Consuls general to mark Yom Hashoah
FIFTEEN consuls general will read out names of Jews who were killed by the Nazis when they take part in a Yom Hashoah service at the Sydney Jewish Museum on Sunday afternoon.
JOSHUA LEVI
FIFTEEN consuls general will read out names of Jews who were killed by the Nazis when they take part in a Yom Hashoah service at the Sydney Jewish Museum on Sunday afternoon.
The dignitaries include German Consul General Hans Gnodtke, Polish Consul General Daniel Gromann and Austrian Consul General Guido Stock, whose father is Jewish.
“The Holocaust is very close to my heart because my father’s family was Jewish and it has influenced a lot of my thinking,” Consul General Stock told The AJN ahead of the commemoration.
“While, of course, you first think of the unspeakable things that happened to people, I feel that we have talked too little about those who had the strength to resist and help the victims.
“It has taken a long time in Austria to talk enough and to think about the memory of those who fought against the Nazis.”
Stock himself lost distant relatives during the Holocaust.
“My father told me about those who died, but I never really learnt who it was until I went to the Jewish memorial in Dubrovnik and I saw the name of a relative.
“Sunday will not just be another day. It is very important to remember the Holocaust,” he said.
Four communal Yom Hashoah ceremonies will be held in the coming days, the first at Rookwood Cemetery on Sunday morning, followed by the Sydney Jewish Museum commemoration on Sunday afternoon.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff said the name-reading ceremony at the museum would be very moving.
“There won’t be any speakers at the Sydney Jewish Museum, but people will stand and read around 20 names of people, [their] ages and where they were killed,” Alhadeff said.
“It’s about making the point that we are not just talking about statistics, but that everyone had families, names and identities.”
Moriah College will host a ceremony on Sunday night with keynote speaker Eli Yerushalmi, the deputy chef de mission of the Embassy of Israel in Canberra. Alhadeff, meanwhile, will speak about the Jews of Turkey, Greece and Italy at a Masada College ceremony on Monday night.
Info:
Enquiries: NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (02) 9360 1600.
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