80 years since liberation commemorated in Melbourne
The Auditorium of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum (MHM) was packed with Holocaust survivors, community leaders and other community members for the commemoration marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The Auschwitz death camp was the site of the deaths of about 1.1 million Jews among others. The camp was liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945.
This year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD) Commemoration was particularly poignant and meaningful, given the astonishing rise in antisemitism in Australia and around the world since the 7 October 2023 atrocities perpetrated against Israel. This was discussed by numerous speakers, including in the video presentation of remarks by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Co-President of the MHM, Mike Debinski acted as master of ceremonies for the evening, welcoming members of the consular corps and other dignitaries, including State and Federal Members of Parliament such as Multicultural Affairs Minister Ingrid Stitt, Josh Burns, David Southwick, Zoe Daniels and John Pesutto, and political candidates such as Tim Wilson (Liberal for Goldstein) and Benson Solo (Liberal for Macnamara).
Debinski highlighted that Australia had recorded a 316% increase in antisemitic incidents since the 7 October attacks, and that this was an underreporting of actual antisemitism the community had experienced. The community had seen targeting of Jewish homes, schools, synagogues and neighbourhoods.
The theme for the commemoration was ‘Testimonies of Freedom’, which included a panel discussion featuring three Holocaust survivors who shared their personal experiences of liberation, Professor Gilah Leder, Peter Gaspar and Eve Graham. They all shared their unique story of survival through the Holocaust as children and discussed what liberation means to them.
Dr. Breann Fallon, Head of Exhibitions & Programming at MHM, moderated the panel discussion, exploring the panellists’ diverse experiences and complexities surrounding liberation.
Gilah was only 16 months old when her parents made the difficult decision to send her to live under an assumed identity with a non-Jewish family in the Netherlands. After spending several years with the Zwanikken family, Gilah found it very difficult to part with them once she was reunited with her parents after liberation. She has maintained connection with the Zwanikken family across the generations since.
Peter was four years old when the Germans occupied his hometown. He spent most of the war in hiding with his parents, until he was eventually sent to Theresienstadt with his mother and was liberated on 8 May 1945, many months after the liberation of Auschwitz. He noted that his family arrived in Australia after surviving the Holocaust, with “little luggage, but a lot of baggage.”
Young Eve survived the Holocaust in hiding. Once she was liberated, Eve was unable to return to the life she once had. As the Communist regime took hold, Eve and her family made the decision to emigrate to Australia to evade persecution.
Dr Fallon said, “While the end of the war marked the arrival of freedom, we must acknowledge that liberation was a painful and complex journey for many survivors. What is liberation really?
“Only by delving into individual stories can we begin to grasp the complexity of liberation and understand how liberation manifested at the time and what it means 80 years on.”
The panel discussion was followed by the traditional lighting of six candles, representing the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The evening closed with the singing of the partisan song.
The MHM (formerly the Jewish Holocaust Centre) is Australia’s largest institution solely dedicated to Holocaust education, research and remembrance.