Noted linguist mourned
JEWISH community figures have paid tribute to linguist, academic and former AJN columnist Ruth Wajnryb (pictured), who passed away last Saturday. The child of Holocaust survivors, Wajnryb, 63, died after a six year battle with melanoma.
JEWISH community figures have paid tribute to linguist, academic and former AJN columnist Ruth Wajnryb (pictured), who passed away last Saturday. The child of Holocaust survivors, Wajnryb, 63, died after a six year battle with melanoma.
Best known for her columns in The Sydney Morning Herald, Wajnryb also made a significant contribution to understanding silence in Holocaust survivor families. Her book, The Silence, used interviews with the children of survivors to analyse communication patterns between parents and children and explore the effect of trauma on conversation.
“The significant and pivotal role she played in that debate, she was a leading voice,” said Sydney Jewish Museum resident historian Konrad Kwiet. “She will be missed apart from the fact that she was a regular writer for The Herald. In terms of the Jewish community, more important was what she said about her upbringing and what it’s like to be the child of Holocaust survivors, and explain the silence in survivor families.”
Professor Colin Tatz from the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies recalled Wajnryb’s assistance as a benefactor. “She came to me to talk about setting up some public lectures in honour of her late father, Abraham Wajnryb,” he recalled. “She gave us a generous enough sum to bring one major speaker per annum for six years.”
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO Vic Alhadeff, had numerous dealings with Wajnryb when he was editor of The AJN. “Ruth Wajnryb’s writing was highly original in that she wrote about words – how they can be used, misused and even abused,” he said. “She frequently utilised her superior command of English to focus on prejudice and how racist connotations can permeate language, sometimes inadvertently. And she underpinned her observations with an astute sense of humour. Hers was a unique contribution.”
GARETH NARUNSKY
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