Holocaust Museum

Year 10 English Excursion to Holocaust Museum 

In the first week of Term 2, English Faculty staff and all Year 10 English students (as well as the Year 11 History class) visited the newly reopened Jewish Holocaust Museum in Elsternwick. This was our first visit since the museum closed due to COVID and to undergo an extensive refurbishment in 2020. The excursion is one that we have undertaken for many years to support the teaching of English texts (currently The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman) and to broaden student understanding of the Holocaust. The new building is beautiful and offers a fitting memorial to Melbourne’s Holocaust Survivors and their families. The program ‘In Touch with Memory’ allows students the chance to see authentic documents, hear real stories, and meet survivors. Sadly the exhibition was not yet ready but teachers hope to return when it is and I encourage students to do so in order to get the full experience. Thank you to the staff who attended and most importantly to the museum staff who are always so welcoming and open to students' questions. 

The following reflection is by Misha Du Toit in Year 10:

Visiting the Melbourne Holocaust Museum was an illuminating opportunity to learn more about the often silent stories of Melbourne’s holocaust survivors. Together as peers, we viewed and analysed remaining artifacts of the second world war, which once belonged to select survivors who had immigrated to Melbourne after 1945. Their belongings were each marked by their own personal journeys, and learning from first-hand sources as vitally crucial as them was incredibly eye-opening.

We also had the privilege of meeting and speaking to Charles German, a living holocaust survivor. He was eager to enlighten us with the wisdom of his experiences and shared his harrowing story of survival against all odds with a dream for a long and kind future. Charles’ willingness to tell us his tale and his respect and hope for our generation and those to come was inspiring to witness. His words of hope and story of not just surviving but living even after all that he faced will be carried with myself and my peers for as long as we tread through our lives, serving as a constant reminder of the importance of pushing aside prejudice and persevering despite the circumstances. 

Thank you to the staff who attended and most importantly to the museum staff who are always so welcoming and open to students' questions.