Walt gets to shake Joe’s hand
Walt Secord told a Courage to Care event how strongly the impact of a ‘living witnesses’ of the Holocaust helps people understand.
Walt Secord and Joe Symon
He said that keeping their stories alive is imperative and talked about the private Bill he introduced to parliament in October 2021 to ban the use of the swastika/
The NSW government has now introduced a bill to ban the public display of Nazi symbols. Walt explained the background to his Bill, why he led the initiative and the impact of his initial actions, that have resulted in four states now being on track to have legislation in place to ban the public display of Nazi symbols with a possible fifth state discussing it.
Knowing the power of the story of Holocaust Survivors, he arranged to have a Survivor and the grandson of a Survivor give evidence to the Parliamentary Selection of Bills Committee hearing evidence in support of his Bill. One of the two witness he called on was Joe Symon. He acknowledged that what Joe had to say to the Committee as a living witness of the Holocaust was more powerful in impact than anything anyone else said. According to Walt, Joe’s testimony made a significant impact on the Committee members.
Walt got to meet in person Joe who was also attending the Courage to Care event.
The Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants fully supports this initiative and as such made our own submission to the Committee. With the greatest respect to Walt Secord, it was the Association who organised the appearance of Joe Simon and Anthony Levin, the grandson of Olga Horak, before the Committee. We believe their contribution was an important step in the passage of the bill.
Dr George Foster
President