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JNF Honours Adelaide's Holocaust Survivors |
What had begun with 13 names on previous “Censuses” of SA survivors now became a list of 46 men and women with stories that reached from Sobibor and Auschwitz to Siberia and JNF of Australia CEO Rob Schneider, addressed the 125 strong audience and spoke of why JNF, the organization so much associated with life was honouring survivors of the Shoah on this 60th Anniversary of liberation -a small thank you for their contribution to the foundation of the State of Israel. He then presented 32 out of the 46 who were able to attend, (those who could not were to be personally visited later) with a symbolic medallion minted in Israel and engraved with inscriptions both in English and Yiddish saying: “Honouring you on the anniversary of the liberation” and “Out of the ashes came the stream of survivors to the Land reclaimed”. While they received their medal a much abridged version of each recipient's moving story of heroism and survival was read out by Anne Bayer, President of JNF of SA and herself a Holocaust survivor. She concluded by saying that each one's very survival and the existence of their children, and their children's children and above all the existence of Israel was their victory over Hitler's ghastly plan. The ceremony concluded with JNF's Federal Bequests Director Len Mahemoff's emotion-filled beautiful rendition of the Partisan song, followed by the Hatikvah. The JNF of SA together with the JCS of SA and other willing contributors is now planning to put together a short compendium of the stories of our survivors as a further tribute to them and the awesome era they represent. |
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| Front row (left to right) - Andrew Steiner, Eva Temple, Maya Vyshovsky, Sarra Yurkovetskaya, Hélène Young, Anne Bayer, Regina Zielinski, Yanka Fellner, Michelle Lewandowski Back row: Jack Teichman, Maya Frishling, Rob Schneider, and partly obscured - Otto Kassai, Brigitte Yellen & Vladimir Vyshovsky. |