Abram is a founding member of the MHM and still serves on the board today.  

He loves speaking to students and visitors both in person and online, spreading his message: “Not every day will be a sunny day. There will be overcast days, but the sun will shine again.” 

Abram was a teenager in Poland when the Nazis invaded. He was imprisoned in the Lodz Ghetto before being moved to several camps, including Auschwitz. He survived the Holocaust and immigrated to Australia with his wife in the early 1950s.  

In 2013, Abram received the Order of Australian Merit (OAM) for his decades of dedication to Jewish culture and contributions to Holocaust memory.  

When the war broke out, Kitia was living in Bedzin, Poland.  

Following Nazi occupation, she was forced to work in a factory producing uniforms for the German army. In 1944, she was sent to Annaberg concentration camp, and then to Auschwitz.  

A few months later, she was sent to an outdoor quarry at Ravensbruck camp, before being transferred to Bensdorf camp to work in an underground armaments’ factory. 

In 1945, Kitia was liberated by the International Red Cross and taken to Sweden.  

Kitia (Henrietta) began volunteering as a guide at the MHM in 1987. For almost three decades, Kitia taught schools and tertiary students about the Holocaust. She also interviewed scores of Holocaust survivors whose testimonies were recorded.   

Stephanie and her twin sister Annetta grew up in Prague and lost all their family during the war.  

They were sent to Theresienstadt and then to Auschwitz, where they were selected for Dr Mengele’s experimentation program.  

In his laboratory, Stephanie and her sister were examined, x-rayed, and given injections and blood transfusions.  

After the war Stephanie worked as a nurse, wanting to help others. She later became passionate about tolerance and interfaith activities. She was a guide at MHM for more than 15 years. 

As a child in Berlin, George witnessed the horrors of the terrifying ‘Kristallnacht’ in 1938.  

Evacuated to Belgium with the Kinder Transport, he tried to flee the invading German army by entering Switzerland via France. But he was arrested as a spy and taken to a Gestapo prison, before being transported across Europe.  

George was a slave labourer in Auschwitz for over two years. During the Death March evacuation, he escaped to the Bavarian Forest and struggled for survival until the American forces found him.  

When the war ended, George was reunited with his mother after seven years of separation. Together with his mother and his young wife, George moved to Australia to begin a new life.  

In 1942, 19-year-old Willy Lermer was forced to leave his family behind in Myslenice, and sent to work in the Plaszow Labour Camp. There, under the command of the vicious Nazi Amon Goeth, he endured back-breaking labour, illness and starvation.  

He was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944, and worked as a slave labourer for four gruelling months.  

After that, Willy was transferred to Dachau. When the Americans liberated the camp, Willy was barely alive, weighing just 38 kilos.  

He survived unspeakable atrocities – only to discover that his entire family had been murdered in Belzec death camp.  

As our museum guide for almost three decades, and through his visits to schools in regional Victoria, Willy has shared his story with thousands of students.  

Irma has volunteered at the MHM for 25+ years, sharing her eyewitness experiences with more than 100,000 students.  

She has also spoken at countless events, emphasising the importance of treating all people with equality and humanity.  

Born in Dresden, Germany, Irma was interned in Scheuer Platz before being taken to Theresienstadt when she was 12 years old. Her work included splitting mica, picking chestnut and linden flowers, and working in the vegetable garden that fed guards and soldiers.  

In May 1945, Soviet troops liberated Theresienstadt. Irma’s aunty found her through the Red Cross a few months later and took her back to Dresden.  

Irma then moved to Australia in 1949.