Senior Australian of the Year to headline Kristallnacht event
This year’s theme is Keeping Memory Alive — through survivor testimony, theatre, technology and music, including the story of Eddie Jaku
Scientia Professor Henry Brodaty, the 2026 Senior Australian of the Year, will deliver the keynote address at this year’s NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBD) Kristallnacht commemoration on Monday, November 9.
Brodaty, a world-renowned researcher in ageing, memory and dementia, was born in a German displaced persons camp to Holocaust survivors, giving the evening’s theme of Keeping Memory Alive a double meaning.
The commemoration will also hear live testimony from Edel Fischer, 98, a survivor of the Kristallnacht pogrom, who will share her and her husband’s experiences in Germany and Austria.
JBD Shoah Remembrance Committee chair Dane Stern said the program explored the many ways memory can endure.
“As the number of survivors able to share their experiences firsthand continues to decline, our responsibility is to find new ways to keep their memories alive and ensure their stories continue to educate and inspire future generations,” he said. “To hear directly from a 98-year-old survivor of Kristallnacht is an extraordinary privilege. Edel Fischer’s testimony is a living link to one of the most significant events leading to the Holocaust.”
Anton Berezin, who recently portrayed Eddie Jaku in the one-man production The Happiest Man on Earth, will reflect on bringing that story to the stage, particularly when performing for audiences that included people who knew Jaku.
Musical performances will be led by Ben Adler, fresh from his role in Fiddler on the Roof, and Paul Khodor, accompanied by a primary school children’s choir singing a piece composed by Sam Weiss, a composer for film and television and the grandson of Holocaust survivors. The evening will also include a performance of The Night of Broken Glass by Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin, and memorial prayers.
On the nights of November 9 and 10, 1938, Nazi forces destroyed or set fire to more than 200 synagogues, vandalised over 7000 Jewish-owned businesses, arrested about 30,000 Jewish men and murdered at least 91 Jews across Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland.
Stern said the lessons extended beyond Jewish history. “It remains a stark reminder of what can happen when prejudice is normalised, when hatred is tolerated, and when people fail to speak out,” he said.
The commemoration begins at 6.30pm at a venue in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Registration is at nswjbd.org.au/kristallnacht2026, with the location provided to registered attendees.