Dear Friend,

Welcome to the January 2024 newsletter.

In this edition (if viewing this on a desktop, click on each heading to skip to that section):

• MOTL2024 Program Update
• Meet our survivors: Judy Solomon
• Meet our survivors: Peter Baruch
• Mazal to to Dean and Jade
• Community events

• Articles of Interest

We are deep in the throes of organising this year's March of the Living Program. In light of the events of the last 3 months, being part of this program this year, carries even greater significance and importance and this is your chance to show your solidarity as well to commit to making a difference in the world going forward! 

We are rapidly approaching the deadline for accepting last minute registrations should you wish to join us on this life-enhancing and unforgettable experience!!! 

Registrations for the 2024 Adult Program can be found here. Applications for the2024  Young Adult Program can be accessed here.  Of course, feel free to reach out to us directly should you have any further questions/queries. 

Judy Solomon will be joining the program this year with her daughter Antonia (pictured together above). Judy was born in Budapest, Hungary, in August 1942 and is an only child. During the war she was interned in the Ghetto with her mother and grandmother whilst her father was in Zwangarbeit.

They escaped Budapest with the help of a letter from Raoul Wallenberg, and were stopped by soldiers of the American Army who placed them in a Displaced People's Camp in Leipheim, Germany.  After 3 years and with the declaration of Israel's independence they left for Israel, where they lived for nearly 10 years. They moved to Sydney in 1957, after Judy's grandmother passed away at the age of 91.

Judy met David, her husband, in 1960 whilst still at school and they married in 1963. They have three wonderful children, Lisa, Michael and Antonia, and six amazing grandchildren ranging from 9 to 27 years: "We feel very blessed." They now live in Melbourne where their son and his family live.

Peter was born in Lodz, Poland in 1938. Peter has 5 children and 7 grandchildren and is retired on the Gold Coast.

Peter was an only child but had a large wider family. His parents Klemens and Marysia decided against the wish of their wider family to leave Lodz in late 1939 and headed to Kovno, Lithuania where they obtained Transit Visas for Japan from Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese vice-consul. The rest of the family all perished in the Holocaust.

Their journey took 2 years and finished in New Zealand in late 1941. Peter grew up in New Zealand, went to school and University there, married and had children there. 

Peter has a wide background in accounting, manufacturing, retail, property and consultancy. Today he spends a lot of time speaking to schools and adult groups about his journey and the Holocaust, for Courage to Care and the Queensland Holocaust Museum.  A book "The Ninth Candle" has been based on Peter's life.

Peter is really looking forward to revisiting Poland and Israel and participating in The March of the Living.

All of us here at March of the Living Australia wish a huge Mazal Tov and congratulations to Dean Levitan (Alumnus of the 2008 Student program, and our leader for the 2023 Young Adult program) on the occasion of his recent marriage to Jade.  We wish them every joy and happiness as they embark on this next exciting chapter of their lives together - mazal tov!

2024 marks 79 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration camp and extermination camp. It's also the 80th anniversary of the deportation of almost half a million of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz in May of 1944. By the end of the Holocaust, some 565,000 Hungarian Jews had been murdered.

Following are a number of events around Australia and worldwide where you can engage in commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, International March of the Living is launching a special documentary on the Kindertransport initiative to rescue some 15,000 Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia 85 years ago. The film will premiere on January 24, 2024, at a special reception honoring Kindertransport survivors in Israel, hosted by the President of Israeli Isaac Herzog and first lady Michal Herzog.

The film will be broadcasted on I24 news on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27th at 8.00PM  AEST (11.00AM in Israel). The film will also be available on the International March of the Living website and social media channels.

Click here to read more

Melbourne Holocaust Museum will be hosting a panel discussion on the importance of democracy. Moderated by MHM Head of Exhibitions & Programming Dr Breann Fallon, the panel discussion will see three expert panelists explore the importance of democracy through the lens of their unique experiences – both lived and professional – to better understand the fragility of our freedom.

The event will also feature an address from guest speaker and Holocaust survivor Nina Bassat AM.

Sydney Jewish Museum  will pay tribute to the memory of all Holocaust survivors and the victims, while reaffirming its commitment to counter antisemitism, racism, and other forms of intolerance. 

Event sold out.

As we commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day this week, watch these award-winning films from the Simon Wiesenthal Center's two-time Academy Award®-winning Moriah Films that are streaming now:

AGAINST THE TIDE

Narrated by Dustin Hoffman
A compelling film that documents what happened in the US during the Holocaust, and how a young activist, Peter Bergson, challenged Washington and the Jewish establishment to demand the rescue of Europe's Jews. Through a never before seen 1977 interview, Bergson gives a first-hand account of what occurred.

Streaming on:
୺MAZON PRIME  ·GOOGLE PLAY  ·ROKU·SLING  ·TUBI  ·PLUTO  ·THE ARCHIVE 

I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN YOU

Narrated by Nicole Kidman

Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor who lost 89 family members, helped track down over 1,100 Nazi war criminals and spent six decades fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people. Watching early efforts of the U.S. government prosecuting Nazi war criminals he realized, "There is no freedom without justice." 

Streaming on:
୺MAZON PRIME  ୺PPLE TV  ·GOOGLE PLAY  ·KANOPY  ·THE ARCHIVE  ·SLING  ·TUBI 

UNLIKELY HEROES

Narrated by Academy Award®-winner Sir Ben Kingsley

Unknown stories of resistance during WWII including a rabbi's son who disguised himself as a Major in the SS to save Jews; a young woman involved in the plot to blow up the Crematorium at Birkenau; a Jew who defied Eichmann, devising an extraordinary scheme for 40,000 Jews to get to Palestine.

Streaming on:
୺MAZON PRIME ·APPLE TV  ·ROKU  ·XUMO  ·SLING  ·TUBI  ·THE ARCHIVE

THE LONG WAY HOME

Narrated by Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman

Winner of the 1997 Academy Award® for Best Feature Documentary

Germany's defeat signaled the war was over. American, British, and Russian soldiers liberated Nazi death camps, uncovering the horror of the Holocaust. Thousands of starving, half-dead Jewish survivors are freed from Nazi persecution. Those who try to return home are met with anti-Semitism.

Streaming on:
·AMAZON PRIME  ·APPLE TV  ·SLING  ·TUBI  ·THE ARCHIVE ·KANOPY  ·GOOGLE PLAY  

LIBERATION
Narrated by Ben Kingsley, Patrick Stewart, Jean Boht and Whoopi Goldberg

Liberation tells the dramatic story of the battle waged on two fronts during World War II – the Allied campaign to liberate Europe and Hitler's genocidal campaign against the Jews.

Streaming on:
·AMAZON PRIME ·THE ARCHIVE  ·ROKU  ·TUBI 

GENOCIDE 
Narrated by Elizabeth Taylor & Orson Welles

Winner of the 1981 Academy Award® for Best Feature Documentary

The first Holocaust documentary to receive an Academy Award® and it remains today a chilling, heartbreaking testament to the strength and suffering of the Jewish people and the courage and heroism of those who came to their aid.

Streaming on:
·APPLE TV  ·GOOGLE PLAY  ·ROKU·SLING ·TUBI  ·KANOPY  ·THE ARCHIVE

Here is a selection of recent articles and videos from around the world, many of which we have shared across our social media over the past few weeks:

• World number of Holocaust survivors
• Elon Musk at Auschwitz: A Call for Free Speech and Awareness
• When Elie Wiesel came to my summer camp, and what he taught me about speaking the unspeakable

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