ASPJ Genealogy Open Day
Events
The Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre auditorium, in Melbourne, was filled for the ASPJ’s first Genealogy Open Day featuring special guest, Polish genealogist and historian, Michał Majewski.
Having worked for the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland and with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Michał provided the audience with valuable information about resources available to further their own family’s genealogical history.
Following Michał’s lecture and answering general questions, audience members were invited to bring their own, personal questions to representives of several specialist organisations. The ASPJ sincerely thanks representatives of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Victoria, the Polish Museum & Archives in Australia, the Genealogy Society of Victoria and Polaron for giving their time in support of our event.
During his week in Melbourne, Michał met with school students about their “Roots” projects and ran an intensive workshop for people who help others with genealogical research. He toured the Jewish Museum of Australia, the Melbourne Holocaust Museum & Research Centre and the Melbourne offices of the National Archives of Australia.
The 2019 ASPJ Genealogy Open Day was made possible by the financial support of the
ASPJ Executive Members Meet New Australian Ambassador
Events
ASPJ Co-Presidents Bernard Korbman and Ezra May, together with Co-Vice-President Izy Marmur, met today with the next Australian Ambassador to Poland, Lloyd Brodrick, prior to his departure for Warsaw.
Their discussions included several important Polish-Jewish issues., including the impact of some of these issues on the life of today’s Jewish community in Poland.
Mr Brodrick is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was most recently Assistant Secretary, Budget Branch. He has previously served overseas as Acting Deputy Head of Mission, Australian Embassy, Baghdad; Deputy Head of Mission, Australian Embassy, The Hague; and Counsellor, Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Geneva.
Mr Brodrick holds an Executive Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Laws from the Australian National University; and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from Macquarie University.
He replaces the outgoing Ambassador, Paul Wojciechowski, whose three-year term ends this year.
Our Moshe Fiszman z"l and Polish Friends Honoured
Events
Our Moshe Fiszman z”l, ASPJ foundation Board member, has been posthumously honoured with an OAM in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday honours list. Our Polish friends, Zygmunt Bielinski and Dr Sylvia Greda-Bogusz, have also both been awarded an OAM .
Moshe Majer Fiszman, OAM z”l
It is with great pride that we learned that our Moshe, posthumously received his honour for “services to the Jewish community of Victoria”.
Among his numerous passions was education – educating the young generation against the consequences of hate. As a Survivor Guide for Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust & Research Centre, literally thousands of school students, university students, politicians and others have, over many years, listened to Moshe’s animated and articulate description of his own Holocaust experiences.
May his memory continue to be a blessing to his family and to all of us.
Zygmunt Bieliński, OAM
A long-serving President of the Polish community centre, Dom Polski “Syrena” in Rowville, Zygmunt received his honour for “services to the Polish community of Victoria”.
Since the beginnings of the ASPJ, Zygmunt has always made us feel welcome at Dom Polski “Syrena” and has been positive towards the promotion of Polish-Jewish relations. We congratulate him and his family.
Dr Sylvia Greda-Bogusz, OAM
Vice-President and Honorary Secretary of the Polish Community Council of Victoria, Sylvia received her honour for “services to the Polish community of Victoria”.
In the ASPJ’s relationship with the Polish Community Council of Victoria, Sylvia has always been positive and has helped foster good relations between our two organisations. We congratulate her and her family.
Vale Moshe Fiszman z"l (1921-2019)
Events
It is with immense sadness that we mourn the passing of Moshe Fiszman z”l – Holocaust Survivor – a founding and, until his passing, continuing member of the Board of Management of the Australian Society of Polish Jews & Their Descendants.
Moshe was born in Radom, Poland, in 1921. Apart from one brother, he lost his entire family during the Holocaust. He survived numerous concentration camps and several death marches.
When our organisation was founded and over the years, at our Board meetings, Moshe was the voice of experience and wise counsel.
Among his numerous passions was education – educating the young generation against the consequences of hate. As a Survivor Guide for Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust & Research Centre, literally thousands of school students, university students, politicians and others have, over many years, listened to Moshe’s animated and articulate description of his own Holocaust experiences
Despite his advanced years, Moshe’s mind was as sharp as ever. He was immensely widely-read and could recite, from memory, great swathes of Polish and Yiddish poetry and other literature in an animated and almost theatrical style – his recitations were such that once witnessed, never forgotten.
Together with his wife Franka and his two daughters, Anna and Lena, we mourn the passing our ASPJ Board Member and friend.
We have truly lost an icon of the Melbourne Jewish community.
May his memory be a blessing to his family and to all whose lives he touched.
[Webmaster: We have invited Moshe’s daughters, Anna and Lena, to provide material for a permanent tribute page on this website,
honouring the memory of their father. That page will appear in due course.]
Inaugural & 2019 ASPJ Oration
Events
An almost capacity crowd of 200 filled the hall at the Caulfield campus of Monash U
niversity to hear our Inaugural and 2019 ASPJ Oration delivered by Professor Dariusz Stola, Director of Warsaw’s POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
The audience, drawn from both Melbourne’s Jewish and Polish communities, heard him speak on the topic of The 1968 “Anti-Zionist Campaign” in Poland and Its Echoes Today – Polish Debates on the Holocaust – a topic which resonated with both communities.
The event was MC’d by Melbourne Jewish community leader Nina Bassat AM and was hosted by the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation. The ASPJ sincerely thanks both Mrs Bassat and Sue Hampel OAM for helping to make our Inaugural Oration such a success.
From left: MC Nina Bassat AM, Prof.Andrew Marcus (ACJC), Andrew Rajcher (ASPJ Treasurer), Ezra May (ASPJ (Co-Pres.)
From left: Ezra May (ASPJ (Co-Pres.), MC Nina Bassat AM, Izydor Marmur (ASPJ Vice-Pres.),
Prof.Dariusz Stola (2019 ASPJ Orator), Bernard Korbman (ASPJ Co-Pres.)
During his week in Melbourne, Professor Stola was interviewed by the Polish program of SBS Radio and live-to-air by Bernard Korbman and Dominic Carter on J-Air’s “Open Minds” program. He toured the Melbourne Holocaust Centre, where he met staff and volunteers, the Australian Jewish Museum, where he met the staff, and was especially impressed with the museum at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.
He also took the opportunity to meet members of the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs and also met the board of the Polish Community Council of Victoria. He finished his Melbourne visit with a little tourism – a day-trip to the Healesville Sanctuary to “get up close and personal” with Australia’s unique fauna.
The ASPJ would like to sincerely thank everyone who contributed towards making our Inaugural and 2019 ASPJ Oration an outstanding success.
We’re already planning our 2020 ASPJ Oration!
Click HERE to view Professor Dariusz Stola deliver the Inaugural and 2109 ASPJ Oration.
The Inaugural & 2019 ASPJ Oration was made possible by the financial support of the
2018 "Henryk Sławik Award" Presentation
Events
Melbourne, Australia
The Henryk Sławik Award is presented in honour of the spirit of the life and deeds of Henryk Sławik, (saving over thirty thousand lives in occupied Hungary, five thousand of those being Jews). The Board of Management of the ASPJ has decided to honour individuals who, or organisations which, have worked towards enhancing mutual respect and understanding between the Polish and Jewish communities.
The recipients of the
2018 Henryk Sławik Award are:
Marian Pawlik OAM
and the
Polish Community Council of Victoria Inc.
Since the Australia Society of Polish Jews & Their Descendants (ASPJ) re-emerged, in 2009, as an organisation with a new name, a new Board and a renewed desire to improve the relationship between our local Poland and Jewish communities, the Polish Community Council of Victoria (PCCV) has welcomed us and has always been open to a mutual dialogue.
One of those at the forefront of bringing our two organisations – and our two communities – closer together has beenMarian Pawlik OAM, current President and long-serving Board member of the PCCV.
Through his efforts and those of the PCCV, together, we have endeavoured to highlight those things which our two communities have in common, particularly throughout history. The PCCV and Marian have endeavoured to make us an integral part of Polish community activities. Their continuously extended hand of friendship ensures that the steps which we have taken together thus far bode well for an even closer relationship into the future.
The Award is presented in recognition of efforts made towards enhancing mutual respect and understanding between the Polish and Jewish communities. Marian Pawlik OAM and the Polish Community Council of Victoria are worthy Award recipients.
This year’s Guest Speaker was newly-appointed Polish Ambassador to Australia, Michał Kołodziejski. We were also honoured to have this year’s Award presented in the presence of three currently-serving members of the Polish Senate – Senator Elżbieta Stępień, Senator Dr. Tomasz Latos and Senator Grzegorz Długi.
A special award was presented posthumously to the family of the late Andrew Korab, who sadly passed away in January 2018. As the President of the Polish Club Albion, he was a good friend to the ASPJ and a strong supporter of our efforts in bringing our communities together. Polish Club Albion Acting President, Dr Marek Kijek, (pic right) accepted the certificate on behalf of the Korab family and read a very moving letter from Andrew’s wife.
As in previous year’s, the Award’s musical interlude was provided by members of the Melbourne’s well-known klezmer band “Klazmania”
ASPJ at Melbourne's 2018 "In One Voice"
Events
The ASPJ took the opportunity to promotes ourselves at Melbourne Jewish community’s “In One Voice” event held in Elsternwick on Sunday 18th March 2018.
While the pics here show pleasant weather, it did turn a little nasty during the day. But despite that, our stall did arouse a pleasing amount of interest amongst those who attended the event.
Our thanks to all those who helped out on the day!
Janusz Makuch in Conversation with Arnold Zable
Events
Melbourne, Australia
In its final event for 2017, ASPJ President Izydor Marmur (pic right) introduced Founder and Director of the Kraków Festival of Jewish Culture, Janusz Makuch, in conversation with Melbourne writer Arnold Zable. In 2008, Janusz became the first recipient of the prestigious Irena Sendler prize awarded by the Taube Foundation for preserving and revitalising Jewish heritage in Poland.
The Festival was founded in 1988 in Kraków, a city with a flourishing Jewish culture before WWII and whose Jewish community almost vanished during the Holocaust. Although not being Jewish himself, when asked about the original purpose of organising the festival, Janusz Maluch said, “It’s a way to pay homage to the people who lived here”.
In 2017, the Festival hosted over 200 events, including musical performances, workshops, lectures, guided tours, and attracted some 30,000 visitors. The Festival gathers around 200 artists and workshop leaders from all over the globe.
Janusz spoke about the festival and what it means to Kraków and Poland in general . He also told about his personal journey during the years in which he became involved with the project.
Arnold Zable, an award-winning writer, novelist and human rights advocate, is the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants who lost their families to the Holocaust. During his conversation with Janusz Makuch, Arnold shared some of his own experiences during his visits to Poland before and following the fall of communism and also his observations of the changes that have taken place.
Following the inspiring conversation, there were a number of questions from the audience.
Later many people stayed behind to mingle and to talk with both speakers.
2017 "Henryk Sławik Award" Presentation
Events
Melbourne, Australia
The Henryk Sławik Award is presented in honour of the spirit of the life and deeds of Henryk Sławik, (saving over thirty thousand lives in occupied Hungary, five thousand of those being Jews). The Board of Management of the ASPJ has decided to honour individuals who, or organisations which, have worked towards enhancing mutual respect and understanding between the Polish and Jewish communities.
The recipients of the 2017 Henryk Sławik Award are:
Sue Hampel OAM and Frances Prince.
Among her many activities, Sue Hampel OAM is Co-President of Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Centre and an educator.Frances Prince is a long-time educator and is a member of the Executive of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, chairing its Multicultural & Interfaith Affairs Committee.
Both Sue and Frances have shown great commitment, working hard to establish the “Student March of the Living Australia” and, in particular, in preparing Australia’s Jewish students for their trip to Poland.
In the beginning, there was little goodwill, and sometimes much opposition, to taking Jewish children to the place where so many of our people perished. Sue and Frances managed to convince our community of the importance of the March of the Living. They wanted to ensure that the students were not left with an attitude of hatred towards Poland and its people, that they know the facts – that the genocide of the Jews in Poland, was planned by the German occupiers, that there were no “Polish death camps”, but “German death camps” on occupied Polish land.
They ensured that students were aware of the positive side of Polish-Jewish relations in Poland post the communist era, and that Jewish students met with Polish young people in order to establish a better understanding and better relations between them.
Sue Hampel befriended the late Irena Sandler and ensured that students were aware of the courageous Righteous Gentiles who saved many Jewish lives at risk of their own and that of their families. Both Sue and Frances insisted that the March Of The Living should be a journey of discovery and respect for the memory of the murdered families, as well as an opportunity for a deeper and more accurate understanding of history.
This year’s Awards were presented to Sue and Frances by Victorian State MP Natalie Suleyman and President of the Polish Community Council (PCCV) of Victoria Marian Pawlik OAM.
Guest speaker was Natalie Suleyman MP, representing the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, the Hon. Robin Scott MP. The topic of her keynote address was “Multiculturalism and Interfaith Dialogue in Victoria”. Natalie is a member of the Victorian Parliamentary Friendship Group of Poland. Its establishment was instigated by the PCCV and the ASPJ. She was instrumental in the establishment of this group and is its co-convenor, together with Nick Wakeling MP.
The audience was treated to a short video on “Jewish Life in Today’s Poland” followed by Klezmer music from David Krycer and Lionel Mrocki, two members of the Melbourne’s well-known klezmer band “Klazmania”
The 2017 Award was presented in the presence of members of the diplomatic corps, a number parliamentarians, as well as many leaders of Victoria’s Jewish and Polish communities including Piotr Buszta, (Deputy Head of Mission Counsellor Embassy of the Republic of Poland), Dr.George Łuk-Kozika (Honorary Polish Consul-General in Melbourne) and his wife Denise, Marsha Thompson MP (State Member for Footscray), Margaret Fitzherbert MLC (Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Women’s Health and Rural and Regional Health), Jennifer Huppert (President Jewish Community Council of Victoria), Nina Bassett AM (Imm.Past Pres., Jewish Community Council of Victoria), Christopher Lancucki AM (Imm.Past Pres., Polish Community Council of Victoria), Andrzej Korab (President, Albion Polish Club), and Adam Warzel (President, Australian Institute of Polish Affairs).
Honouring the Polish Righteous in Sydney
Events
Sydney, Australia
Around 150 people from Sydney’s Polish and Jewish communities filled the “Backyard Opera Gallery”, in the Sydney suburb of Tempe, for the Official Opening of the POLIN Museum’s exhibition “They Risked Their Lives – Poles Who Saved Jews During the Holocaust”.
The event was co-hosted by the Polish Consulate-General in Sydney and the Australian Society of Polish Jews & Their Descendants’ (ASPJ). It was the first major event, in Sydney, to pay tribute to the Polish Righteous Among the Nations. Master of Ceremonies was Polish Vice-Consul General Marta Gubala-Kiec.
As first speaker, ASPJ Treasurer and long-time POLIN Museum volunteer translator, Andrew Rajcher, sincerely thanked the Sydney Polish Consul-General and her staff for agreeing to co-host the exhibition in their city. He told the audience that this event honoured not only those Polish Righteous as recognised by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, but also those Poles who were killed by the Nazis, along with the Jews they were helping, and about whom we may never know.
Consul-General, Regina Jurkowska, welcomed everyone to the event and spoke at length about the 1,000 year long co-existence of Poles and Jews on Polish soil. Others to speak included the NSW State Justice Secretary David Clarke who recalled his visit to Yad Vashem and the son of Polish Holocaust survivors, Rabbi Dr Dovid Slavin, who stated that we cannot imagine the courage it took to risk the life of one’s family to save others.
A memorial candle was lit by State Member of Parliament, Robert Borsak, in memory of both the rescuers and the rescued – those who survived the War and have passed away since, as well as those who perished while trying to rescue or help Jews during the War.
Memorial prayers were then recited by Father Kamil Zylczynski and Rabbi Dr Dovid Slavin.
A short concert then followed by Polish artist Marek Ravski, who entertained the audience
with songs in both Polish and Yiddish.
This is the third time that this exhibition, produced by the POLIN Museum in conjunction with the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has gone on display in Australia. The first two showings were in Melbourne, at the Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre and at Dom Polski “Syrena”. Upon its return to Melbourne, the exhibition will go on display for a fourth time in Australia, later this year, at the Albion Polish Club.