Excursion to Jewish Holocaust Centre

Last Friday the 15th November, a group of Year 9, 10 and 11 students visited the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Elsternwick. We were met by Soo, who informed us about the events surrounding the Holocaust, which culminated in the murder of 6 million Jews, of whom at least 1.5 million were children. We then were led around the museum by volunteer guides who told us more important facts and details. Most impressively, we listened to the testimony of 97 year old Joseph de Haan, a Dutch Holocaust survivor. Students were moved by his tale of how his parents were arrested and taken to be killed in concentration camps, how he managed to escape, and the incredible generosity of local farmers who took him in and looked after him for the duration of the war.

Volunteer guide informed students about the ghettos, which were walled off areas of cities where Jewish people were forced to live, before being deported to the death camps.

This was a very important excursion which was both interesting and confronting for all who attended but included an account of human atrocity that needed to be told and never forgotten.