start to despair.

And then you start to think not of the losses but of the triumphs: the triumph of memory and the triumph of survival.

At nearly every Yom HaShoah commemoration we focus on numbers – “six million Jews”, “one and a half million children”, “most of the Jewish population of Poland”. For as long as we continue to remember, to speak, to teach we have not lost them, for they continue to live in our collective memory - that is the triumph of memory.

And in all the cities where we commemorate and where we remember, life has been enriched and in some cases like Melbourne, invigorated by survivors – that is the triumph of survival.

When my 3-year-old great-granddaughter giggles at something I have said, and one of my grandsons pats me on the head as he walks past, the despair goes, and it is replaced by love and pride and hope and a sense of triumph.

For from the remnants has grown a second, a third and a fourth generation, generations which are proud to be Jewish and which contribute to the rich fabric of life, wherever they find themselves.

And from the remnants has grown a nation. They are the philosophers and the poets, the sportsmen and the artists, the tailors and the midwives who have shown us, and indeed the whole world, that the spirit can survive everything; that no matter to what depths humanity sinks, there is always a spark of hope, a spark of courage that will endure.

So tonight, whilst we commemorate the unendurable losses, we also look around us and we know that no decree for a final solution can succeed. It can hurt us unbearably, it can scar us, it can even temporarily cripple us, but ultimately, we will prevail, and we will go on to lead lives full of fulfilment and lives full of joy, and that is the answer which sustains us.

Holocaust survivor Nina Bassat, with a photograph of herself as a baby in 1939. Photograph by Simon Schluter.

Everybody

Had a Name

Holocaust survivor Gucia Honigman’s brooch that she secretly made in Peterswaldau Concentration Camp, Poland, c.1942 - 1945

by Jayne Josem CEO Sandy Saxon Senior Curator Fiona Kelmann Curatorial Assistant

Our new permanent Holocaust exhibition starts and ends with one person, Holocaust survivor Tuvia Lipson, but in between visitors will encounter thousands. Many of whom are connected with our own Melbourne survivor community. These are our stories. Together they form a collective history of the Holocaust, from a uniquely Melbourne perspective. This is to honour the survivors who migrated here, built a strong community from the ashes of the Holocaust, and were determined to inspire future generations to prevent such atrocities happening again.

“Everybody had a name, nobody had a grave. We are talking about people not numbers.” Tuvia, a volunteer speaker for over two decades at Melbourne Holocaust Museum, would say to school children every week. He knew that the students could not comprehend 6 million, so he brought it back to his mother, his father, his sisters, his brother, his schoolmates, his playmates.

It is Tuvia’s powerful message that has been one of the driving forces for the curatorial vision for our new permanent exhibition on the Holocaust. This exhibition presents an expansive and tragic history yet tries to connect visitors via countless artefacts and smaller stories. It constantly expands and contracts – zooming in to the personal stories and out to the larger context of the Holocaust.

The exhibition begins with the section The World That Was, by setting the scene of this vibrant pre-war Jewish life, where visitors will encounter home movies, household objects, Judaica, and artworks. This painstakingly curated collection draws visitors

to the small details of individual lives, affirming the philosophy that you cannot understand what was lost, until you understand what was.

To explore the role of religion in Jewish life, and the synagogue as the centre of this, two significant artefacts have determined that our focus is on the town of Czestochowa in Poland. Len and Mark Fagenblat donated the parochet or torah curtain from the New Czestochowa Synagogue; an artefact their parents rescued post-war and brought to Australia. Survivor, Chaim Sztajer, made a model of the Old Synagogue in Czestochowa. Both synagogues were destroyed by the Nazis.

Having set the scene, the next section - Rights Removed - follows the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party and the introduction of laws and policies aimed to exclude those they deem unworthy of citizenship in the Third Reich. We are collaborating with German artists Stih and Schnock on an artwork entitled ‘Evidence of Evil’ which graphically depicts the draconian antisemitic laws introduced from 1933 onwards. Where and how to escape is featured, including an interactive display exposing desperate letters from Jews in Germany to family in Australia. The story of William Cooper and the Aboriginal protest following Kristallnacht features here, as we invite the audience to consider what would they do when confronted with injustice happening across the globe? How remarkable it was to have these Australians take a stand, when most were indifferent.

The next section - Freedoms Lost - provides insight into the labelling, ghettoization and incarceration

of Jews – who became slave labour for the Nazi war machine. We identified around 16 photographs in our collection featuring images of Melbourne survivors inside ghettos, intimate photos of them wearing the detested armbands in everyday settings. These stand out as almost all the photos that exist from this period were taken by the Nazis with a perpetrator gaze –dehumanizing images of starving prisoners. We also display material buried by Lodz Ghetto friends, Bono Wiener and Abram Goldberg, as an act of defiance and testimony. These documents are further evidence of evil and deceit. Camp uniforms and other rare objects made in camps provide glimpses into both the inhumane conditions of the camps, as well as the dignity of the inmates.

Life Unworthy of Life is both the most challenging and the most important section, revealing the tragic ‘Holocaust by Bullets’ campaign as well as mass murder in death camps. A series of letters from victim Sevek Buch to his wife and baby son, humanise the tragedy. Sevek was writing of the cruel conditions in the labour camp, letters which end after one of the deadliest mass killing sprees of the war, known as ‘Erntefest’, in and around Lublin, where Sevek was incarcerated. These letters were donated by his son, survivor Henry Buch, who will never know exactly how or where his father was murdered.

Chaim Sztajer’s large scale model of the Treblinka death camp is the main exhibit in this section, depicting the grotesque process of mass murder in such camps. The model has undergone extensive conservation work ahead of its return to our new building.

A moving display honours the special place of children as victims of the Nazi mass murder policy, with 1.5 million children murdered.

Render of the entrance to the permanent exhibition

Survival Against the Odds turns the focus to stories of those that survived in hiding as well as those that resisted and tried to fight back. The story of survivor Ruth Kneppel’s work in the French resistance is a wonderful example. The diary written by Yitzhak Meir Kluska while hiding underneath a chimney hearth in a confined space with six others is a powerful artefact which dramatically underscores the challenge of trying to survive in hiding.

The moment of liberation is followed by immense efforts by survivors to find loved ones, grieve for those murdered, and re-establish themselves in the wake of the Holocaust. This leads into the final section of the exhibition - Return to Life - starting with Displaced Persons camps and ending with the migration of survivors to Australia where they made a mark on Melbourne while managing ongoing grief and trauma.

Moral dilemmas are presented throughout the exhibition, directly and indirectly. Our hope is that visitors leave wondering: knowing what I now know, what is my responsibility in the world today?

This exhibition presents an expansive and tragic history yet tries to connect visitors via countless artefacts and smaller stories. It constantly expands and contracts – zooming in to the personal stories and out to the larger context of the Holocaust.

Museum Floorplan

Pillars of Witness

by Lina Leibovich Tahney Fosdike

Artworks have always been integral to our museum, and as we redevelop we have found ways to integrate and reimagine existing works into a new landscape. In 1999, internationally renowned artist Andrew Rogers created a sculpture, The Pillars of Witness, commissioned for the former Melbourne Holocaust Museum building.

For many years, Pillars of Witness, fixtured to the façade of the museum, left an impression on thousands of visitors, coming and going from the building, with its evocative narrative of Holocaust trauma and Jewish survival.

Speaking on the artwork today, as it was reworked by the architects for its new garden installation, Rogers reflects, “this sculpture was created 23 years ago and took up many months of thought and activity. There is nothing more confronting and disturbing than talking with Holocaust survivors about what they thought was important to portray. This was done prior to and during the creation of these 70 panels depicting the stages of the Holocaust. It is still a resonating experience many years later. The sculpture is about memory for without memory we are nothing.”

In reinstating the Pillars of Witness in its new site, much thought went into determining the new layout. For Rogers, “the challenge is always to use materials in a new and different way, and make them convey meaning and portray form in a manner that has not previously been seen.” The new garden featuring the Pillars of Witness gives the viewer a new perspective. Rogers explains, “the plaques have been reconfigured to assist viewing in what will be a quiet, private space for contemplation as opposed to a building exterior portal that people pass through. People will have more time to think and reflect.”

The Garden of the Pillars of Witness were first seen by survivors in May as they were welcomed to the MHM for the first time, accompanied by bipartisan political supporters of the MHM.

We look forward to welcoming the wider public through the doors of the MHM soon.

Pillars of witness by Andrew Rogers

Many

Our sincere gratitude and appreciation to all our donors and funders who supported the development of the new museum. Your support has allowed our vision to become reality. Below are donors of $10,000 and above to the Capital Campaign.

The Sam & Ruth Alter Family

Lisa Bardas & Ellie Rogers

Andrew & Natalie Bassat

Paul & Sharon Bassat

Robert & Nina Bassat

Garry & Sigalit Berkovic

Sam & Helen Berkovic

The Marc & Eva Besen Family

Greg & Julie Blashki

David & Jeanette Blicblau

Joey & Julie Borensztajn

Allen & Marika Brostek

Hymie & Eva Bugalski

Isaac & Marilyn Bugalski

Joe & Pam Bursztyn

Leon & Marlen Carp

The George & Freda Castan Family

Jack & Anna Chrapot

Ian & Shirley de Winter

Peter & Kim de Winter

Simon & Lisa de Winter

Ron & Judy Dodge

Michael & Lilli Dubs

The Eva & Les Erdi Humanitarian

Charitable Foundation

Bill Fayman & Susan Glass

Ian & Yvonne Fayman

Marvin & Barbara Fayman

Warren

The Leo & Mina Fink Fund

Alan & Elizabeth Finkel

Ronit Fraid

Peter & Anita Frayman

Joel & Agnes Freeman

The John & Pauline Gandel Family

Mark & Judy Gandur

Harry & Helen Gelber

Jono & Kelly Gelfand

Zita Gersh

Jack & Gita Ginger

Leigh & Yvonne Goldbloom

Tom & Jenny Gorog

Jack & Dianne Gringlas

Allan Grosman

Phillip & Pauline Grosman

Simon & Bella Gurevich

Ed & Ada Gurgiel

George & Alice Halasz

Bernie & Melma Hamersfeld

David & Lilly Harris

Michael & Kylie Heine

Josef Hellen

Solly & Carol Hofman

The Charles Holckner Family

Sam & Jacky Hupert

Barbara Jacob Tom & Issy Jacob

Lewis Janover & Linda Kaufman

Les & Cathy Janovic

Vernon & Sandra Jedwab

Rodney & Suzanne Kagan

Floris Kalman

Allan & Susan Kalus

Danielle, Joel and Ben Kaufman

Michael & Esther Kister

Stephen & Susie Kleid

Ben & Ella Kohn

Andrew & Michelle Kornberg

Alan & Roxanne Kozica

Wendy Kozica

Henryk & Emma Kranz

Tom & Lorelle Krulis

Barry & Barbara Landau

Silvana Layton

Mark Lenk

Barry Levy & Leah Kaplan

Rosie Lew

Phil & Sue Lewis

Bori & Helen Liberman

Leo & Jennie Lipp

Michael Ludski

Arnold & Dani Mahemoff

Jeffrey & Helen Mahemoff

Phillip Maisel

Jeffrey & Yumi Markoff

Jamie & Elana Melzak

Margot Melzak

Alan and Rochelle Mendel

Alan & Irene Messer

Nordia Foundation

Leo & Rhonda Norich

Dorothea Nossbaum

Michael & Hannah Roth

Michael Salzburg

Danny & Anita Selzer

James & Leanne Shaw

Arnold & Lane Shmerling

Jack & Lesley Silberscher

Stephen & Sharron Singer

Barry Singer & SimoneSzalmuk-Singer

David & Tammie Slade

Graham & Mary Slade Michael & Sue Small

Rodney & Ann Smorgon

David & Kathie Smorgon

The Jack & Robert Smorgon Families

The Spotlight Foundation

Henry

Andrew

It is part of our history

The Smorgon Family left Russia in 1926 to escape Stalin’s ascension to power and antisemitic sentiment prevalent at the time. They arrived in Port Melbourne in 1927 on a converted battleship with little money and no English.

They settled in Carlton and began a family butcher shop. From those humble beginnings the family business grew to include the supply of wholesale meat, canning operations, and in the following decades meatworks, recycling paper, plastics and steel. In 1995 the Smorgon Family divested the family business and the seven core family branches ventured out into their own businesses and continued the family tradition of philanthropy which dates back to their earliest days in Australia and before. Even today you will still see the Smorgon Family name prominently displayed at various institutions around Melbourne acknowledging the generous contribution made to the community.

The Jack and Robert Smorgon Families are the descendants of Anne and Eric Smorgon, and their Foundation has provided support to many community charities both within the Jewish and secular communities. Both Anne and Eric encouraged the family not only to donate, but also to give up their time to charitable activities. Younger family members are encouraged to attend as many site visits as they can to understand and appreciate the various sectors of the community which require support.

The one statistic that is well reported is that Melbourne has one of the highest density of Jewish Holocaust survivors per capita outside of Israel and, living in Melbourne, one cannot escape the impact that the Holocaust has had on our community, not just on the survivors themselves but also on the following generations.

It is important to continue telling the story and to educate the new generation on how things can go terribly wrong even if you feel secure and accepted. Whilst the Smorgon family was saved from the severe and emotional devastation of the Holocaust in Europe, the family remembered how it felt living on a “knife’s edge”, not feeling secure in their homeland.

The Jack & Robert Smorgon Foundation’s connection to the Melbourne Holocaust Museum ensures that the story continues to be retold. Helen Mahemoff, Chairperson of the MHM Foundation, has always included the family on the museum’s journey. Her tireless work and dedication to the cause inspires the family’s involvement with this new and exciting museum.

Our Foundation provided support to a virtual reality film ‘Walk with Me’, which is a film about Szaja Chaskiel, a Holocaust Survivor and Museum guide, in which he revisits his hometown and sites where he was incarcerated during the Holocaust. The film enables visitors to immerse themselves in the past by walking with a survivor through his memories. This 360-degree interactive film traces Szaja’s steps from his hometown in Wielun, Poland, the former Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz and Buchenwald Concentration camps.

The new MHM is an amazing place not only for the Jewish Community but for all Australians to learn the lessons of the past. The Jack & Robert Smorgon Families Foundation are extremely proud to be able to support MHM and play a small part to ensure the horror of the Holocaust never reoccurs.

by Andrew Blode AM Jack & Robert Smorgon Families Foundation

Drone filming of Sjaza Chaskiel at the entrance to Aushwitz

From the past

Our parents Sara and Chaim Chrapot were born in small townships, Jajczaki and Kraszkowice close to each other, in the south-west of Poland.

They were Holocaust survivors who in their teenage years were incarcerated first in work camps and then towards the end of the war sent on death marches, being herded across Europe from one concentration camp to another. Sara was liberated by the British from Bergen Belsen and Chaim by the Americans having slipped out of his march somewhere near Dachau. After the war, they re-met, married in Germany and migrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne on 1 June, 1951 with their two year old son, Jack.

Sara & Chaim Chrapot

to the future

by Sue Lewis & Jack Chrapot

From Sue

Having grown up with Holocaust survivor parents, I was always aware of their sense of loss. In 2004, I took part in the first Australian March of the Living hoping to open up dialogue with my parents.

Upon my return I felt compelled to do my part in passing on the strong message imparted against hate, prejudice, and racism and completed the guides course offered by the Melbourne Holocaust Museum and began guiding in 2005.

In my 18 years at the centre, I have been truly inspired by our survivors, who have given so much of themselves in their mission to educate students. It is so important, especially at this time of increasing occurrences of antisemitism, that we be able to reach as many people as possible, even younger students, in our new museum.

I am excited to continue my volunteer work at this state-of-the-art museum which will ensure that we keep the voices of our survivors alive and fulfill their mission.

From Jack

We are children of Holocaust survivors who grew up with relatives and friends who migrated to Australia in the late 1940s and early 1950s who had similar shared experiences.

As a young child, before the birth of my sister Sue, I attended the Sholem Aleichem kindergarten situated at the end of Selwyn Street. Later, I became a member of Habonim Jewish youth group which was situated a little further down in Sinclair Street.

Later on, when the Kadimah moved to its current location in Selwyn Street, the family often went there for social and cultural occasions. It was recently, when invited to visit to the new Melbourne Holocaust Museum, I gazed out of the window and realised that my personal history going back to my childhood really does surround the physical area of the building.

But the relationship is far more than physical. I attended Mount Scopus Memorial College, and went with the school to an exhibition of memorabilia from the Shoah. There was one item on display that took me back. It was a bar of soap made in a concentration camp from human remains.

Our donation is dedicated in loving memory of our parents, Sara and Chaim Chrapot, who devoted their lives to building a future in this wonderful country. They never took for granted the life they built here and as such we know that the memorial room will be a place of remembrance for not only our family but for all those who visit the centre.

The fact that a human life could be reduced to a bar of soap was a reminder that my parents, had survived for many reasons, one of which was to remind mankind of the horrors and inhumanity of the hatred people can endure and that we must never allow this blight to be repeated against us or against anyone else on the planet.

The world must know.

Authors: Dr Anna Hirsh Manager of Collections & Research, Jenny Chaenkel Chair Loretta Joseph

In October 2021, Loretta Joseph brought a grey exercise book filled with Polish text in pencil, in beautiful handwriting, to the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.

Loretta first discovered the existence of this diary after her father Joseph Marash had passed away in 1993 when her aunt Maria mentioned it. Loretta gave the diary to Maria to translate, but Maria was unable to bring herself to read the contents. It was only recently,

when Loretta met up with the Chair of MHM Foundation Helen Mahemoff, a school friend from way back, that the diary was translated by Sara Albeck, and then donated to the museum.

Joseph Marash was born in Brody, Poland (now Ukraine) in 1907. He was the oldest of three sons. Asher, the youngest, migrated to Mandate Palestine in the early 1930s and became a leader in the kibbutz movement.

Henry left for Melbourne with his wife Maria in 1938. The infamous Battle of Brody between the Germans and Soviets in late June of 1941 caused many casualties. Joseph, a lawyer who had been working as a teacher, was in a slave labour unit under the Nazi Occupation. He managed to elude incarceration within the Jewish ghetto set up in August 1942, and instead lived with his labour unit near the centre of the town.

Joseph s Diary

Holocaust survivor Joseph Marash: An account of our life outside the ghetto from 1 August 1942 until 21 May 1943 and of my miraculous salvation from the “Death Train”.

Aktion Reinhardt began in September 1942; Jews were being shot in the ghetto, there were massacres in the forests, and deportations to the nearby Belzec death camp commenced. Joseph had managed to elude the deportations until the final liquidation of 21 May 1943.

Extract from diary

On the 20th of April [1943]…a big bonfire had been made where books, personal documents…and written papers were burnt. The genesis of that event as follows: in the surrounding forests (not just in Brody), the partisans would gather up, and escapes from both the labour camp and the ghetto were the order of the day. The SS issued an order to burn all the documents belonging to Jews which afforded them the right of free movement around town... By coincidence, an hour earlier, a column of trucks heading west, had stopped in front of the barracks and one of the commanding officers had entered the yard and watched the “game” [i.e. the bonfire]. That was enough to convince

everyone…that the trucks had been sent to take us away... and that was why our documents had been taken away from us. Usually, the Gestapo, prior to a massive shooting, (according to our “professional intelligence”), in the first days after entering Poland, would burn documents, so as not to leave evidence for removal of people from this world…

A very heavy escort (police and Gestapo) ready to shoot with machine and handguns, moved us, about 150 people (men and women) in the direction of the train station…Now, the idea of escape was unthinkable.

They place us in the wagons, 50 per wagon, men and women separately…After about an hour, the trains engine started and at approximately 12.30, it started moving in the direction of Lwow! At once, everyone started removing the barbed wire... The reality was that everybody was afraid of a bullet (the fools!) Eventually, after many attempts, Silberg…jumped first and as far as could be established, without any harm. In the other wagons too, work was being done. That drew the attention of the Gestapo and the SS who were accompanying us in separate wagons, and they started shooting... Generally speaking, the jumps were successful. At the same time, a group of strong youth

was working very hard on the doors. Bloodying their hands, they worked with scissors and nail files …to cut out a hole in the door and tear out the barbed wire and the lock.

The train stops. At once the train guards walks through all the wagons. They open ours and in between beatings with gun butts and canes, they transfer us to another wagon…The doors and windows are like the ones in a fireproof safe. Double bars and strong locks… The doors open again, and a few Gestapo come in and demand pocketknives, shaving knives, razors, files, scissors etc. Naturally, they threaten to shoot anybody who is found with anything during an inspection.

After an hour… the train…start(s) on its way to Rawa Ruska, that is, to Belzec! So, all my hopes have come to nothing! We are on our way to oblivion! And here, there is no room of getting out. There are on opposite walls two small windows. Each is 30-50cm, with thick bars, horizontal and vertical. Behind the wall we can hear the voices of the Gestapo. I count the shots…

If I jump, death could be awaiting me too, only sooner and painlessly …So I am pushing towards the window…And now I am fourth! I am being lifted. I slide my legs through the window. Next, I turn 180 degrees

on my right arm. And I throw myself forward and sideways. The train is speeding at 60km/h,. Dirt is spraying around me. It is the bullets ploughing it. When I get up, I feel intoxicated…train lights disappear in the distance…

From afar, at the edge of the forest, I can hear dogs barking and a big bonfire is burning. My feverish fantasy sees firemen watching over fields adjacent to Belzec, so nobody can escape.

Joseph, who lost his spectacles in the escape, crawled through the brush and bushes. Almost caught by peasants and German soldiers, he ran into the forest. He encountered both hostility and help. A girl gave him food and directions, and he made his way through various towns including Kulikow where he sees the destroyed ghetto. From there he headed to Brzuchowice, to an address he knew. But nowhere was safe.

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Joseph Marash, back middle, between his two brothers, with his parents and aunt at the front

Our professional learning program

by Tahney Fosdike

In 2020, the Minister for Education directed the Department of Education and Training (DET) to ensure that all Victorian government secondary schools were teaching the Holocaust at Levels 9/10 History. This announcement was designed to ensure that Victorian government school students had an opportunity to learn the lessons of the Holocaust, and that Victorian government schools played their part in reversing the growth in racism and antisemitism in our society.

To support schools to begin teaching or strengthening their teaching of the Holocaust, the DET worked with our museum, Gandel Foundation and nearly a dozen organisations to develop new and refreshed teaching and learning resources. A further outcome was the recommendation that the Melbourne Holocaust Museum develop a teacher professional learning program-aligned with the Victorian curriculum. The DET and Gandel Foundation joined forces to fund this initiative.

In 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, we launched the teacher professional learning program to support Victorian schools in delivering mandated Holocaust education to students in year levels 9 and 10. It is currently free for all government secondary schools and offers maximum flexibility to suit the needs of different teaching teams.

The innovative program ensures teachers have the knowledge, pedagogy and confidence to teach the Holocaust meaningfully and safely. In addition, the skills that teachers gain from this professional learning program are transferable to other subjects containing challenging topics and culturally sensitive issues.

Brunswick Secondary College had long offered a Holocaust-focussed elective supported by a strong cohort of humanities teachers. They also had a longstanding relationship with the MHM, often attending excursions at the museum.

When transitioning to a compulsory three week Holocaust course, they needed additional support, including upskilling teachers who had not yet taught a Holocaust elective. Their Head of Learning (Humanities), Dr Marianne Hicks, proposed our teacher professional learning program, which garnered an enthusiastic response from teachers and principal alike.

“The idea of it was very meaningful and purposeful,” Dr Hicks said, “but it was also practical!” The teacher professional learning program provided a hurdle free offering to match their enthusiasm. Working toward

a common goal, non-history teachers overcame challenges of a new and complex topic, while history teachers improved their pedagogy with new resources and approaches.

The course translated into the classroom, according to Dr Hicks, with teachers saying their

improved pedagogy “provided students with far more autonomy.” Now teachers are assured they are delivering quality Holocaust education for the 3-week Holocaust unit at the beginning of an elective subject before they move onto their specialty subject matter for the remainder of the term.

Our team found working with you last year through the program incredibly valuable, as we build our senior history curriculum here at Preston.

Preston High School

The session was perfect in developing our Holocaust curriculum. It provided more than enough resources, but also a wonderful pedagogical approach to introducing the material to the students, and then the delivery.

It was one of the more rewarding PDs I've done in recent memory, and we've already planned a solid 34 week unit of work for next year in the history faculty.

Melbourne High School

Dr Marianne Hicks, Head of Learning (Humanities) and Learning Specialist (Pedagogy) delivers mandated Holocaust education with her class following our teacher professional learning program.

South Oakleigh Secondary College

MHM Education programs influencing our leaders of tomorrow

As the leaders of tomorrow, we should feel inspired and encouraged by the empathy demonstrated by students following their participation in Melbourne Holocaust Museum education programs. The education team, supported by an amazing group of volunteers (education facilitators), continues to empower the students who participated in our programs to enact key lessons learned within our programs; to be brave, fair and kind in order to make a difference within their own communities to stamp out prejudice and hatred.

Through funding from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, subsidising our Holocaust Education Program, the MHM has provided an opportunity to some 735 students who otherwise might not have participated due to financial or geographical constraints. Another 700 students (approx.) are anticipated to participate in our education programs via this funding.

Establishing and building relationships with new schools has been a galvanizing by-product of both the Department of Education and Training mandate and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing funding, solidifying the important role of the MHM in educating Australian students about the Holocaust.

With a move to our new museum imminent, the potential of further expansion in the delivery of these education programs is both exciting and encouraging. We continue to be reminded of the transformative experience of our programs by our inspiring survivors who share their story and messages with students daily. We have been incredibly moved by and privileged to witness the special interactions between survivors and students daily.

The education team continues to deliver programs with passion, to enact and inspire change and, in the words of Peter Gaspar, to encourage students to consider the choices they make every day, to ensure that these choices will make a positive difference to someone or something and a choice that will shape them to be the people we know they can become.

by Tracey Collie Education Programs Manager

The choices we make today, make us the people we become tomorrow.

Honouring the past

Raph Casper celebrated his Bar Mitzvah in 2021 at St Kilda Synagogue. In lieu of gifts, Raph asked his family and friends to give donations to the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.

Raph’s personal connection to the MHM is through his Zaida, Max Wald. Max has a strong association with the Museum. He has interviewed many Holocaust survivors and Raph has been able to watch how seriously his grandfather takes this responsibility. Through the years, Max has also helped survivors within our community, including driving a bus to make sure they could enjoy different activities around Melbourne.

Raph’s Zaida first became involved with the MHM because his father had been involved in the early days of the museum. In the same way that Max learnt from his father, Raph follows the example of his grandfather.

Raph chose two places for donations for his Bar Mitzvah, each of which honoured both of his grandfathers. He chose the MHM to recognise Max Wald’s many years of service to the Holocaust Museum and to Holocaust remembrance.

Raph has been able see his Zaida volunteer with and have a special interest in the collections and archives department. An internship program was established at the MHM in honour of Max, and Raph wanted his family and friends to help support the Max Wald Collections Internship with donations in lieu of gifts for his Bar Mitzvah. The Intern helped with collections and archives to ensure important evidence of the Holocaust is being collected and preserved.

Raph believes that all stories of the survivors should be recorded and remembered to help us learn. As part of his Bar Mitzvah celebrations, Raph was happy that he was able to do something that both honoured his grandfather and which assisted the MHM, a place which has been so important for his family.

Max Wald, Pebby Wald, Raph Casper, Ilana Wald, Steven Casper and Carol Casper photographed by Adam Thomas from A.R.Thomas Photography

The Strength of Hope: A personal reflection

by Fiona Harris

It was in June of 2021, lockdown number five in Melbourne, when I got a call from my publisher, Martin Hughes. ‘Would you be interested in writing the memoir of a ninety-seven-year-old Holocaust survivor named, Abram Goldberg?’ he asked. ‘I’d be honoured,’ I told him. ‘But does Abram know I’m not Jewish?’

Of course, I was worried this would be a problem. I’m a non-Jewish, white woman, who grew up in Melbourne and attended an all-girls catholic college. How could a girl like me possibly comprehend the horrors, trauma and pain suffered by a Holocaust survivor? I couldn’t. Martin told me. ‘Abram doesn’t care about race, ethnicity, or religion. He just wants to find the right person to write his story with him.’

Convinced, I agreed to meet with Abram and his family on a Zoom call the following week. I was nervous before that first Zoom, but the moment Abram, his daughter, Helen and son, Charlie’s smiling faces popped up on my screen, I relaxed. They soon gave me the tick of approval and I knew I had just taken on a huge responsibility.

Soon after that first meeting, Abram, Charlie and I began having weekly get-togethers to help work my way through Abram’s experiences and stories over ninety-seven years. Abe’s Holocaust Museum testimonials were also crucial to writing his story, as well as spending time with Abe’s wife, Cesia, as she is a very big and important part of the book too.

Spending time together in social situations has been incredibly important for the book too, as well as very enjoyable. It was a great way to see how the family interact and the love that is there for Abe, and his love for them. After Abram and I started working together, my husband, daughters and I had the whole Goldberg family over for dinner. A night full of laughter, stimulating conversation and lots of vodka shots. It’s not easy to keep up with Abram, let me tell you!

Abram and I are extremely different people, and our life experiences are worlds apart, but the one thing we have in common is our desire to share his story as far and wide as it can go. Abram has true perspective, which is something many of us in the 21st century lack. He knows what is important in life. He knows what is worth complaining about, and what most definitely is not. At our first face to face get-together, I asked Abram how he had coped through lockdown.

‘Is okay,’ he said. ‘Why should I complain? I have a roof over my head, food in my fridge and my family outside the window waving at me. I am safe and loved. What more could I want?’

This is Abram.

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IHRA Stockholm

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson in her opening address to the IHRA Plenary

This year’s Stockholm IHRA plenary meetings were held face to face for the first time since 2019. More than 200 people, including government representatives and experts from 34 member countries and 8 Permanent International Partnership Organisations came together to discuss a number of developments, with a focus on the war in Ukraine.

During the meetings, the experts in the IHRA’s Working Groups and Committees dealt with the most pressing issues related to the field of Holocaust education, remembrance and research. I was honoured to be part of the leadership team in the Education Working Group (EWG) where we discussed the pervasive influence of social media in relation to Holocaust education. From films to podcasts to TikTok, we shared recent examples of viral Holocaust content from digital platforms and raised questions from academic research on this topic.

There were a number of highlights, including a reception hosted by the Hon Bernard Philip, Australia’s Ambassador to Sweden and Head of Australia’s IHRA Delegation, who welcomed the Australian, British and New Zealand delegates to his residence, and New Zealand’s official recognition as an observer country to the IHRA.

OAM

by Sue

Hampel

We must remain steadfast in our efforts to counter violence, hatred and ignorance, which are increasingly undermining peace and democracy. Holocaust denial and distortion are gaining ground – we cannot allow this to happen.

In memory of

PHILLIP MAISEL OAM

This is my responsibility and my privilege to be a custodian of their memories, to be able to pass their stories on to the next generation for me, this will be the greatest miracle of all.

Extract from ‘The Keeper of Miracles’, Phillip Maisel OAM.

Phillip Maisel. Image provided by Pan Macmillan

The Melbourne Holocaust Museum was saddened by the passing of Holocaust survivor Phillip Maisel OAM on 22 August 2022.

Emigrating to Australia in 1949, Phillip became a volunteer at the MHM in 1990. From 1992 – 2021 he was Director of the Testimonies Project.

He has recorded over 1,400 video testimonies of fellow Holocaust survivors and has been a central figure in preserving the voices of the Holocaust for future generations.

His funeral was held on 24 August 2022. During the service, his grandsons Nathan, Robert, and Jason shared eulogies for their beloved Papa. During these touching dedications, it was evident the impact Phillip’s work at MHM had on them: “Your volunteer work for the Melbourne Holocaust Museum was extraordinary… The department now bears your name, an honour well deserved. You have truly created a legacy,” said Jason Sherwin. Phillip’s youngest grandson Nathan spoke about Phillip’s “celebrity status” when visiting their Papa at the museum, describing how they would “instantly be referred to as ‘Phillip’s grandkids,’ as though we were the VIPs of VIPs.”

Phillip’s remarkable work at MHM was not lost on his eldest grandson Robert during his visit to Government House in 2022, stating, “More recently, I got to accompany him on a visit to Government House and an early tour of the new Melbourne Holocaust Museum, where I felt so much pride – and at the same time so humbled – in the scale and meaning of his work.”

Phillip celebrated his 100th birthday – just one week before his passing – on 15 August with his twin sister Bella Hirshorn. For his birthday celebrations, MHM Digital Media Specialist Robbie Simons produced a special screening of extracts from his 2021 interview with the former head of the USC Shoah Foundation, Stephen Smith MBE. The screening also featured some special tributes. “I want to thank you, Phillip, for your amazing contribution to humanity, for enabling so many to tell their stories to ensure that the past is preserved and that memory becomes part of our future,” said Stephen Smith MBE. Victorian Premier Dan Andrews spoke about Phillip’s impact on the community, stating, “Because of you… we can be sure that the horrors of the past will never be repeated. You are a pillar of your community and our state.”

On hearing of Phillip’s passing, Co-President of the MHM Board, Pauline Rockman OAM, graciously observed, “his spirit lives on in our hearts and minds, and his legacy will endure.” Phillip’s legacy will live on through the Phillip Maisel Testimony Project as well as with the staff and volunteers at the museum who share his motivation to preserve the voices of the Holocaust.

In memory of

DAVID PRINCE

David Prince was a dedicated Survivor Guide at Melbourne Holocaust Museum. His first school presentation was on 22 July 1997 to 125 Year 10 students from Galen Secondary College, Wangaratta. How do I know this? After Dad’s passing on 28 March 2022, I found his notebook listing every school presentation he made.

David Prince. Photographed by Simon Shiff by Frances Prince

Dad was born in Lodz, Poland, to Frymet Chaya (Klejnbaum) and Israel Princ. He, and his twin brother, Heniek, were born on the second day of Chol HaMoed Pesach, 1925. They enjoyed a lower-middle class, familyoriented childhood in the heart of Jewish Lodz. In Dad’s words, “What were kids doing? Hanging around other kids, skating in winter, soccer in Summer, running 400m and 800m races, indoor gym, chatting up girls.”

On the 1st September 1939, this carefree childhood ended. Within weeks of the German invasion of Poland, David, together with all the Jews of Lodz, was subjected to a slew of anti-Jewish laws and the enforced wearing of the blue armband, and then later, the yellow star.

Dad and his family were incarcerated in the Lodz Ghetto from the day it was ‘closed’, 1 May 1940, until the end of August 1944. They experienced forced labour, diminishing food supplies, unhygienic living conditions, resultant disease, and on-going violence. The transportations to the death camp of Chelmno claimed countless family members and friends.

Frymet Chaya, Israel, Heniek and Dad were pushed onto the very last train that left the Lodz Ghetto, the last ghetto in Europe, bound for Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon their brutal arrival, Frymet Chaya was viciously separated from Israel, Heniek and Dad. Dad would say, “It all happened so quickly. There was no time for a motherly kiss or hug goodbye.”

After one week in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Israel, Heniek and David were placed on a train to a slave labour camp called Friedland. There they made propeller parts for the German air force. On 8 May 1945 they were liberated.

The immediate years after the war saw Dad living in Munich as a university student, studying Pharmacy. Unbeknownst to him, another survivor from Poland, Ella Salzberg, was undergoing the same gruelling study

regime in order to gain entrance to the same university. Dad, the pharmacy student met Mum, the dentistry student, at the Jewish Students Cafeteria. They married on 23 December 1947.

Mum and Dad immigrated to Australia in January 1950. Dad worked as a fitter and turner, on a lathe, in factories. This was a skill he learnt in the Lodz Ghetto. His German pharmacy degree was not recognised in Australia, and they didn’t have the finances for him to return to university. Through determination, perseverance, and hard work Dad went back to university in the mid 1950’s to study Pharmacy. He was ten years older than the rest of the students, with a wife and child, my brother, Issy. When Dad graduated, I was born.

Throughout the decades Mum and Dad focussed on building his professional pharmacy career and on raising Issy and myself. They created a loving Jewish home for the two of us.

Dad had a love of life and energy levels to be admired and emulated. He liked to engage with all those around him. His interests and passions included Yiddishkeit, appreciation of the State of Israel, loyalty in friendship, professional excellence, integrity, service to the community, having a sense of humour, pride in a job well-done and love of family.

May his memory be for a blessing.

Frances Prince is David Prince’s daughter. David’s memory and legacy continues with two children, Issy and Frances, their partners Wendy Prince and Steven Kolt. Four grandchildren and their partners: Ilana and Adam Steinhardt,

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Holocaust education in the 21st century

2022 Betty & Shmuel Rosenkranz Oration

Featuring guest speak Sara J. Bloomfield, director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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