Record numbers for Zikaron BaSalon
Hebrew for "Remembrances in the Living Room", Zikaron BaSalon is a grassroots initiative founded in Israel, where a Holocaust survivor shares their story in an intimate setting.
In addition to this year’s main Yom Hashoah commemoration, around 400 are taking part in 20 Zikaron BaSalon events held across the community to hear directly from a Holocaust survivor in an intimate setting.
Hebrew for “Remembrances in the Living Room”, Zikaron BaSalon is a grassroots initiative founded in Israel that has brought together more than two million people in more than 65 countries since 2011 to talk with survivors or their descendants in smaller, home-based gatherings, in person and online.
The concept was introduced into Australia by Shalom in 2019. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Shalom approached Danny Hochberg – the previous chair of the Shoah Commemoration Committee of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies – to take on the project.
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“I really liked the idea of commemoration and conversation in a more intimate environment,” he said. “With so few survivors left, Zikaron BaSalon gives us the opportunity to get up close and interact with them in an intimate environment.”
Hochberg brought the concept to the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants.
“The organisation has strong contacts with survivors and is well placed to match them with potential hosts,” president George Foster said.
This year’s event will be the biggest yet in Australia. The concept has been embraced by communal organisations keen to commemorate and educate around the Holocaust. BJE has been involved for a number of years, as have the Zionist youth movements and Emanuel Synagogue.
Descendant Johnny Weiss, who has hosted several Zikaron BaSalon functions, said, “Our dear mother, Lotte Weiss, was an active participant in Holocaust education.
“She is no longer with us, but I know she would be pleased to know that we have continued her legacy through Zikaron BaSalon. In fact, my children, third generation survivors, are holding their own event this year.”
In the future, Foster said he hopes the second and third generations will tell their parents’ stories.
“This year due to the large number of events, we struggled to find survivors to participate. In the future, given the rise in interest in Holocaust commemoration, we will need to recruit and train them to tell their stories,” he said.
Hochberg added, “Their stories inspire people to live more engaged lives and to take an active role in the responsibility to remember. The time has come for those of us that can, to step up to the challenge.”
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