Tributes to Flore Jaku
Flore Jaku has been described as 'a gifted and accomplished woman', a valued member of the community, and a fantastic and loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
The community is mourning the loss of Flore Jaku, who passed away earlier this month, aged 98.
The wife of “the Happiest Man on Earth”, Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku, who passed away last October, Flore was “a gifted and accomplished woman, beloved of her family and friends”, Rabbi Dr Benjamin Elton said in his eulogy last week.
Born in Salonika, Greece, in September 1923, Flore migrated with her family to Brussels in 1930.
She was 17 years old when the Nazis invaded Belgium and escaped deportation with help from the Belgian Underground, fleeing to Paris under a false identity, which she maintained until the end of the war.
She returned to Brussels in 1945 to work at an office distributing ration cards and coupons to Holocaust survivors. There she met her future husband of 75 years, Eddie Jaku. The pair married in 1946, defiantly choosing the date of April 20, Hitler’s birthday. They left to start a new life in Australia in 1950.
They had two sons, Michael and Andre, and were blessed with many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“She was more quiet and receding than her husband, but she was a powerhouse of activity and achievement. At the hardest times she was stoic and uncomplaining, with a great sense of humour, and her passing leaves a huge hole in many lives,” Rabbi Elton said.
“Flore was a fantastic mother, loving and treating everyone the same. She was scrupulously honest, fair and reliable. She doted on her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
And while she was married to a man with a huge presence, “He couldn’t have managed without her,” Rabbi Elton said. “They were truly a first-class team.”
Son Michael Jaku told The AJN on behalf of the family, “We are glad to see our mother, grandmother and great-grandmother – she was called “Nana” by grand and great-grandchildren – receiving the recognition she deserves after having been Eddie’s background support for so long.”
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies said in a statement it was “deeply saddened” by her passing.
“Flore was a much-loved and respected member of the community and will be sorely missed by all who knew her. Our thoughts are with the entire Jaku family. May her memory be a blessing.”
The Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM) said she was “a valued member of the museum family from the beginning”.
“She will be dearly missed by our entire community,” the museum said.
“She is now with her beloved Eddie.”
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