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.

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.

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.

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 80^th 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 11^th hour to rescue them.

Image | A memorial to the murdered Jews in Hungary, on the Danube river, Hungary.

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.

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.