Blog

Newfound friendships in isolation

While many Holocaust survivors are feeling isolated right now, we have launched a Pen Pal Project to connect students and Holocaust survivors with one another through letter writing during these uncertain times.

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Helen Studencki

Helen Studencki was born in Radymno, Poland during World War II. She survived the war initially in a ghetto, and then in hiding.

Read more

The diary of Harold Collins: “I have seen dead men laying about by the 100”

On Anzac Day, we dive into the diary of Jewish Australian soldier in the First World War, Harold Collins to learn more about his war-time experiences.

Read more

Out of Egypt

For the Jews of Egypt in the mid-twentieth century, the Passover story was not just a mythical story. This was their story. As a Sephardi Jewish girl born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1939, this was also my story.

Read more

Perspectives on the liberation of Bergen-Belsen

Perspectives on the liberation of Bergen-Belsen When Bergen-Belsen was liberated on 15 April 1945, a horrific landscape of death and suffering was revealed. Newsreels, photographs and sketches showed indescribable horrors. …

Read more

Wash your hands!

Wash your hands! Handwashing is front and centre of media messaging right now, so we would like to explore the Jewish religious fixation on the frequent ritual washing of one’s …

Read more

A Sephardi Seder Tradition

A Sephardi Seder Tradition The rituals of Pesach, or Passover, are observed and interpreted in different ways by different Jewish communities from across the world. In anticipation of the Sydney …

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Eddie Jaku OAM

Eddie Jaku was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1920 to a loving family that regarded themselves as “Germans first and foremost, and Jewish only in [their] home”. That all changed when Hitler came to power.

Read more

Celebrating one of the strong women in the Purim story

Celebrating one of the strong women in the Purim story On International Women’s Day, and on the eve of Purim, we look at one of the powerful women in the …

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Peter Rossler

Peter was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1930, and was nine years old when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. Life as Peter knew it began to change.

Read more

Australia – A Territorial Solution of the Jewish Problem

In April 1938 – following the Anschluss, or annexation, of Austria into Hitler’s Great Germanic Empire – a bizarre plan was hatched which has evaded history books. On the eve of the Holocaust, Australia was selected as a suitable site for solving the ‘Jewish Problem’.

Read more

4 ways to create more inclusive habits

4 ways to create more inclusive habits To celebrate Mardi Gras this year, we are exploring ways that individuals can become more aware and more inclusive of people within the …

Read more

Deena Yako’s story

Deena Yako fled Iraq with her family at the age of nine and works to support young refugees in Australia.

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Jack Meister

Jack was born in Kielce, Poland, in 1928. He was 11 years old when the Nazis came, and that marked the end of his childhood.

Read more

What happened after the evacuation and liberation of Auschwitz?

On 27 January 1945, Russian soldiers liberated 4,800 inmates from Auschwitz. The day has been chosen by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. But what is far less known – what happened after the evacuation and liberation of Auschwitz?

Read more

Mensches, movers and shakers: Dr Kerryn Phelps AM

Dr Kerryn Phelps talks about how she continues to strive for change in public policy and her advice for young, emerging leaders.

Read more

Righteous Among the Nations as mensches: Siek and Anna Attema

Siek and Anna Attema were Dutch farmers who selflessly hid Mia Polak and her sister for two years on their farm in Holland, during WWII.

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Susan Warhaftig

Susan Warhaftig was born in 1937 in Vienna, Austria. She went into hiding in Hungary with her mother.

Read more

Mensches, movers and shakers: Genevieve Clay-Smith

Genevieve Clay-Smith tells us about making film industry more representative and inclusive of people with disabilities.

Read more

Auschwitz: The exchange of belongings

So many Jewish people deported to camps brought their most valuable and sentimental possessions with them to the camps. Where did they believe they were going, and what became of their precious belongings?

Read more

Mensches, movers and shakers: Melanie and Sarah Penicka-Smith

Melanie and Sarah Penicka-Smith tell us how they are creating positive change in the LGBTQI+ space.

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Mimi Wise

Mimi Wise was born in Milan, Italy, in 1937. As a baby, Mimi moved with her family to France.

Read more

Shoes: a matter of life or death

A small shoe that once belonged to a young child tells a much larger story. Shoes, in many cases, were a matter of life and death for inmates at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Read more

From Kristallnacht to King Street

From Kristallnacht to King Street On 9 November 1938, Nazi party members engaged in a program of bloody pogroms across Germany and Austria that became known as Kristallnacht (Night of …

Read more

Learn the History – Who is a Jew?

Learn the History – Who is a Jew? In order to understand the complex answer to the question ‘Who is a Jew?’, one has to look at the many sources …

Read more

Survivor Portraits – George Sternfeld

George Sternfeld was born in 1939 in Warsaw, Poland, and fled with his family to Siberia in 1940.

Read more

The beginnings of the Museum building

The beginnings of the Museum building Did you know that the building in which the Sydney Jewish Museum is housed has an interesting history of its own before it became …

Read more

The origins of the ‘scapegoat’

The origins of the ‘scapegoat’ Did you know the history of the word ‘scapegoat’? It was first coined in the 16th century to describe the ritual animals that the Jewish …

Read more

The Photographer of ‘I Met a Survivor’ – Nadine Saacks

The Photographer of ‘I Met a Survivor’ – Nadine Saacks Nadine Saacks is a photographer with a passion for documenting people’s stories through images. To bring the concept for ‘I …

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Kitty Lowinger

Kitty Lowinger was born in 1941 in Budapest, Hungary. Kitty was three years old when Germany invaded Hungary.

Read more

Learn the History – Why did Jews not leave Germany when the Nazis came to power?

Learn the History – Why did Jews not leave Germany when the Nazis came to power? Our Resident Historian Emeritus Professor Konrad Kwiet explains why the assumption that German Jews …

Read more

Helping us get inspiring projects off the ground

Helping us get inspiring projects off the ground All projects start with a spark of inspiration. This is how the powerful collection of photographs that makes up I Met a …

Read more

A tapestry of a decade’s stories

A tapestry of a decade’s stories This large tapestry of an idyllic medieval landscape recently came into our collection, bringing with it a complex and tumultuous story. Behind the colourful …

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Litzi Lemberg

Litzi Lemberg was born in 1939 in Vienna, Austria. She was a baby when World War II began.

Read more

The Two of Us: Joe Symon and Juliane Michaels

The Two of Us: Joe Symon and Juliane Michaels In time for Father’s Day, we sat down with father and daughter Joe Symon and Juliane Michaels, who both give their time …

Read more

Bring success through empathy

Bring success through empathy Businesses that champion empathy and emotional intelligence outperform those businesses that do not by 20%, according to the Harvard Business Review. However, in times of rapid …

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Olga Horak

Olga Horak was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1926. She was 14 when the war broke out in 1939.

Read more

Introducing students to the Holocaust sensitively

Introducing students to the Holocaust sensitively With the duty of teaching young student visitors about the Holocaust comes the responsibility of our Museum Educators to convey a complex history of …

Read more

Survivor Portraits – Yvonne Halas

Yvonne Halas’ life began in war time, as she was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1942.

Read more

Learn the History – Defining the Holocaust

Learn the History – Defining the Holocaust In this new monthly blog series, Learn the History, our Resident Historian Emeritus Professor Konrad Kwiet will dive into aspects of Holocaust history …

Read more

0
Your Cart
Your cart is empty