Daphna Levin-Kahn – Head of Jewish Studies High School

Year 10 visits the Sydney Jewish Museum

Following a thought-provoking day at the Sydney Jewish Museum late last term, students were asked to reflect on their experience and learning:

Which was the most impactful artefact or exhibit for you?

Visiting the Children’s Memorial and seeing a small fragment of the individual lives lost in the Holocaust, each of the pictures of a child of a survivor made me realise how many stories will not even be told, because there is no one alive to tell them. This was especially true for the artworks of the water droplets and the children’s shoes which also represented the sheer quantity of individual people and stories.
By Alix Cane

The artefact that was most inspiring to me was ‘George’s Jacket’. The jacket was a primary source as George wore it during his time in a concentration camp. The jacket was blue and white striped with the prisoners ID number sewn to it. I found this interesting as George still displayed resilience when told to burn the jacket, however he kept it in case one day anyone questioned whether the Holocaust occurred. By Allie Armstrong

I found that the different Star of David patches and armbands were interesting as they not only varied in look but were also in different languages, I thought that was powerful as it shows how many Jews from different places were affected.

By Zac Urbach

There was this one charcoal drawing of women in the Holocaust. They were so skinny that they appeared as shadows, blended with the background. Seeing this made me personally able to feel the extent of the pain, not only in the Holocaust but the trauma that stemmed from it. By Talia Rabin

Anika’s Story

I found it incredible that Ana’s train was found and that all those people were saved by two soldiers. I also found it really interesting that the story of the train was only properly discovered many years later. If I could ask Ana a question, I would ask her how she stayed hopeful throughout the Holocaust or if there were any stages where she completely lost hope. By Ella Hart

I thought it was incredible that her spirit was so uplifting, the way she describes her experience it seemed as if she always had faith and hope that she would eventually be ok throughout her entire experience. Even when she was speaking to us, she was making jokes and overall, just being really positive. If I got the chance to ask her a question It would be how your experience has affected your day-to-day life?
By Gabrielle Jackson

I found that her mindset was the most interesting after she had experienced this horrific event (especially being so young at the time), she said that she didn’t hate Germans and is willing to tell her story. By Zac Urbach

After today’s visit, and your previous learning about the Shoah, what action will you take to prevent, minimise or stop discrimination and/or other human rights violations happening in Australia, online and around the world?

The main thing I took from this was that, as a student, I can prevent, minimise or stop discrimination and/or human rights violations, by promoting information about these things occurring and showing support for groups facing these issues. Seeing the work of organisations to educate the world about the Holocaust, I have realised how important this education is, both to spread to other people, but also to personally seek to educate myself on issues widely faced by people in the world so I can learn to combat them, and in turn make sure to call out people for contributing to these issues.
By Alix Cane

I will try my best to call out people when I hear them misleading people with misinformation. As social media is such a big part of our lives now, I can use it to promote what is happening and bring awareness to the situation. By Gahya Cesana

To minimise or stop discrimination in Australia I think it is really important to tell people off when they say something discriminatory and educate them about what they did wrong and how that affects others. Many people use discriminatory language thinking it is a joke, so it is very important to educate people (especially young people) before they use those remarks, thinking it is funny. By Gabrielle Jackson

I will make more effort to do research about human rights violations happening in Australia and around the world, because I found that one of the biggest problems was that many people claimed that they had no idea what was happening to the Jews during the Holocaust or they chose to ignore it as it was not directly affecting them. By Ella Hart