Olga Horak is 94 and a half.
She is specific about the half-year, because at her age, it matters, and all those years are a testament to her great achievement: survival.
Mrs Horak is a Czech-born Jewish Holocaust survivor, or as she puts it, a “graduate of the Holocaust”.
She was interned in five camps during World War II, including Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, from which she was liberated in 1945 at the age of 18. She lost her entire family in the camps, including her mother, most tragically, on the day of their liberation.
“She collapsed and was taken away – possibly taken to a pit where the bodies were taken to,” Mrs Horak said. “This was three weeks before the end of the war. This is my story.”
Mrs Horak will tell her story during a commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday, in honour of the 6 million murdered by the Nazis. The day marks the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.
For the first time the commemoration will be held virtually and Australia-wide, with a pre-recorded message from Mrs Horak.
Other speakers include Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Senator Penny Wong and former High Court judge Michael Kirby.