Holocaust Survivor who never lost hope

Longtime Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM) volunteer Francine Lazarus – who received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in January 2025 for service to the Jewish community – died last week, aged 88.

Lazarus was born in 1938 in Brussels, and was just two when the Nazis invaded, and only four when her father left her with strangers on a farm, and disappeared.

She was then moved from safe house to safe house in and around Brussels.

After her father was caught, he was sent on the last convoy from Belgium to Auschwitz in July 1944, and murdered.

A ring that Lazarus kept was the only remaining tangible memory she had of him.

A coffee set that she’d played with when still in hiding, is in SJM’s collection.

She’d learned to whisper instead of laugh, and to trust people only when it was safe, yet she’d always hope for a better tomorrow.

After liberation, her mother sent her to foster care, and she went to school until 14.

Resilience was etched into her soul, as was deep compassion, quiet inner strength, and a refusal to let hatred define her future.

Lazarus arrived in Sydney by ship in 1959, recalling seeing “this beautiful place bathed in sunshine” and how “I had found my harbour”.

She met Phillip Lazarus in 1962, and married him the following year.

In a tribute post, the SJM said Lazarus “will be greatly missed by the museum family.

“She shared her family history with countless groups, and always made a meaningful connection.”

In 2017, Lazarus wrote the autobiography A Hidden Jewish Child from Belgium, and she was a generous donor to charities including WIZO, UIA and MDA.

She is survived by her children Cindy, Jason, and Michael.