Yom Hashoah Sydney commemoration
Over 800 members of Sydney’s community and supporters packed the Clancy Auditorium at the University of New South Wales to participate in this year’s Yom Hashoah commemoration.
98-yr-old survivor Eddie Jaku and his family
The theme for this year’s event was “Rebuilding Lives ” and was explained by Danny Hochberg, the Chair of the Shoah Remembrance Committee of the The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies who hosted the function.
Hochberg said in his address: “Most of the surviving remnant of European Jewry decided to leave. Hundreds of thousands established new lives in Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, South America, and South Africa.
Australia, despite initially restrictive government policy, became a haven for survivors, with 27,000 migrating between 1946 and 1961. This immigration would double the size, and change the character of the Australian Jewish Community, and result in Australia, after Israel, becoming the second highest country with Holocaust survivors, per capita.”
Personal experiences were related by video from Kitty Lowinger and Anita and Joseph Weinreich and by Paul Drexler and author Diane Armstrong taking to the stage to tell their stories.
The new generation was represented by Chana Reisel Friedman spoke about her grandmother survivor Alice Adamek who sat by her side.
Music was provided by Leonie Cohen and Rosemary Quinn, Mimi Weiss, Nicole Stanislav and Sam Weiss.
The memorial prayers were recited by Rabbi Yehoshua Niassoff with his son Levi singing “The Partisans’ Song.
Photos Giselle Haber
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