Items
Tag is exactly
Holocaust
-
2020-08-22
Jewish Melbourne: "Happy Birthday Opa"
This article appeared in The Weekend Australian Magazine, marking the 99th birthday of Max Arnott, a Dunera Boy, which happened in May, under Melbourne's lockdown. Max's granddaughter, Zoe Arnott, took a photo of three of her children outside Max's gate, celebrating his birthday. -
2020-07
Jewish Melbourne: Survivors in Isolation - A different isolation
In July Elly Brooks - who is a photographer, member of the Board of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, and President of Friends of JHC - worked with the JHC to take photos of Holocaust survivors at their front doors. In line with Melbourne's lockdown procedures, the JHC was closed, and everyone was required to be at home, so these photos show the survivors as they stayed home to isolate. Elly Brooks reflected: "Holocaust Survivors and other elderly people are perhaps more impacted in this time of covid isolation than younger people as they are confined to their homes under the country’s partial lockdown and many find themselves far from their usual network of support. What shines through this series of images of Holocaust survivors in Melbourne is a strong spirit to overcome adversity, with an understanding that it is a temporary. Most of the survivors pictured, have been coming to the Jewish Holocaust Centre for many years, presenting their testimony to students and the general public and being connected to a community. In early March, when the pandemic was becoming an inevitable danger in Melbourne, the survivors were the first to be asked to stay home, away from the JHC. For some, the memories of our survivors are always there just below the surface and this enforced isolation makes our elderly feel vulnerable and threatens their independence. As a photographer, I wanted to capture the strength and dignity of survivors as they posed on their doorsteps of their homes during this lockdown.As a longtime friend to most of them, I have been missing them so it also gave me good reason to visit them and hear their wise words. For some the virus brought back memories: “that feeling of dread all the time. You never know if other people on the street are going to give you the virus, or they were going to turn you in to the Gestapo because you were a Jew.” Each survivor had their photo taken and they each contributed a reflection: Joe de Hann: I keep occupied by reading and cooking for myself. I have been alone a long time so I am used to being by myself but I miss the Holocaust Centre and the people Henry Buch: I feel unchallenged and lack motivation. My son visits but my daughter is in isolation. Jewish Care assists me but when you are isolated like this memories and worries come back Irma Hanner: “It’s not a war! “We are in a lucky country but even so we must be aware of and call out racism. The extremes of politics both right and left sides are bad. “I miss my work at The Jewish Holocaust Centre” Gisa Frayman: I am lucky that my children come to visit which means that I am not alone. We talk everyday on the phone and as long as they are well, they visit me John Lamovie: I have a large family and before this isolation they visited often but not now. That is the hardest for me at this time.Life during the pandemic ihas an unsettling resonance, especially the isolation from family members. Some of my family drive by to wave to me. A couple of family deaths were very hard to reconcile at this strange time of isolation. I attended a virtual funeral. Overall I feel lucky and nothing to complain about. Abe Goldberg: It’s not a war but it is very hard for me because my wife Cesia is in care and I cannot visit her. That is devastating for me not being allowed to visit her. We have been together so many years Sarah Saaroni: I’m perfectly fine and see my family from a distance. I am fully occupied and well looked after. Henri Korn: Life during the pandemic is unsettling especially the isolation from my friends and family. “It pains me that I cannot be with my family, with my friends,” Wolf Deane: We are happy to be living here and have our family close by. Joe Swarczberg: I miss The JHC, the students, staff and my friends. I used to go often and now I just stay at home. I hope I live long enough to see the new Centre. David Prince: I miss my work at The Holocaust Centre especially seeing the students. I am used to being independent and have friends and family nearby. It is an unsettling time and I hope we can go back to the way it was and I am around to see the new Centre. Viv Speigel: I miss going to The Centre but I am lucky to see my family from a distance and I have all that I need. Maria Lewitt: I am happy to be close to my family and well cared for. John Chaskiel: I am fine and my family visits from a distance. They come to my driveway but I miss The Holocaust Centre and the students. I hope I will see the new museum -
2020-04-21
Jewish Melbourne: "Second Generation Holocaust Survivor Triggers During The COVID 19 Crisis"
This is a video recording of a conversation between Liora Miller and Simone Szalmuk-Singer of Jewish Women of Words. It was hosted as well by the ZIonist Federation of Australia. -
2020-03-24
Borders slamming shut - echoes of my parents conversations
As borders around the world were slamming shut, I organised for my daughter to return home from Israel very fast, experiencing the anxieties of my childhood overlaid with the stories of my parents . -
2020-04-23
Jewish Melbourne: AJN article 'A unique remembrance'
This article, written by Rebecca Davis and published on 23 April 2020, reports on the Yom Hashoah events held the previous day, all online because of the lockdown. Three events are reported on: "special 45-minute broadcast to radio and online ‘Together We Remember’ [which] was produced by the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC) and commenced a unique array of Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations as coronavirus isolation measures continue to prohibit physical gatherings"; "Immediately following the J-Air broadcast, the interactive Zoom event ‘Turning Memory into Action’ was hosted by LaunchPad in partnership with the JHC"; and "Later in the evening, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria together with the JHC screened 13 survivor testimonies on YouTube." -
2020-04-20
Jewish Melbourne: LaunchPad Yom Hashoah event materials
Due to the pandemic, Yom Hashoah commemoration events, which would normally be held in person, needed to go online. On April 20, 2020, LaunchPad hosted an online, zoom-based, Yom Hashoah event which "consisted of an intergenerational conversation exploring the preservation of memory and the ways in which we can each be custodians of our family's stories." At the event there were three speakers: Phillip Maisel (Holocaust survivor), Suzy Zail (2nd Gen) and Julia Sussman (3rd Gen), moderated by Jennifer Levitt Maxwell. The event (which went for 45 minutes) also involved candle lighting. Everyone was encouraged to light a candle at home, and then six people were nominated to light 6 candles for the event, namely: Pauline Rockman OAM - co-president of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, Simone Szalmuk-Singer - co-chair of Australian Jewish Funders, Phil and Sue Lewis and their family - co-chair of the Jewish Holocaust Centres capital campaign, Helen Mahemoff - Board Director of the Jewish Holocaust Centre, Arek dybel - filmmaker and creative director at museum POLIN in Warsaw, and Andrea Lipshutz - representing LaunchPad’s ‘Regeneration Melbourne’ Committee. -
2020-08-19
Jewish Melbourne: writings by Child Survivors of the Holocaust during Covid times
This collection of writings was assembled by Viv Parry (Chairperson for the Child Survivors of the Holocaust Melbourne Group) for submission to the archive. It contains the following: 'A Point in Time', a recent article that Viv Parry was asked to write for the New Year Magazine for The Ark Synagogue, Hawthorn Connections (August 2020) is a newsletter edited by Viv Parry for the Child Survivors of the Holocaust (CSH) Melbourne Group. In this newsletter there are 9 individual contributions from CSH in answer to her personal request to "tell us how you are travelling at the moment during this unprecedented time?" Viv made no suggestions, asking only that they addressed the group (265 CSH members) and shared their thoughts at whatever level they found personally relevant to themselves. 'Child Survivors, Corona' is an article written by Dr Paul Valant's for Connections, published in April 2020. A second article on the topic appears in the August edition of the newsletter. An email from Stefanie Selzer, dated 31.7.2020. Stefanie is the World Federation Of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants N.Y, President and Claims Conference representative. Stefanie forwarded our Connections Newsletter to the other CSH groups in the US including Canada where Mark Elster felt compelled to reply (also included in the same document). These documents together create a story of a unique group of people who are supporting each other at this difficult time, with a remarkably positive attitude.