Youth urged to remember
SHRINKING numbers at the annual Holocaust memorial service in Carlton highlights the responsibility of second and third generation survivors to continue the legacy, according to the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV).
SHRINKING numbers at the annual Holocaust memorial service in Carlton highlights the responsibility of second and third generation survivors to continue the legacy, according to the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV).
Held by the JCCV and the Association of Katzetlers, Partisans and Fighters at Melbourne General Cemetery last Sunday, the commemoration has seen attendance slump from 500 to 120 in the past two decades, as Holocaust survivors have passed away.
“In two to three years we won’t have any of these survivors from any of the concentration camps, it’s the younger generation that are going to have to carry this service into the future. We need to get this message out to the community,” said a spokesperson from the JCCV.
She said the JCCV had made a determined effort to attract a younger demographic this year, with members of Melbourne’s youth movements and the Australian Zionist Youth Council (AZYC) attending.
“Sixty-seven years on we face the inevitable reality that for every year that we gather to remember, the survivors among us dwindle,” said AZYC chairperson Reuben Bolaffi in a speech to participants.
“We, the youth of today, are storytellers. We are sharers. Today, we affirm not only to remember, but to share,” he added.
Bolaffi said he saw the service, which is held at a memorial menorah established in the late ’60s by survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as a means for young people to engage with survivors and their stories.
JCCV president Nina Bassat said it was imperative the younger generation become involved for themselves and the community.
“[Carlton] is an emotional place for a number of reasons. Firstly the monument is there and that sends a very powerful message. The other reason is that so many survivors made their homes in Carlton – it was a new beginning.
“You’ve got that duality of emotions, which follows us Jews everywhere,” she said.
Guest speakers included child survivor Charles German, author and human rights advocate Arnold Zable, Rabbi Dovid Gutnick from the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and president of Kadimah Alex Daffner.
LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA
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