Please join us for a lecture by Vic Alhadeff OAM.
July 2024 marks 80 years since the destruction of the Jewish communities of Rhodes and the other Dodecanese islands.
The Jews of Greece experienced the best and the worst of humanity. The majority of the community of Salonika was murdered, while the entire community of Zakynthos was saved. The community of Rhodes Island – where Vic Alhadeff’s family originated – was decimated, while a Muslim diplomat rescued some of them. Vic will discuss the Holocaust in Greece, including his father’s remarkable story.
Vic grew up in Zimbabwe.
His parents were born on Rhodes Island, from where 151 Alhadeffs, including his paternal grandparents, were deported to Auschwitz and murdered.
Vic has dedicated his career to championing human rights, is a non-executive director of SBS and the author of two books on South African history.
Please join Linda Royal for the book launch of The Star on the Grave at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.
In 1940, as the Nazis sweep toward Lithuania, Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara defies his government and secretly issues visas to fleeing Jewish refugees. After the war, Sugihara is dismissed and disappears into obscurity.
Three decades later, in Australia, Rachel Margol is shocked when her engagement reveals a long-held family secret: she is Jewish. As she grapples with this deception and the dysfunction it has caused, unspoken tragedies from the past begin to come to light. When an opportunity arrives to visit Chiune Sugihara, the man who risked his life to save the Margols during World War II, Rachel becomes determined to meet him. But will a journey to Japan, and the secrets it uncovers, heal the family or fracture them for good?
The Star on the Grave is a powerful and moving novel inspired by the true story of Chiune Sugihara, and the thousands of people – including the author – who owe him their lives.
The Star on the Grave is Linda’s first novel and will be available for purchase at the event.
Linda Margolin Royal was born in Sydney, forever thankful her father and grandparents received life-saving transit visas from Chiune Sugihara in 1940, which enabled them to enter Japan and escape the Holocaust; and ultimately meant they could find a permanent, safe home in Australia in 1941. The remainder of her family numbering in the hundreds were murdered in concentration camps. This work is therefore a labour of love to which she is now devoting her life.
She trained as a graphic designer and then copywriter, and spent 30 years in the advertising industry both in Australia and the US, writing TV, radio and press for major multinationals. Her first instinct was to write her family’s story as a film, which is currently in development; and the book grew organically from this screenplay.
Please join us at Melbourne Holocaust Museum for an evening lecture by Dr Margaret Taft.
The last thirty years has seen an explosion in Holocaust survivor testimony, oral history projects and Holocaust museums and memorials. This contemporary memory boom has led to a false consensus – that victims and survivors never spoke nor wrote of their horrific experiences either during or immediately after the Holocaust, and that this trend was only reversed by the Eichmann trial in 1961. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust began speaking and writing of their experiences even during the war itself and later in its immediate aftermath. This not only produced a prodigious body of testimonies but led to the development of a new genre of Holocaust memoir. In this lecture, Dr Margaret Taft will speak of the evolution of Holocaust survivor testimony and will consider the ways in which survivor testimony and survivor identity have changed over time.
Image | Courtesy of University Archives & Special Collections, Paul V. Galvin Library, Illinois Institute of Technology.
Dr Margaret Taft is an historian and a research affiliate at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilization, Monash University. Her interests lie in the development of Holocaust testimony, the retelling of life stories, the cultural history of Yiddish Melbourne and the reconstruction of Jewish life in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Her publications include From Victim to Survivor: The Emergence and Development of the Holocaust Witness 1941-1949; A Second Chance: The Making of Yiddish Melbourne which was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Community History Awards; Leo and Mina Fink: For the Greater Good, and The Woman in the Photographs, a personal account of her mother’s Holocaust experiences.
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for the rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Andy Factor OAM
Andy was born in Plauen, Germany in 1924. He was nine year old when the Nazis came to power in Germany.
After the antisemitic laws were introduced in Germany, Andy experienced isolation and humiliation.
Andy and his father were arrested the day after Kristallnacht. He was released after a week, but his father was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp for six weeks.
Thanks to Andy’s relatives in America, his family has received visas to France where they lived for several months during which time the war broke out.
Andy and his family arrived in Australia in 1940.
Join us on the 7th of July to meet Andy and learn about his experiences.
Image | photographed by Simon Shiff
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum invites you to a lecture by Dr Anna Hirsh, Manager of Collections and Research.
How can Jewish cultural and religious heritage and life before the Holocaust be understood now, after so much was destroyed?
The MHM’s new permanent exhibition, Everybody had a Name features an artistic reimagining of Perec Willenberg’s elaborate ceiling mural from the Old Czestochowa Synagogue.
Dr Anna Hirsh, MHM’s Manager of Collections & Research, created a reconstruction of the elaborate mural guided by a handful of photographs of the ceiling, Willenberg’s surviving artworks, and other historical and artistic references.
As part of the museum’s Czestochowa Room, this recreation is a tribute to the beauty and meaning of Europe’s destroyed synagogues, inspiring a visual understanding of pre-war Jewish religion and culture to Australian audiences. In this lecture, Anna will describe the design processes of the recreation, and explore the symbolic imagery embedded in Willenberg’s intricate artwork. Merging the historical, religious and artistic, the ceiling project encapsulates the role of art and heritage in the preservation of memory and Jewish culture.
Mark Ashkanasy, eminent art and architectural photographer and digital artist, will join Anna to describe his contributions to this ceiling project: photographing the work, and his methodologies and philosophies of the digital post production in preparation for its installation.
With an introduction on the Czestochowa Room by Dr Breann Fallon.
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.
Melbourne Holocaust Museum is excited to host a panel discussion: How to Talk About the Holocaust with Children.
We welcome acclaimed author Morris Gleitzman, Dr Shalya Hirschson a child psychologist and MHM Pedagogy Specialist Lisa Phillips, for an informative conversation moderated by MHM Manager of Adult Education Dr Simon Holloway.
Morris Gleitzman is a bestselling Australian children’s author. His books explore serious and sometimes confronting subjects in humourous and unexpected ways. His titles include Two Weeks With The Queen, Grace, Doubting Thomas, Bumface, Give Peas A Chance, Extra Time, Loyal Creatures, Digging Up Dad and the series Once, Then, After, Soon, Maybe, Now and Always. Morris lives in Sydney and Brisbane, and his books are published in more than twenty countries.
Dr Shalya Hirschson is a psychologist who runs her own private practice in Melbourne.She holds a Doctorate (PhD) and a master’s degree in educational psychology and provides counselling and
assessment to children, adolescents, and adults. Shalya’s special fields of interest include parenting support, social skills, childhood trauma, depression, anxiety, grief, loss, ASD, ADHD, school refusal, learning difficulties and the impact of medical conditions on psychological well-being.Shalya also works with adults experiencing relationship difficulties, life adjustments, grief, anxiety and depression,attachment difficulties and medical conditions.
Image |Jarrod Freedman
Join the Cracow Memorial Committee for the 81st anniversary commemoration of the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto.
Commemorate the tragic events of March 13th and 14th, 1943, when the Kraków ghetto was liquidated.
Honor the memory of the pre-war Jewish community that perished during the Holocaust.
Celebrate the resilience of life over death—the victory of survival and remembrance.
This solemn event serves as a bridge between generations now living in Melbourne, ensuring that the memory of those lost remains alive and that the lessons of history continue to resonate.
What does it mean to be proud of being Jewish? In a post-October 7th world, when so many aspects of Jewish identity are being put under a microscope, some might feel more comfortable keeping their cultural and religious observance private.
In this timely and important conversation, Ben M. Freeman will discuss the importance of being open about one’s Jewishness, the necessity of maintaining Jewish pride, and techniques for inculcating a love of Judaism in one’s children. With increasing levels of antisemitism in Melbourne and around the world, this conversation will also afford an opportunity to consider tactics for navigating hostile situations.
Founder of the modern Jewish Pride movement, a leader, thinker, and educator, Ben M Freeman is the author of the seminal Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People and its follow up, Reclaiming our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride. He is currently working on the finale of his Jewish Pride trilogy, The Jews: An Indigenous People. Educating, inspiring and empowering, his work focuses on Jewish identity and historical and contemporary Jew-hatred. A Holocaust scholar for over fifteen years, Ben came to prominence during the Corbyn Labour Jew-hate crisis in the UK and quickly became one of his generation’s leading Jewish thinkers and voices against Jew-hate. Voted number 8 on the inaugural 25 Young ViZionaries list by the Jerusalem Post and JNF-USA, he is also a Jewish Diplomat for the World Jewish Congress, a Research Fellow for the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism Policy and a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.
PhD, Classical Hebrew and Biblical Studies: MA; Ancient History
Simon has a passion for Holocaust education and believes strongly in helping to preserve the legacy of our survivors. In his role he creates and oversees programs to enhance broader community understanding of the Holocaust and its lessons.
For six years, Simon served as a sessional lecturer at the University of Sydney, and as an Education Officer at the Sydney Jewish Museum. Simon has developed and taught programs relating to Nazi racial science, Jewish resistance and the history of the Holocaust. Simon’s research interests concern the identification of references to the biblical and rabbinic literature in documents produced during the war.
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s Holckner Family Bnei Mitzvah program is a ninety-minutes workshop designed to connect those undergoing their Bnei Mitzvah to the Holocaust in a meaningful way. The program will allow participants to engage with the experiences of Holocaust survivors, to be inspired by their resilience and the kindness of strangers, as well as to reflect on the significance of their Bnei Mitzvah and what being Jewish means to them.
Parents/guardians do not need to stay for the duration of the program.
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum invites you to a lecture run by Prof. Andrew Markus AO FASSA.
Rabbi Ralph Genende wrote in early March that “since October 7, I have keenly realised that history has apparently reverted back to the most primeval of times… I certainly never expected to feel this way in Australia.” The Executive Council of Australian Jewry documented 662 antisemitic incidents during October and November 2023, reflecting a 738% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Among these incidents were death threats directed at Jewish organisations and individuals, frequent anti-Israel demonstrations extolling violence, pervasive acts of intimidation such as the public release of personal information identifying members of a Jewish Australian WhatsApp group, and the proliferation of toxic content on social media platforms. Notable flashpoints included a convoy of vehicles driven from Sydney’s western suburbs through the centre of Jewish community and a violent street protest in Caulfield, prompting the evacuation of a synagogue. This talk will consider historical contexts to evaluate present-day manifestations of antisemitism, with reference to earlier periods of Australian history and pre-war Europe.
Image | Shutterstock
Andrew Markus is Emeritus Professor in Monash University’s Faculty of Arts and was previously Director of the university’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation. Since 2004 he has been a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2021. He is the author or co-author of more than one hundred academic articles, book chapters, reference works, and reports, and of nineteen books, including Australian Race Relations, The Struggle for Aboriginal Rights, and A Second Chance: A History of Yiddish Melbourne.
He has played a leading role in two national surveys of the Jewish community, Gen08 and Gen17, and was the senior researcher on the Scanlon Foundation social cohesion surveys from 2007 to 2021.
On 16 May, MHM Manager of Adult Education Dr Simon Holloway will present a lecture in collabration with B’nai B’rith, exploring the Holocaust experience for Jewish communities living in Hungary.
In 1944, the Jewish communities of Hungary made up some of the last remaining Jews in all of Axis-controlled Europe. The tragic story of their annihilation is all the more macabre when one considers that it happened under the gaze of the entire world, who knew what deportation meant. In this lecture, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the deportations from Hungary, we will explore the peculiar situation faced by Hungarian Jews in light of their prewar experiences, the means by which they were so rapidly destroyed, and some of the heroic attempts made at the 11th hour to rescue them.
Image | A memorial to the murdered Jews in Hungary, on the Danube river, Hungary.
PhD, Classical Hebrew and Biblical Studies: MA; Ancient History
Simon has a passion for Holocaust education and believes strongly in helping to preserve the legacy of our survivors. In his role he creates and oversees programs to enhance broader community understanding of the Holocaust and its lessons.
For six years, Simon served as a sessional lecturer at the University of Sydney, and as an Education Officer at the Sydney Jewish Museum. Simon has developed and taught programs relating to Nazi racial science, Jewish resistance and the history of the Holocaust. Simon’s research interests concern the identification of references to the biblical and rabbinic literature in documents produced during the war.
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for the rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Guta Goldstein.
Guta was born in Lodz, Poland in 1930. She was nine years old when the Germans invaded Poland.
Guta, her sister, and father were forced into the Lodz Ghetto. Both her sister and father died of illness.
on 14 August 1944 Guta was transported to Auschwitz, where her aunt and cousin were sent to the gas chambers on arrival.
In September Guta and her remaining cousins were transferred to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Guta was eventually sent to the labour camp of Mehltheuer and was liberated by the US army in April 1945.
Guta arrived to Australia in 1949.
We invite you to join us for the commemoration of Yom HaShoah on Monday 6 May 2024.
This year we will host a panel discussion moderated by MHM CEO Dr Steven Cooke. We look forward to hearing from our three panellists, Rachelle Unreich, Anita Lester and Adam Butt, who will share their lived and professional experience of taking on the custodianship of memory. The evening will explore how we can all carry the lessons of the Holocaust into the future and will seek to understand how, in a world threatened by increasing misinformation, distortion and denial, we can bring truth to the forefront.
Image | Simon Shiff
PhD, University of Bristol
Dr Steven Cooke has over 30 years’ experience in the cultural heritage sector across both museums and academia. An internationally recognised expert on the memorialisation of the Holocaust, Steven has published extensively on both the historical evolution of Holocaust museums and memorials, and new approaches to sharing Holocaust survivor testimony. His exceptional work has led the Australian Government to appoint him to the Australian delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, where he represents Australia on the Memorials and Museums Working Group.
From 2002 until 2011 Steven held leadership positions at some of Australia’s most significant cultural heritage sites, including the Shrine of Remembrance. From there, he transitioned into academia where he worked at Deakin University as an Associate Professor and Course Director for the Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies postgraduate programs, helping inspire the next generation of museum professionals.
In 2020 he was the lead investigator on the landmark Gandel Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness in Australia Survey.
Steven believes passionately about the role Holocaust museums can play in educating the whole community about the dangers of racism and antisemitism and in working towards a more cohesive and respectful society.
Rachelle Unreich started her journalism career when she was completing her Arts/Law degrees at Monash University. In addition to studying writing at UCLA, she has lived in New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Melbourne. She has been a journalist for 38 years, writing cover stories for The Age, Harper’s Bazaar, marie claire, Rolling Stone and others, and has had regular columns in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Herald Sun and Elle magazine. Her work has appeared extensively in Australia, the US, UK and South-East Asia. She currently lives in Melbourne. A Brilliant Life is her debut.
Anita Lester, a multidisciplinary artist from Melbourne, Australia, is celebrated not only for her music but also as an award-winning painter, filmmaker, poet, and illustrator.
She gained recognition through her solo EP “Erato,” released in March 2020 amidst uncertain times. Tracks such as “Wrong Time” and her cover of Leonard Cohen’s “You Want it Darker” found resonance, featuring in film and television, including ‘The Walking Dead’. Her debut album ‘The Clown’, released in March 2023.
In the realm of film, her short ‘Noch Am Leben (I’m Still Alive)’ garnered acclaim at over 50 festivals worldwide, becoming a fixture in Holocaust and Jewish museums globally. Her debut feature ‘Song of Songs’, announced in 2023, further solidifies her impact on cinema.
Anita’s paintings, characterized by their technical skill and mythological themes, have earned praise, with notable works including a portrait of Flea from the ‘Red Hot Chili Peppers’ and a series depicting Holocaust survivors currently set for exhibit in 2025.
Her literary contributions extend to poetry, storytelling, and collaborations such as Arnold Zabel’s upcoming children’s book ‘The Glass Horse of Venice’, set for release in 2024.
Anita Lester’s art is deeply rooted in storytelling, intertwining themes of love, longing, hope, and Jewish culture across her various creative endeavors.
Adam Butt is a barrister who specializes in international arbitration, commercial litigation and human rights law. He has acted on numerous international investment and commercial arbitrations with seats in Europe, Asia, Australia, North America and the Caribbean. He acts on complex human rights and commercial cases and regularly leads teams in Federal and state Supreme Courts, in cases both for and against the Crown. Adam has won major native title and Aboriginal land claim disputes across Australia, in addition to significant claims brought under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth). This has included claims concerning antisemitism including the Brighton Secondary case, Kaplan v State of Victoria. Currently Adam acts on several cases which involve racial discrimination and related matters, including claims concerning antisemitism and issues of discrimination against Indigenous Australians. During 2020 to 2023, Adam was a finalist each year in Australia’s Lawyers Weekly Barrister of the Year Award, including winning the Award in 2021. Adam’s late grandmother, Rose Butt, was one of the founding volunteer of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.
Please join us for our nine-week Holocaust Education Course.
This course, running over a series of consecutive weeks, spans the history of the Holocaust from the 19th century through to the liberation of the camps and return to life. Each evening will run from 7-9pm with coffee and tea provided.
The course will be facilitated by MHM Manager of Adult Education Dr Simon Holloway, Co-President Sue Hampel OAM with each evening dedicated to a particular theme.
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 | Prisoners head south on a Death March from Dachau concentration camp; Gruenwald, Germany, 29 April, 1945. Courtesy of Yad Vashem.
Dates and topics are as follows:
Week 1: The World that Was (Wednesday, 1 May)
Week 2: From the Cross to the Swastika (Wednesday, 8 May)
Week 3: The Rise and Fall of German Jewry and Austrian Jewry (Wednesday, 15 May)
Week 4: Death and Life in the Nazi Ghettos (Wednesday, 22 May)
Week 5: Life Unworthy of Life: The Origins of the Final Solution (Wednesday, 29 May)
Week 6: The Concentration Camp Universe (Wednesday, 5 June)
Break – no course on the week of 12 June.
Week 7: By Any Means Available: Jewish Resistance (Wednesday, 19 June)
Week 8: Survey of Non-Jewish Responses (Wednesday, 24 June)
Week 9: Liberation and Return to Life (Wednesday 26, June)
The Melbourne Holocaust Museum invites you to the exciting launch of FutureGen.
A new generation committed to the preservation of Holocaust history and education
This event will feature guest speaker Holocaust survivor Peter Gaspar OAM. There will also be a special opportunity to tour the ‘Everybody Had a Name’ exhibition and to experience the memorial room after dark.
Cocktails and canapés will be served.
This event is for the FutureGen community. FutureGen is a new generation of community members committed to the preservation of Holocaust history and Holocaust education
Presented by Dr Victoria Grace Walden SFHEA FRSA MILM.
The rise and use of AI and new technologies in our society brings with it advantages as well as new challenges to Holocaust museums.
Although AI and technology present many dangers to the preservation of truth, if used correctly, they can make a vital contribution to the sustainability of Holocaust memory, providing the tools to preserve and share historical collections in ways that weren’t possible before.
Join us as Dr Victoria Walden addresses the value and the limitations of technology during this transformational phase of Holocaust education.
Please join the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, for a special film-screening event.
When Sydney-based artist and academic Ella Dreyfus set about exploring her late father’s experiences in the Holocaust, she began a journey that would take her back to Berlin and would culminate with the completion of a powerful 30-minute documentary. With the hope that her film will initiate a dialogue for subsequent generations to confront their own inherited traumas, Dreyfus Drei seeks to penetrate the wall of silence that many survivors erect around their lives.
Combining family interviews in Melbourne and Sydney with visits to the family’s former homes and the construction of public art installations in Germany, the film also features her uncle George Dreyfus’s musical compositions and her cousin Jonathan’s new arrangements. Dreyfus Drei creates a family portrait about exile, identity, and art, and navigates the complex terrain of how three generations from one family each negotiate their own return to the “homeland”.
Dreyfus Drei was written, directed and produced by Ella Dreyfus, co-directed and co-produced by Janis Westphal, Sevenpeaks Films in Berlin, executive production by the Goethe-Institut and commissioned by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media for the 1700 Years of Jewish Life in Germany Festival.
After the screening of Dreyfus Drei, Dr Simon Holloway will be in conversation with the director, Ella Dreyfus, who will also take questions from the audience. Following this conversation, participants will have the opportunity to explore our new museum exhibit: Everybody Had a Name.
Learn more about Dreyfus Drei at www.dreyfus3.com
Image | Dreyfus Drei film cover
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for the rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Vivienne Spiegel.
Viv was born in Paris, France in 1934. She was six years old when the Germans invaded France.
In July 1942 Viv’s, her mother, and two siblings were caught up in the Vel d’Hiv Round Up. In a stroke of luck, the family was released before the transports to Auschwitz.
Following this, Viv’s mother made the difficult decision to separate from her children for their safety. After experiences with families that stole their food rations, Viv and her siblings were sent into hiding in the countryside with a family who cared for them until the end of the war.
After liberation, Viv and her siblings were sent to an orphanage for children, before immigrating to Australia in 1948.
Viv later found out her parents were murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
