Recognising liberty, life and legacy
WE are not here to forget, we are here to remember.
That is the sentiment from Holocaust survivor Olga Horak ahead of next week’s 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the UN International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
To mark the event, the community is invited to a commemoration ceremony at the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM) on Tuesday, January 27.
The commemoration – organised by the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors & Descendants together with the SJM – will hear from guest speakers, including Horak, as well as Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson, who will deliver the keynote address.
Speaking to The AJN this week, Horak said we can never deny the truth of the events of the Shoah.
“That is history, and history has to be recorded,” she said. “There’s no reason why we should omit that very vital information.”
Horak, who was just 17 when she entered Auschwitz and survived five different concentration camps, described being liberated from Bergen-Belsen as a “total surprise”.
“I was liberated three weeks before the end of the war, and at that time the Germans still believed that Hitler will win the war,” she said.
Horak, who came to Australia in 1949 after fleeing Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia with her new husband, still remembers people’s reactions upon learning they were to be freed.
“Some people couldn’t believe it. It was a shock, [it was] all of a sudden. Some people cried, some people broke down, some people laughed hysterically,” she said.
The 88-year-old, who has been speaking publicly about her Holocaust experiences for 25 years, volunteers at the SJM three times a week.
SJM CEO Norman Seligman said the museum is “extremely fortunate” to have about 30 Holocaust survivor guides, who “are able to talk about their real-life experiences”.
“For people to learn firsthand from people that were actually there is quite an incredible experience,” he said.
Encouraging people to attend next week’s commemoration, Seligman said: “It is very important that we remember and commemorate the anniversaries of the Holocaust. One of our key activities is to ensure that the Holocaust and its lessons are never, ever forgotten, and therefore it’s important that people attend and join us in commemorating this very important activity.”
Meanwhile, fellow Auschwitz survivor Eva Slonim will address a remembrance ceremony on Tuesday evening at the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne.
Recalling a boy in her barracks who was summoned by the “Angel of Death” Joseph Mengele, who performed unspeakable “medical experiments” on twins, she remembers him saying, “Say Kaddish for me.”
Author of a book about her experiences Gazing at the Stars: Memoirs of a Child Survivor, Slonim told The AJN this week, “I’ve made it my holy duty to perpetuate the memories of those who have no voice.
“Emotionally it costs me a great deal to speak, but I still feel duty bound to do that, as I promised it to them when they were dying. With their last breath they exhaled, ‘tell the world.’”
To attend the Sydney Jewish Museum ceremony, call (02) 9360 7999 or email rsvp@sjm.com.au.
The ceremony at the Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Centre is at 7.30pm. Entry is free.
EVAN ZLATKIS
Holocaust survivor Olga Horak speaking at the Sydney Jewish Museum.
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