Victoria Police moved by lived Holocaust story

The room at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum falls silent as Dr Henry Ekert AM begins to speak.

Before him, seventy-five Victoria Police officers lean forward in their chairs, their usual professional composure giving way to something deeper as they listen to the 88-year-old Holocaust survivor recount his childhood in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Henry’s voice is steady but carries the weight of decades as he describes a particular day that remains etched in his memory.

He was playing in the street with his six-year-old friend when they heard the unmistakable sound of boots marching up the cobblestones.

The realisation hit them both simultaneously: Germans were approaching.
Henry ran as fast as his small legs could carry him, his heart pounding as he scrambled to safety.