On Monday 2 May, Year 10 students visited the Sydney Jewish Museum as part of their studies in History relating to the Shoah (Holocaust). On the day, they took part in a guided tour of the museum, looking at artefacts from during and after World War II. They also took part in a workshop about the rights and freedoms to come out of the end of the war. Finally, they were able to listen to a survivor’s testimony about the experience.

A student, Chloe Rice, writes:

“I thought it was a great experience to get an inside look at the journey of the Jewish individuals throughout the Holocaust. It gave me a different perspective on the matter, as it is one thing to read and do research about the historic event, but it is something completely different to see first-hand testimonies and conditions they had to survive through. I especially liked listening to the survivors' testimony. We had a lady named Dasha, she was a young child throughout her imprisonment. She went through various challenges such as concealing her identity, hiding from the Nazis, and malnutrition. I found the section of the museum dedicated to the passed children that were involved in the mass murder to be especially impactful. The memorial wall of all the children killed was an eye-opening experience, it displayed names and photos (if the children had some) of the murdered. Behind this there was a bowl with water that would drop from the roof. It displayed the “tears of the children”, this bowl was filled with 1.5 million tears for each of those children who lost their lives.

The excursion to the Jewish museum was confronting and educational. I got an insight into the lives of families and couples that were forced to separate due to antisemitism. It was heartbreaking to read their goodbye letters and look at old photos of couples that never got their happy endings. I learnt about a very strong young woman named Lotte Weiss, she was a survivor of Auschwitz at only 16 years old. By using her intelligence to her advantage, she got good indoor jobs to escape the cold. Through her story we realised the effect holocaust had on their mental health, leaving most of the survivors; including Lotte, to develop PTSD and miss out on many life experiences.”