2500 log on to virtual International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration

Five Holocaust institutions across Australia have participated in an online commemoration of the International Holocaust Day marking the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps.

The filmed presentation was directed and produced by Jennifer Levitt Maxwell of the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne.

Taking part of the overall production were Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Centre, The Sydney Jewish Museum, The Adelaide Holocaust Museum, The Queensland Holocaust Museum and The Holocaust Institute of WA in Perth.

In each location, a Holocaust survivor lit a candle of the 6,000,000 Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust and presented to a younger family member who promised to keep up the memory of those who perished.

In Melbourne, Guta Goldstein passed over the candle to her granddaughter Tali Prawer. In Sydney, Jack Meister passed it over to his grandson David Delevski. In Adelaide, Andrew Steiner passed the candle over to his daughter Hannah Webster. In Canberra, Ruth Landa did the same with Cohava Rubenstein Sturgess. In Perth, Rivka Majteles passed er candle to her granddaughter Jessica Tuszynski. In Launceston, Felix Goldschmied did likewise to his grandson Lachlan Goldschmied and in Brisbane Dr Bert Klug presented his candle to his grandson Paul Klug.

The presentation featured messages including those from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Justice Michael Kirby, Stand Up’s Gideon Reisner, Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Holocaust survivor Olga Horak.

Assuming that most would have not watched the program alone, the 2,500 logons would reflect a much larger total audience.

Jennifer Levitt Maxwell told J-Wire: “The response to the first online event, hosted by Holocaust Museums nationwide to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the liberation of Auschwitz, has been overwhelmingly positive.”

As the number of survivors dwindles each year, events like this one do much to maintain the lessons of the Holocaust in the present and preserve them for the future.