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Join us for a Future Gen event: Nolan at Night, an after-hours viewing of Aftershocks: Nolan and the Holocaust an exhibition showcasing the iconic Australian artist Sidney Nolan as he came to terms with the events of the Holocaust. This intimate event offers a unique opportunity to discover his evocative depictions of the human condition, historical narratives and the nature of memory through rare pieces. Engage with curators and immerse yourself in the stories behind each artwork on display in the Alter Family Special Exhibition Gallery. Don’t miss this unforgettable evening to experience Sidney Nolan’s art in a new light at Nolan at Night.
Exhibition produced by:
Research and Curation: Katharine Cousins with grateful assistance from Roslyn Sugarman, Emeritus Professor Konrad Kwiet & Professor Avril Alba.
This exhibition was made possible with sincere appreciation to our partners:
With additional thanks to our Sydney Jewish Museum donors and lenders:
This exhibition follows the Museum’s 2022 exhibition ‘Shaken to His Core: The Untold Story of Nolan’s Auschwitz’, produced in collaboration with ‘Nolan’s Africa’ author, Andrew Turley. After its success in Sydney and with the acquisition of some 65 artworks from Nolan’s Holocaust series, the Sydney Jewish Museum is proud to present this exhibition featuring new insights and research into our Sidney Nolan Holocaust collection.
Image | Australian artist Sidney Nolan, taken by Albert Tucker. National Library of Victoria.
Join us for an exciting opportunity to be part of an episode of ABC Radio National’s Soul Search at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. We’re exploring the powerful theme of liberation, reflecting on its significance and impact 80 years since the end of World War II. This is a unique chance to engage in thought-provoking conversation, share your perspectives, and learn from incredible Holocaust survivor stories of resilience and hope. Don’t miss out—come be part of something special and meaningful!
Please note this session is recorded.
In partnership with AUJS and AZYC, we invite you to join us this Yom HaShoah, Thursday, April 24th, for an interactive commemoration. Experience the newly redeveloped museum, hear firsthand testimony from Holocaust survivor Dr. Henry Ekert AM, and participate in a meaningful discussion session.
Below is the schedule of events:
5:00 PM: Optional viewing of the “Everybody Had A Name” permanent exhibition.
6:00 PM – 6:45 PM: Formal program, including testimony from a Holocaust survivor.
7:00 PM – 7:45 PM: Breakout room discussion sessions.
Please select one session that interests you from the available options.
Note: As all sessions are held simultaneously, you may only attend one.
Session 1 – Never Again
What does “never again” mean in 2025, using the lessons learned from the Holocaust?
Session 2 – Connections
Share your personal Holocaust connection and reflect on how it impacts you today and shapes your future.
Session 3 – Preserving Memory
How do you preserve and memorialize your family’s Holocaust history?
Please join us for our four-week Liberation and the End of the Holocaust course.
From 1944, as the German army was retreating, Allied forces came inexorably closer to Germany. Along the way, they uncovered scenes of horrifying atrocities: mass graves, burned-out villages and camps populated by people who seemed more dead than alive. These settings became the backdrop for a new genre of Western and Soviet propaganda, justifying their war against Germany and calling for other countries to assist in the intake of new refugees. For some of those refugees, the situation was particularly dire. Survivors of genocide, they had no homes to return to nor knowledge of the whereabouts of their family. For many Jewish survivors in particular, Displaced Persons (DP) Camps were to become their homes for many years, and would serve as the sites of a cultural and spiritual renaissance. In this course, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camps, we look at the process by which camps were liberated, the nature of the DP camps that were then established, and the enduring impact of this period on our understanding of the Holocaust.
Week One: “The Literature of Liberation”: Dr Breann Fallon.
Week Two: “The End of the War”: Sue Hampel OAM.
Week Three: “Life in the Displaced Persons Camps”: Sue Hampel OAM.
Week Four: “What We Did Not See”: Dr Simon Holloway.
If you have any further questions about the course, please contact simon.holloway@mhm.org.au for further information.
Please register in advance and secure a place.
Image | Children from Adriatica DP Camp, Italy, travelling to Milan, c.1947. From the MHM Collection, Charles German Collection, Object ID 1691-17.
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for a rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Paul Grinwald.
Paul was born in Paris in 1933.
He was 7 years old when the Nazis occupied Paris. Paul and his family moved to the unoccupied part of France and he and his sister were sent to work on various farms pretending to be Christians. His scariest time was when he was separated from his parents and he didn’t know if they were alive. There were many kind people who assisted Paul and his family during their ordeal, without whom they likely would not have survived.
Paul and his sister were reunited with their parents and moved back to Paris in 1945.
Paul arrived in Australia with his family in 1949.
Join us on the 30th of March to meet Paul and learn about his experiences.
Image | Simon Shiff
Please join us for a lecture by Denis Passalent.
Denis will be sharing his personal story about the Gentilli Family.
Moisè Vittorio Gentilli was born in Mereto di Tomba (UD) in 1894, where his parents moved a year before from San Daniele del Friuli. He continued his father’s grocery business in the small village. He married Norma Stella Colombo in 1921. In 1930 the couple moved to Venice where they directed the local Jewish Nursing Home. On 2nd December 1943 they were arrested in Olgiate Comasco, while trying to escape to Switzerland. Deported temporarily to Fossoli, they were sent to Auschwitz in February 1944 with five other close relatives.
They never came back.
Denis decided to investigate the experiences of this family, “because their life and their tragedy must not be forgotten”
Image | Davide Merello’s illustration
Denis was born in Udine (Italy) and moved to Venice at the age of 18 to start his tertiary education at Cà Foscari University in Linguistics. After attending a Harvard Summer School in Renaissance Art and Interracial Literature, Denis completed his Masters at Université Aix-Marseille (France) in French Literature and ACU (Australia) in Language Teaching.
Denis is based in Melbourne since 2015 where he currently works as a Secondary School Teacher and Head of Faculty for Languages. Among his fields of interest, Denis is passionate about Jewish studies and the experiences of Holocaust survivors.
Award-winning author Karen Kirsten’s book is the captivating account of her quest to piece together her family’s hidden history.
Karen will be discussing her mother’s remarkable story of Holocaust survival after she was born in the Warsaw ghetto and smuggled out in a backpack, and the letter her mother received in Melbourne when she was thirty-two that shattered everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. A story of love and trauma, Karen’s experiences will resonate especially with those familiar with the silences that pervade the homes of Holocaust survivors.
Image | Courtesy of Imperial War Museum London
Karen Kirsten is the author of Irena’s Gift, shortlisted for the 2024 Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Non-Fiction and the US National Jewish Book Award and winner of two Zibby Awards for Best Family Drama & Best Story of Overcoming (US). A former business executive, Karen is an Australian writer and Holocaust educator who lives in the US. Her essay, “Searching for the Nazi Who Saved My Mother’s Life” was nominated for The Best American Essays. Karen’s writing has also appeared in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend, Salon, Huffington Post, The Week, The Jerusalem Post, WIEZ in Poland, Boston’s National Public Radio station, and more.
Join a MHM expert for a tour of Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. Explore the exhibition with one of our expert team, hear about the process of bringing these rare artefacts to Melbourne and the stories behind this collection.
On display for the first time outside of Europe, Underground exhibits rare artefacts from the hidden archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This archive was led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum who initiated an unprecedented campaign to collect material in the ghetto—the collection today known as the Ringelblum Archive. This collective of academics, writers, and activists working secretly in the first attempt to document the German-initiated mass murder of European Jews as it was happening. The exhibition brings home to the viewer the act of resistance that the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto constituted—a never-ending, arduous, harrowing but ultimately successful attempt to write the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims.
Please select a date
Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto is presented in partnership with the Jewish Historical Institute, Poland, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Germany.
Exhibition Sponsors
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum would like to thank our exhibition sponsors
Programming Sponsors
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum would like to thank our programming sponsors
For many years, historians of the Holocaust focused exclusively on the experiences of men: men who were in hiding, who were deported to camps, who languished in ghettos or who took up arms and fought. We know – both from the historical record and from the testimony of survivors – that women experienced the same things in fundamentally different ways, and at times experienced fundamentally different tribulations. Join us for this lecture delivered by Dr Simon Holloway will look at the Holocaust through a “herstory” lens: in what ways did women experience the Warsaw Ghetto and in what ways did they resist? Special attention will be given to the evidence from the secret archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, some of which will be on display in our Underground exhibit.
This talk is presented as part of the public programming running alongside the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s inaugural special exhibition in the new Alter Special Exhibitions Gallery – Underground: The Secret Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto.On display for the first time outside of Europe, Underground exhibits rare artefacts from the hidden archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This archive was led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum who initiated an unprecedented campaign to collect material in the ghetto—the collection today known as the Ringelblum Archive. This collective of academics, writers, and activists working secretly in the first attempt to document the German-initiated mass murder of European Jews as it was happening. The exhibition brings home to the viewer the act of resistance that the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto constituted—a never-ending, arduous, harrowing but ultimately successful attempt to write the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims
Underground is on display at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum from 17 November 2024 to 30 March 2025.
Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto is presented in partnership with the Jewish Historical Institute, Poland, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Germany.
The Nazi assault against Jewish people was in equal parts an assault against what they perceived to be the spirit of Judaism. Synagogues and study houses were desecrated or destroyed, and Jews whose manner of dress indicated that they were religious faced humiliation and violence. In the face of this onslaught, many nonetheless found ways of spiritually resisting. In this lecture, Simon Holloway will address the nature of religious life during the Holocaust, with a particular focus on the ghetto in Warsaw. Special attention will be given to the secret archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, some of which will be on display in our Underground exhibit.
This talk is presented as part of the public programming running alongside the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s inaugural special exhibition in the new Alter Special Exhibitions Gallery – Underground: The Secret Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto.On display for the first time outside of Europe, Underground exhibits rare artefacts from the hidden archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This archive was led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum who initiated an unprecedented campaign to collect material in the ghetto—the collection today known as the Ringelblum Archive. This collective of academics, writers, and activists working secretly in the first attempt to document the German-initiated mass murder of European Jews as it was happening. The exhibition brings home to the viewer the act of resistance that the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto constituted—a never-ending, arduous, harrowing but ultimately successful attempt to write the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims.
Underground is on display at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum from 17 November 2024 to 30 March 2025.
Image | Religious Jews captured by the SS during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The German caption reads: “Jewish rabbis”. Courtesy USHMM.
Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto is presented in partnership with the Jewish Historical Institute, Poland, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Germany.
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for a rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Sarah Saaroni OAM.
Sarah was born in Lublin, Poland in 1926. Soon after the German invasion her family moved into the Lublin Ghetto. When deportations began Sarah and her family went into hiding in a nearby village.
Her parents told her to pretend to be Christian and go with other Poles to work in Germany.
For the next few years Sarah lived under false identities as a Christian labourer. She escaped capture several times. At the end of the war Sarah returned to Lublin but found no family there. She eventually reunited with one brother.
Sarah met her husband in 1946. They married in 1948, where another brother had lived since before the war. Sarah arrived in Australia in 1953.
Join us on the 23rd of February to meet Sarah and learn about her experiences.
Image | photographed by Simon Shiff
It is a sad but simple truth: the overwhelming majority of Jewish children in Poland did not survive the Holocaust. While the manner in which those children perished has long occupied the attention of historians, we must also consider how they lived.
Looking at Warsaw in particular, this standalone lecture delivered by Simon Holloway will consider the peculiar circumstances that pertained to children: the games they played, the skills they learned, those who looked out for them and those concerning whom they needed to beware. Special attention will be given to the evidence from the secret archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, some of which will be on display in our Underground exhibit.
This talk is presented as part of the public programming running alongside the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s inaugural special exhibition in the new Alter Special Exhibitions Gallery – Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto.
On display for the first time outside of Europe, Underground exhibits rare artefacts from the hidden archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This archive was led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum who initiated an unprecedented campaign to collect material in the ghetto—the collection today known as the Ringelblum Archive. This collective of academics, writers, and activists working secretly in the first attempt to document the German-initiated mass murder of European Jews as it was happening. The exhibition brings home to the viewer the act of resistance that the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto constituted—a never-ending, arduous, harrowing but ultimately successful attempt to write the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims.
Underground is on display at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum from 17 November 2024 to 30 March 2025.
Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto is presented in partnership with the Jewish Historical Institute, Poland, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Germany.
Included within the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s exhibition of Underground: The Ringelblum Archives, a display case of artefacts has been included to connect Melbourne to Warsaw. These historically significant objects originate from Warsaw, and include a range of correspondence from Jews incarcerated in the ghetto sent to relatives in Melbourne.
Dr Anna Hirsh, MHM’s Manager of Collections & Research will present and discuss the contents and meaning of these letters, as last connectors to the world outside.
This talk is presented as part of the public programming running alongside the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s inaugural special exhibition in the new Alter Special Exhibitions Gallery – Underground: The Secret Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. On display for the first time outside of Europe, Underground exhibits rare artefacts from the hidden archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This archive was led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum who initiated an unprecedented campaign to collect material in the ghetto—the collection today known as the Ringelblum Archive. This collective of academics, writers, and activists working secretly in the first attempt to document the German-initiated mass murder of European Jews as it was happening. The exhibition brings home to the viewer the act of resistance that the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto constituted—a never-ending, arduous, harrowing but ultimately successful attempt to write the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims.
Underground is on display at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum from 17 November 2024 to 30 March 2025.
Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto is presented in partnership with the Jewish Historical Institute, Poland, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Germany.
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.
We invite you to join us for the commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Tuesday 28 January 2025.
This year’s event commemorates 80 years since the end of World War Two.
Please join us to hear three Holocaust survivors share their experiences of liberation and what liberation means to them. This panel discussion will be moderated by Dr Breann Fallon, MHM Head of Programming and Exhibitions.
Image | Simon Shiff
Gilah was born in the Netherlands in 1941. At the time of her birth, the Nazis had already taken control of the Netherlands. Gilah was 16 months old when her parents made the courageous decision to send her to live under an assumed identity with a non-Jewish family for her survival. The Zwanikken family looked after Gilah for two and a half years. Gilah often had to hide when guests came over and remained indoors to avoid suspicion. When she reunited with her biological parents after the war, she found it difficult to part with her foster family. Gilah maintained contact with them, even after her family and Gilah came to Australia in 1953.
Image | Simon Shiff
Peter Gaspar was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1937. He was four years old when Bratislava was occupied by the Nazis.
In June 1942 Peter was told by his teacher not return to school because he was Jewish. Peter and his parents went into hiding, spending nights anywhere they could find. For several days during the winter of 1944 they slept in dugout the size of a grave.
Peter fell ill and with no other option, the family turned themselves in. Peter and his mother were separated from his father and sent to Terezin concentration camp, where they were imprisoned for five months. They were liberated on 8 May 1945.
Peter arrived in Australia in 1949.
Image | Simon Shiff
Eve was born in 1939 in Czechoslovakia and survived the Holocaust in hiding, as did her parents. After the war ended, the family went to Trebisov but they eventually migrated to Australia in fear that the Communist regime would pose a threat to their safety. Eve and her parents arrived in Melbourne in 1949.
Eve married, had a successful career as a teacher and has a daughter, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Join a MHM expert for a tour of Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. Explore the exhibition with one of our expert team, hear about the process of bringing these rare artefacts to Melbourne and the stories behind this collection.
On display for the first time outside of Europe, Underground exhibits rare artefacts from the hidden archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This archive was led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum who initiated an unprecedented campaign to collect material in the ghetto—the collection today known as the Ringelblum Archive. This collective of academics, writers, and activists working secretly in the first attempt to document the German-initiated mass murder of European Jews as it was happening. The exhibition brings home to the viewer the act of resistance that the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto constituted—a never-ending, arduous, harrowing but ultimately successful attempt to write the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims.
Please select a date
Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto is presented in partnership with the Jewish Historical Institute, Poland, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Germany.
Exhibition Sponsors
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum would like to thank our exhibition sponsors
Programming Sponsors
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum would like to thank our programming sponsors
Join us for conversation with Dr Simone Gigliotti about film, history, digital curation, and regenerated archives of movement.
Dr Gigliotti’s latest monograph Restless Archive is a digital, open access book and exhibition that analyses how non-fiction film (documentaries, newsreels, home movies, fundraiser films and documentaries) represented Jewish home-seeking routes and obstructions during and after the Nazi period (from 1933 to 1949). The digital platform on which the book is published functions as a curation zone that gathers previously dispersed material and presents them as a “restless archive” of historical displacement, politics and prejudice.
Bio: Simone Gigliotti is Reader in Holocaust Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.
Dr Simon Holloway has a passion for Holocaust education and believes strongly in helping to preserve the legacy of our survivors. As MHM Manager of Adult Education and Academic Engagement, Simon creates and oversees programs to enhance broader community understanding of the Holocaust and its lessons.
From the moment that the Warsaw Ghetto was sealed in November of 1940, historian Emanuel Ringelblum recognised the importance of testimony. With a small number of colleagues, he compiled reports on life under increasingly extreme conditions. With the onset of the Great Deportation in July of 1942, the future looked increasingly bleak and the nature of the archive changed. From that moment, until the final eradication of the ghetto in early 1943, the purpose of the secret archive was to preserve… everything.
In this lecture, Dr Simon Holloway will explore the history of the archive and the personalities of its contributors. Special attention will be given to those objects that the Melbourne Holocaust Museum is proud to showcase in our new Underground exhibit.
This talk is presented as part of the public programming running alongside the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s inaugural special exhibition in the new Alter Special Exhibitions Gallery – Underground: The Secret Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. On display for the first time outside of Europe, Underground exhibits rare artefacts from the hidden archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This archive was led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum who initiated an unprecedented campaign to collect material in the ghetto—the collection today known as the Ringelblum Archive. This collective of academics, writers, and activists working secretly in the first attempt to document the German-initiated mass murder of European Jews as it was happening. The exhibition brings home to the viewer the act of resistance that the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto constituted—a never-ending, arduous, harrowing but ultimately successful attempt to write the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims.
Underground is on display at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum from 17 November 2024 to 30 March 2025.
Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto is presented in partnership with the Jewish Historical Institute, Poland, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Germany.
World renowned singer Lenka Lichtenberg and her ensemble have toured Canada, the USA, Europe and South America and now bring this brilliant show to Kadimah for one night only.
This is a show for all music lovers. While heartbreaking — the music of “Silent Tears” also brings hope and inspiration.
Dan Rosenberg, producer and narrator of Silent Tears says: “We created new music based on the Polish tangos from the 1930s – an Eastern European genre mixed with Jewish and Romani music.” About 3000 tangos were written during the inter-war years in Poland, many of them by Polish Jews.
This wonderful concert blends original Yiddish tango music with poems and stories from women who survived the Holocaust in Poland.
It features songs from the band’s albums Thieves of Dreams + Silent Tears, based on poetry that Lenka’s Lichtenberg’s grandmother wrote while incarcerated at the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp.
The concert is fully accessible to non-Yiddish speakers
