Holocaust Remembrance Day

 

VICTIMS and survivors of the Shoah have been commemorated in services across Australia marking United Nations (UN) Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In Sydney, the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors & Descendants Inc. (AAJHS&D) together with the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM) commemorated the day in the presence of several consuls-general and community leaders.

Guest speaker Michael Silvers spoke about the experiences of his mother, Greta Silvers, in Auschwitz as an adolescent, while Dr Joseph Toltz outlined the importance of music in the concentration camps in his address “Music and Auschwitz”.

President of the AAJHS&D Dr George Foster spoke of the atrocities. “We say and write ‘Auschwitz’ but we actually mean a torture centre, a terror that we cannot possibly conceive,” Foster told the audience of well over 100 people.

Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence read a prayer and led Kaddish, and the ceremony concluded with words from Professor Gus Lehrer, president of the SJM. He spoke about the importance of the museum in the fight against anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.

In Melbourne, more than 200 people gathered at the St Kilda Town Hall on Monday for the annual commemoration organised by the Jewish Holocaust Centre (JHC), this year themed “Confronting the Holocaust: Keeping the memory alive”.

Christopher Woodthorpe, regional representative of the UN Secretary-General delivered the keynote address, speaking about the UN’s commitment to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive.

He highlighted the importance of education in achieving this goal. “By educating people, we can shine a light on these unspeakable crimes so that they may never be repeated,” he said.

Woodthorpe went on to discuss various UN bodies which work to this end, including outreach programs and international partnerships. “We realise that no one person or organisation has all the answers but that it is only through working together that we can confront the Holocaust and keep the memory alive,” he said.

In his vote of thanks, JHC executive director Warren Fineberg called on the Australian government to actively promote Australia’s status with the Taskforce for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research.

Aubert Ruzingandekwe, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, also spoke at the Melbourne event.

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