Ever wanted to research your family history and the fate of relatives during the Holocaust but unsure where to begin? Our panel of experts will help you navigate Australian and international Holocaust and genealogical resources. Elise Bath, from the Weiner Library, London, will guide you through the International Tracing Service Archives, Max Wald OAM will open the portal of Jewish Geography through his work with Jewish Gen and other open access sources, and MHM’s Julia Reichstein, Information Manager and Librarian, will present numerous Australian and international resources to assist your research. Hosted by Dr Anna Hirsh, MHM Manager of Collections and Research, this evening is designed to empower and inform.
Elise Bath works at The Wiener Holocaust Library in London, where she manages the UK’s copy of the International Tracing Service (ITS) Archive, using it to carry out in-depth historical research exploring the experiences of individual victims of Nazi persecution, usually on behalf of their families.
She holds an MLitt which analyses gendered experiences in concentration camp memoirs, and an MA in Museum Studies, both from Newcastle University. She is the author of ‘Fertility in the Camps: An Exploration of Female Fertility as Reported in Concentration Camp Memoirs’, German Life and Letters 72:4 (2019), and ‘Discrimination Against Roma and Sinti Survivors of Nazi Persecution’, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 71, (2023/3) and has also published on research ethics. Elise is particularly interested in developing a trauma-informed archival and research practice, collaborative working with institutions and communities, and taking a person-centred approach to historical research.
Max Wald OAM is a member of the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society (Vic) and has assisted many Jewish people with their ancestral and Holocaust research. As part of the JRI in Poland, he is a Town Leader for Miedzyrzec, Biala Podlaska and Janow regions, extracting Polish records for about 40 towns. Max’s interest in the Holocaust was formalised during his experience as an interviewer of around 40 Holocaust survivors for the Shoah Foundation project in Melbourne in the 1990s. Max has volunteered at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for over 15 years in many roles, including interviewing survivors as part of the Phillip Maisel Testimony project.
Julia Reichstein is a third-generation descendant of Holocaust survivors and the Information Manager and Librarian at Melbourne Holocaust Museum
Drawn to the power and impact of both storytelling and history as tools to inform, educate, entertain and inspire,
Julia studied and worked in the fields of children’s services, performing arts and records management, before immersing herself in the world of libraries and earning a Graduate Diploma in Information Management and Systems from Monash University.
A core component of Julia’s role in the MHM Library is equipping researchers and descendants with foundational resources for undertaking Holocaust Family Tracing.
Anna is responsible for managing MHM’s Collections, spanning the Historical Archives and Art Collection, Testimonies, and our Resource Centre & Library. For the past ten years, Anna has worked to improve accessibility to, and enhance the research potential of our Collections.
Anna is an Honorary Fellow at Deakin University and is the co-President of the Australian Association of Jewish Studies.
