Holocaust survivors, the greater Jewish community and politicians gathered at Australia’s oldest synagogue on Tuesday morning for a historic, emotional announcement.
FELIX Goldschmied has struggled to speak about his experience as a Holocaust survivor.
The 83-year-old said stories risked being forgotten as Jewish survivors grew old, taking their memories of the unthinkable horrors of World War II with them.
“We Holocaust victims have a difficult time telling our children the real story,” he said.
“It was such a horrible time, I lost most of my family, it’s difficult to talk about.
“It’s probably better told when you do it in an organised way from an educational point of view.”
Mr Goldschmied was one of many members of the local Jewish community and politicians who gathered at Australia’s oldest synagogue on Tuesday morning for the announcement of Hobart’s new Holocaust Education and Interpretation Centre – a collaborative effort and bipartisan decision including input from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and funding from the state and federal government.
Mr Goldschmied told the gathering at the Hobart Synagogue about coming to Australia in 1948 as a nine-year-old with his younger brother.
“My parents were so worried … I was only a child and I didn’t comprehend all the ins and outs of what was going on but I knew that we were being discriminated against in a horrible way,” Mr Goldschmied said.
“My parents were sent to a concentration camp and my family was decimated.”