Dear Friend,
Happy New Year! We hope this finds you all well and safe, that you have had a joyous, restful and rejuvenating holiday break, and a fantastic start to 2022! It is our fervent wish that this coming year will be a safer, happier, more positive and uplifting one for us all.
As has been our practice over the past two years and due to the ongoing pandemic, we will continue to offer a broad array of virtual events throughout 2022 as well as a number of live and/or hybrid events, where possible.
We very much hope you will join us for these events and actively participate in our Holocaust and Israel awarenesses programs.
In this edition (if viewing this on a desktop, click on each heading to skip to that section):
"Still Here" by Associate Professor
Richard Haber
Book Launch Event - December 2021
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On the evening of Thursday 16 December 2021, a very special event was hosted at the Sydney Jewish Museum: a book launch for "Still Here", a memoir by Associate Professor and Survivor Richard Haber, which details his life during the Holocaust, and career and family life in Australia.
Richard's association with MOTL is a longstanding one, having been the Survivor who accompanied our student delegation in 2015, and more recently, having been the featured guest speaker at our online event in August last year, "Lockdown versus Locked Away - A Survivor's Perspective" (click here to view a recording of this moving event).
We were very proud to have March of the Living Australia represented at Richard's book launch by Jason Silverstone, Vice-President of MOTL Australia.
Click on the image below to view a recording of Richard's speech at the event:
Below are some moving reflections written by Richard and members of his family about the special event:
"This was a culmination of writing and rewriting my memoirs for 1 ½ years, going over many painful moments in my life. I was rewarded by so many people coming to the launch and, unfortunately, many could not come as the place was booked out. In spite of fear of COVID, I am inspired by the comments of being so resilient and an inspiration and the involvement by my partner, Diane, and my children Yvonne and Mark and some of my grandchildren."
- Associate Professor Richard Haber
******
"The book launch for my father's memoirs was a moving experience. The speeches were very considered, especially my father who reminded us what isolation really is. For us, we are still able to walk outside, do some exercise and see friends and family. For my father, it meant staying in a room for over 9 months while he was in hiding, and should the Polish family have any visitors, to crouch under a table trying to barely breath to not be discovered. It is so good to have his memoirs, as so often by the time our kids express any interest to know, it's too later."
- Yvonne Haber (daughter of Richard)
******
"Words cannot describe the significance of the occasion of the launch of my father's memoirs. It was the culmination of a huge effort on his behalf. Never was I prouder of his achievements (and there have been many). His ability to see the best in people is very uplifting. Reminding us of the huge risks many gentiles (the Righteous Among the Nations), especially the Poles, took to saves the lives of the Jews during the Holocaust was an important message - the reason Richard survived, and we his children are here.
I hope the people at the book launch and readers of his memoirs are moved by this message.
I would also like the thank everyone involved in helping it get to publication and organising the book launch, including members of the Sydney Jewish Museum."
- Mark Haber
(son of Richard, and named after his uncle Dr Marek Haber
who did not survive the Holocaust)
Below are some special photos from the event, captured by Jason Silverstone.
Pictured: Associate Professor Richard Haber
Pictured: The audience in attendance at the book launch
Pictured: Richard Haber (right) with guest speaker Eva Fischl OAM (left), President of Joint Australia (JDC Australia) and Past President of Jewish Care Australia and Jewish Care
Pictured: Richard Haber (right) with partner Diane Burger (left)
Pictured: Richard Haber (centre) with children, grandchildren and family members.
The 2022 commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the
Liberation of Auschwitz
Online Event - Thursday 27 January
at 7:30pm AEDT
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March of the Living Australia is proud to support and promote the upcoming 2022 commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Liberation of Auschwitz, being hosted by The Australian Holocaust Museum Alliance (AHMA) which has been founded by Canberra Holocaust Museum, Adelaide Holocaust Museum, Holocaust Institute of Western Australia, Jewish Holocaust Centre (Melbourne), Queensland Holocaust Museum and Education Centre and Sydney Jewish Museum.
The members of AHMA unite for this event to inspire Australians to keep the memories of survivors and those murdered in the Holocaust alive. At a time when the number of living survivors continues to dwindle, IHRD illuminates the stories of survivors, alongside the voices of leaders within the wider community, to combat racism and discrimination and to ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust continue to be passed on to future generations.
Joining a moving speech by Holocaust survivor Yvonne Engelman OAM and a performance by Sydney Children's Choir, other notable speakers at this online event will include Deng Adut, Edward Santow, and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
As a key part of this event, Holocaust survivors will participate in a moving candle lighting ceremony to ensure that the memory of the 6 million Jewish people murdered in the Holocaust, is never forgotten.
In addition to the ceremony, viewers will also be able to hear about the key findings and recommendations from a landmark piece of research, the Gandel Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness in Australia Survey, conducted by Deakin University and Gandel Foundation.
March of the Living Australia warmly encourages all our readers/followers/members of our community to register your attendance for this important event by clicking on the button below.
Re-examining the plight of the "doubly cursed" - the Krankenmorde and its
contemporary importance.
with special guest speaker Associate Professor Michael Roberston
Online Event - Thursday 17 February
at 7:30pm AEDT
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March of the Living Australia is greatly excited to welcome Associate Professor Michael Robertson as the special guest speaker for our first online event of 2022:
Re-examining the plight of the "doubly cursed" - the Krankenmorde and its
contemporary importance.
Holocaust scholar Henry Friedlander described the Nazi "euthanasia program" as providing the "hardware and software" for the "Final Solution". While in essence this is true, the reality is more complex. The Nazi persecution of the sick, elderly and disabled was an aggregate of crimes now subsumed under the term "Krankenmorde" (the murder of the sick). Many of the perpetrators of these crimes would later apply their skills in mass murder to the industrialised slaughter of the Shoah. Of the 300,000 people murdered in the Krankenmorde, 70,000 perished in Aktion T4, the most recognised of these crimes.
What we now should acknowledge is that Jewish patients in German psychiatric hospitals - described by Israeli academic psychiatrist Rael Strous as "the doubly cursed" - were murdered in static gas chambers as early as January 1940 by the same perpetrators who would establish the Reinhard death camps. Thus, the first Jewish victims of the Nazi regime were murdered by poison gas years before the Wannsee conference.
In his presentation, Michael will outline the history of the Krankemorde and situate it within the current historiography of the Holocaust. Following, he will discuss the contemporary significance of these crimes, focusing on the rights of people with disability.
About the presenter
Michael Robertson is an Associate Professor of Mental Health Ethics in the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Sydney Jewish Museum and a member of the Australian Institute of Holocaust and Genocide Scholars. He has published in the area of medical ethics, psychotherapy and the medical profession under National Socialism. His clinical work focuses on complex and historical trauma.
In 2019, he published with Edwina Light and Astrid Ley The First into the Dark - the Nazi Persecution of the Disabled.
Further details on how to register your attendance for this event will be made available very soon - in the meantime, we warmly encourage you to 'save the date'!
MOTL Alumnus seeking Holocaust Descendants for Thesis Research Project
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Jamie Mohay, alumnus of the 2015 Student MOTL program, is currently seeking Holocaust Descendants to participate in her thesis research project, and March of the Living Australia gladly supports her appeal and her continued 'journey for a lifetime' by furthering her Holocaust related studies.
In Jamie's words:
This year marks the 77th year since the Holocaust ended. A literal lifetime ago. We are at a cross roads. The point where descendants of Holocaust survivors are learning of their ancestry more and more through passed down family stories than through direct discussion with the survivors themselves. How will this change the experience of being a descendant and the lens through which descendants view their survivor ancestor/s' experiences?
We are seeking children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Holocaust survivors for our study that looks at these issues.
Our survey will take about 20 minutes of your time.
This study is being conducted within the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University. The project Chief Investigator is Dr Janine Lurie. The study will form the basis of research dissertations for Jamie Mohay, Hayley Muller, Stephanie Oldfield, Sarah Ortika, Lucy Reichelmann, Georgia Riordan, and Emily Ripley.
Click here to find out more about the study or to participate.
For further information, you are also welcome to contact Dr Janine Lurie directly via email by clicking here.
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:
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Once again, we would like to wish and your loved ones a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous new year. We greatly look forward to being in touch again next month!
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