An extraordinary woman

Communal stalwart Bella Hirshorn has been remembered as being “always full of love” with “a big bright smile on her face”.

No matter how hard her day was, she would always say, “tomorrow will be better” and maintained a positive outlook on life.

Hirshorn – who passed away aged 101 years last Thursday, August 17 – was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2020 for her significant service to the Jewish community and to women, at an online ceremony which marked the first virtual investiture in the Australia Day Honours.

The mother of two, grandmother of four, and great-grandmother of five was born into a traditional Jewish family in Wilno (Vilna, Lithuania). She had two brothers, Phillip and Joseph.

During the war she was incarcerated in the ghetto, from where she was taken to the Stutthof Concentration Camp. Hirshorn escaped German custody while on a death march.

She was president and co-president of the Eilat Group of WIZO Victoria for over 62 years, served on the executive of WIZO Victoria and was appointed an honorary life member of WIZO Australia.

WIZO Australia immediate past president Paulette Cherny said, “She was one of the most active and dynamic older women in the organisation that I looked up to.

“When she was unhappy about WIZO she would tell me in no uncertain times. Bella was much loved by our members, and she will be sadly missed.”

Hirshorn was also a proud volunteer at the Jewish Museum of Australia: Gandel Centre of Judaica for 15 years.

CEO and museum director Noè Harsel said, “She had a beautiful and strong commitment to Jewish art, life and culture and visited CHAGALL, our current exhibition, in June this year.

“Bella entertained us with her beautiful heart and delightful stories and will be very deeply missed by all of us here at the Jewish Museum.”

Stile Education chairman Alan Finkel regarded Hirshorn as a lifelong friend of his family; she was very close to his mother. “She was intelligently curious and inspired a speech I made at an international conference,” he said.

“My topic was ‘AI and Human Rights’, and Bella shared her stories of surveillance by her neighbours and the Nazis when she lived in Lithuania, which provoked my thinking about the use of AI in facial recognition.”

Hirshorn’s only granddaughter, Michelle Jacobs, described her as “full of elegance, respect, patience, and never a bad word to say about anyone”.

“She was truly a magnificent leader and extraordinary woman … full of inspiration, a friend to many; and led by example, contributing to society and having the biggest warm heart towards her family.”

Rabbi Shlomo Nathanson, who delivered the eulogy at Hirshorn’s funeral, said, “It has been an incredibly humbling experience to have had the privilege of getting to know Bella over the past few years.

“Bella possessed a remarkable ability to share her infectious optimism, and it’s a gift that has touched us all.”

Hirshorn and her brother Phillip Maisel were recognised on their 100th birthday as the first Holocaust survivor twins in the world to reach this milestone together.