In ‘The Fate of Things: Memory Objects and Art’, artists Anne Zahalka and Sylvia Griffin address loss and family trauma, attempting to piece together and make sense of fragmented histories.
Located over three levels, this exhibition traces the persecution and murder of European Jewry from 1933 to 1945 and explores the contemporary and ongoing resonance of these unprecedented events.
The exhibition also recounts the new lives forged by survivors following their arrival in Australia and their contribution to the rich, multicultural fabric of contemporary Australian life.
With hundreds of artefacts to explore and over 30 Holocaust survivors for students to meet, the experience of visiting the the Sydney Jewish Museum is second to none.
All education programs are linked to NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) syllabus outcomes.
Book in now to ensure you get your preferred dates and times for a program this year!
The Sydney Jewish Museum offers regular professional development seminars and the opportunity to engage with other teachers at our Teachers' Network events, held four times a year at the Museum.
Recently, Holocaust survivor Lena Goldstein (nee Midler) turned 100. Lena was born in 1919 in Lublin, Poland. She was confined in the Warsaw Ghetto, from which she eventually escaped in April 1943.
Following her escape from the ghetto, Lena was hidden by a Polish caretaker for 18 months. Later, her hiding spot was an underground bunker, cramped together with eight others. Lena set to writing a satirical newsletter for her companions in the bunker, “just to put some humour into the tragic life that we were living in the bunker.”
Lena was liberated in January 1945. She married Alexander Goldstein and immigrated to Australia in 1949.
Since 2007, Lena has volunteered her time at the Sydney Jewish Museum, delivering her testimony and talking to visiting student groups. Lena is adamant that her story be told by the Museum well into the future, so that “the future generations know what we had to go through.”
'If I survive', a biography of Lena Goldstein's life written by author Barbara Miller, is available on the Museum's online shop.
To purchase a copy, follow the link below.
Buy Lena's biographyOur new human rights exhibition, ‘The Holocaust and Human Rights’, was developed to provoke engagement with contemporary human rights issues in Australia against the backdrop of the Museum’s Holocaust exhibition. This extension of our Holocaust content aimed to bring the Museum into the national and global conversation about human rights.
The exhibition takes as its starting point the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, which was deemed necessary following the criminal acts of genocide perpetrated against civilians by the Nazis in the 1940s. The exhibition brings this content into a contemporary context to encourage visitors to connect with current issues and learn about all facets of the human rights violations, successes and debates.
The exhibition was researched and developed by a team of academics, educators, curators and designers over three years, with the assistance and support from a grant from the Australian Research Council. The 'Holocaust and Human Rights' was officially opened by Australian Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow in February 2018
Exhibition detailsHere at the Sydney Jewish Museum, we welcome over 25,000 students every year. Teachers bring their classes to the Museum as part of numerous courses, including History, English, Legal Studies, …
On Valentine’s Day – a day that celebrates love and romance – we share a story of intense love that emerged from a period of immense darkness. In 1939 Izak …
Anne Zahalka, acclaimed Australian artist, delves into vicarious traumas and her inherited memories of the Holocaust alongside Sylvia Griffin in our current contemporary art exhibition, The Fate of Things: Memory Objects and …
SJM Voices is a custom curated app that uses an internal global positioning system to bring testimony and story of the Holocaust into the present within the Museum’s walls.
Drawing on the Museum’s rich repository of survivor testimony, the app embeds survivor narrative alongside stories from perpetrators and witnesses. The app delivers personal and multi-perspective insight into this turbulent period of history.
Once you’ve visited the Museum and used the app, email yourself a record of your journey.
You can download the app to your iPhone ahead of time via the link below. If you have an Android phone, pick up a compatible device at admissions upon arrival at the Museum.
Please note, the SJM Voices app only works in the Museum.
Download SJM Voices Plan Your VisitAs a Museum Member you will benefit from free entry into the Museum all year round, a 10% discount in the Museum shop and more.
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