Lodz Ghetto liquidation marked 82 years on

The 82nd commemoration of the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto was held recently at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum, organised and led by second and third generation descendants, with more than 180 people in attendance.

The ceremony was officiated by Andrea Goldstein, granddaughter of Holocaust survivors Krysia and Heniyek Lipshutz, who were both interned in the Lodz Ghetto. Krysia recently celebrated her 108th birthday.

Goldstein recognised survivors in attendance and referred to the rise in antisemitism facing Israel and the Diaspora, particularly since October 7, 2023, and the attack in Bondi in December 2025. She spoke of the importance of remembrance and of honouring survivors’ legacies. Goldstein also reflected on the violence, restrictive laws and starvation faced by Lodz Ghetto inhabitants, including her grandmother, before deportations began to the Chelmno death camp and later Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Rabbi Shneur Reti-Waks recited prayers for the State of Israel and the Israel Defence Forces, followed by a rendition of El Ma’aleh Rachamim.

A video was shown honouring five survivors who died in the past 12 months: Ester Braitberg, Wolf Deane, Mordechai Glasman, Abram Goldberg and Marysia Kohn.