The Freedom Circus tells the story of one family’s courage, hope, survival as well as their death-defying act escaping the Nazis and starting a new life in Australia.

After Sue Smethurst married into the Horowitz family, she heard snippets of stories about an astonishing cross-country escape through Poland and Russia during World War II, and of life in a circus. Sue realised she was in possession of an important piece of history and so, armed with a tin of old photographs and a voice recorder, she visited her husband’s grandmother, Mindla Horowitz, each week in an attempt to find out more.

Mindla was a young Jewish girl living in Warsaw when she met Kubush, a clown performing with Poland’s famous Staniewski Brothers circus. The young couple fell in love and were married, but soon after, war broke out. When Hitler began his reign of terror in Warsaw, Kubush was far from home with the circus. Mindla fled with their little boy, Gad, to be with her husband, but after arriving in the eastern city of Bialystok she found the circus had already moved on. She was captured, sent to a Russian prison and Gad was taken from her.

Join us in person at our temporary home in Malvern East or via Zoom to see award-winning author and journalist Sue Smethurst in conversation with the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s Co-President Sue Hampel OAM about The Freedom Circus.

This is the first in-person event since COVID-19 closed our doors more than a year ago. We are thrilled to welcome you back! We understand that not everyone is comfortable with public gatherings, so we are also offering the option of live streaming via Zoom.

Please note that for those who will be joining us in-person, we will provide the address of our Malvern East location in an email after booking. For those who will be watching on Zoom, a link and instructions on how to join will be provided via email before the event.

The MHM Film Club will be screening the Academy Award nominated film “Divided We Fall” (2000), which is made in Czechoslovakia. The film is directed by Jan Hrebejk.

In World War II Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, a childless couple, Josef and Marie Cizek, can only watch while the Jewish family of their employers, the Wieners, are first removed from their own home to a spare room in their house by the Nazis, then deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp. Years later, young David Wiener, the sole surviving member of that family has managed to escape and make it to the Cizeks.

Although fully aware of the extreme danger of harbouring a Jew in the Third Reich, the Cizek’s can not permit themselves to leave David to certain death and agree to hide him. However, this decision leads to terrible danger of discovery by the Nazis and especially their friend and Nazi collaborator, Horst Prohazka, who is attracted to Marie.

With desperate cleverness and luck, the Cizeks struggle to keep the secret, even when Horst begins to suspect. In doing so, they find themselves making unorthodox choices and learning about the true nature of the people around them.

The MHM Film Club will be screening “Shores of Light” (2015), which goes for 52 mins and features Hebrew, Italian & English subtitles. The film is directed by Yael Katzir.

This is the poignant untold story of warmth and compassion after a terrible war. Thousands of Jewish survivors arrived in Southern Italy after WWII, on their way to the land of Israel. To their surprise they were welcomed by the poor local Italians.

At this time of psychological and physical healing, hundreds of children were born.

The film follows the story of three Israeli women who were born then, in Santa-Maria-di-Leuca (1946). They decide to discover the footprints left by their parents. The film weaves rare historical footage with unique current testimonials capturing a ray of light after great darkness.

We shall also be joined by guest speaker Moshe Fiszman, a survivor and inmate of DP Camp Santa-Maria-di-Leuca.

The film Blinky & Me (2011) goes for 75 mins, and is directed by Tomasz Magierski.

Yoram Gross’ powerful animated stories shaped the identities of countless Australian children who grew up watching them on film and television. Yet it is a little known fact that the many adventures of Blinky Bill, Gross’ depiction of Australian history in The Little Convict (1979), and many other influential narratives, were heavily influenced by the events of the Holocaust in Europe.

Shedding light on this intriguing facet of Australia’s cultural history, Blinky & Me tells the story of Gross’ childhood experiences in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. Travelling to present day Krakow with his grandchildren, Gross recounts how he narrowly survived persecution and reflects on the role of artistic creation throughout his life.

This event will feature our special guest speakers, who are Yoram Gross and the film’s director, Tomasz Magierski.