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Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for a rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Dr Henry Ekert AM.
Henry was born in Przemysl, Poland in 1936.
He was 4 years old when the Nazis invaded and occupied Poland.
Henry and his parents were forced to live in the Przemysl Ghetto. Henry’s first experience of death was with his grandmother; it was the first of many horrors he witnessed throughout the war.
Henry was smuggled out of the ghetto and moved through several hiding places, including living with his father in a cupboard for six weeks.
Eventually, a man named Henek helped the family to hide and arranged for his father to work in Krakow. Henry spent time hiding with one of his parents and on his own. Henry regards Hanek and his sister Aunty Bola as their saviours.
Henry and his parents were reunited after the war and arrived in Australia 1949.
Join us on the 18th of May to meet Henry and learn about his experiences.
Image | Simon Shiff
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
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
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for the rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Andre Dubrowin.
Andre was born in 1939 in Brussels, Belgium to Polish and Romanian parents.
When the war came to Belgium in 1940, his parents decided to flee to France. On their second attempt, the family was arrested and sent to Drancy Internment camp. Andre was unwell and with the help of a family friend and a French Police officer who had been bribed, Andre was released to the Red Cross. He spent the following war years living in a Catholic orphanage, with a business associate of his father’s, and an elderly couple back in Brussels and on a farm.
After liberation, his mother’s brother came to pick him up – a person he did not remember speaking a language he no longer spoke – he was five and half years old.
Andre moved to Australia in 1948 with his uncle and aunt who eventually adopted him.
Join us on the 22nd of September to meet Andre and learn about his experiences.
Join the Melbourne Holocaust Museum and the Lodz Committee in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto.
The Landsmanshaftn were societies of Jewish immigrants who came from the same town or region in Eastern Europe. They were named for the members’ original birthplaces. They were formed to assist their fellow ‘townspeople’ in settling into their new lives in Australia. This assistance – material, emotional, cultural, and social – helped many new arrivals to begin their acclimatisation to life in their new country.
By 1949, numerous attempts had been made to form a Lodzer Landsmanshaft. In 1953 an initiating committee was formed with the aim of calling a general meeting of Melbourne Jews from the Polish city of Lodz and organising an evening to commemorate the memory of their annihilated community.
Today’s Lodz Committee consists of second and third generation descendants. As the years pass by and we have fewer of our precious survivors with us, we realise the importance of involving the younger generations in helping us remember the Lodzers who called Melbourne their home. Today we remember and honour Jewish Lodz, and its inhabitants, the last embers of a once glorious and vibrant community.
This year’s program includes Honouring six of our Lodz Ghetto survivors with a special candle lighting ceremony. Reflections of 80 years since the Lodz Ghetto Liquidation by Lodz Ghetto Survivors, Mrs Guta Goldstein and Mr Abe Goldberg OAM. Music by Sholem Aleichem Students.
Light refreshments will be provided after the commemoration.
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for the rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Abram Goldberg OAM.
Abe was born in Lodz, Poland in 1924.
Following the Nazi invasion his family was sent to a camp near Krakow; Abe’s older sister fled east.
Abe’s and his parents escaped and return to Lodz, but two of his sisters remained in the camp.
Abe and his parents were imprisoned in Lodz Ghetto and forced to work as labourers. Abe’s father was deported in 1942 and murdered at Chelmno. In 1944 Abe and his mother were sent to Auschwitz, where his mother was gassed upon arrival.
Abe was sent to a series of camps before being liberated in 1945 in Wobbelin.
Only Abe’s older sister survived.
Abe arrived in Australia in 1951.
Join us on the 11th of August to meet Abe and learn about his 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
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.
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for the rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Joe Szwarcberg.
Joe was born in 1930 in Kozienice, Poland, the youngest of six children. The Germans invaded in 1939 when Joe was nine years old and incarcerated the Jewish population in a ghetto.
Joe risked his life by leaving the ghetto to get food, but nonetheless his mother died due to the poor conditions there. He was deported to a harsh labour camp where he witnessed the murder of one of his brothers. In 1944 he was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp.
After his liberation in 1945 at the age of 15 Joe was reunited with his sisters. His father had died in a death march from Auschwitz and neither of his brothers survived.
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for the rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Prof Gilah Leder AM .
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.
On 21 January, Gilah will share her experiences first-hand. Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired by her story of kindness, bravery and resilience.
Join us at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum for the rare opportunity to hear first-hand from Holocaust survivor Prof Gilah Leder AM .
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.
On 21 January, Gilah will share her experiences first-hand. Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired by her story of kindness, bravery and resilience.
