Sydney Jewish Museum

On Wednesday 29 September, fifty Year 10 Elective History students visited the Sydney Jewish Museum as part of their study of Genocide. The students were deeply engaged in the guided tour of the Museum, which traced the development of the Holocaust from the Polish ghettos to the Final Solution, and presented many stories and artefacts of resistance and remembrance. One of the highlights was listening to Lucy Chladek (pictured above), a survivor of the Holocaust as a young girl living in Budapest, Hungary. Following the museum visit, students watched the film Ida, set in 1962 Communist Poland, which explored ideas of guilt and pain through the eyes of a young woman who returns to the place her parents were murdered during the German occupation of Poland.

This article consists of extracts of student reflections on the day.

Viewing artefacts- the odd things left behind by those killed and documents such as propaganda – and faces of victims around the museum, allowed us to view something physical and connect with the events, not only an objective manner. We heard second hand stories from the guides and a moving recount from a survivor and we learned that adults weren’t among the only murdered. When I walked into the children’s memorial, it brought all of these concepts together – 1.5 million drops of water filled a sculpture of relatives of those who worked in the facility – and was deeply moving. I think that was the point in which many of us we finally realised that it wasn’t just a historical event that happened in the distant past. The museum gave context to the area of study, but most importantly something physical to hold on to when we go into further research. (Amelie).

I learnt many new things about the lead-up and execution of the holocaust through the several engaging presentations and tours around the museum. I also had the privilege to hear the thoughts and memories from a first-hand holocaust survivor who lived in hiding at the time of Nazi Germany’s occupation of Hungary. To me, the facts and stories I heard along the way were so captivating that I found myself recounting all the facts that I had learnt to my parents in the evening. (Julius)

Hearing Lucy talk about her own experiences was enlightening as she has a story that was
different to any other stories I have heard – unlike what I have read before, she was not held in a concentration camp, but despite this, she still suffered through immense difficulties that I would not have considered before. She also spoke about her life after the Holocaust, explaining her life in Australia, which I felt was just as important as her experiences during the Holocaust. (Felicity)

Watching Ida was truly an enjoyable experience for me due to the classic cinematography and ideology behind the film. Ida provides a touching and informative perspective about the post-holocaust period and has given me clearer idea of how society perceived the Jews in 1962. Furthermore, I believe that watching this film was such a valuable part of the excursion because as our Western time period and culture progresses, the production and showcasing of classic black-and-white films spoken in a different language is slowly decreasing. (Ameira)

The influences of the Holocaust on daily living and societal structure was the most interesting part for me personally, which the movie ‘Ida’ supported with its intense emotional appeal. At times, the plot was confusing and hard to grasp, but the visual symbolism was enough to provoke my thoughts on the aftermath of the Holocaust. Listening to Lucy, a Hungarian Jew, and her childhood perspective on her family going into hiding and escaping was fascinating. Knowing that there are people who are still alive that endured the horrors and can tell their story helps me understand how dangerous and oppressed the time period was. Overall, the excursion was a direct and captivating experience and I learnt many things about perspective and context. (Winston)

The most moving and emotional part of the museum was the Children’s Memorial. The film Ida was a beautiful captured story, yet it lacked enough action to make it entertaining and captivating. Going in to the movie with expectations of scenes of concentration camps and more focus on the Holocaust itself, I was disappointed in the basic storyline. Although I recognised the appeal in the cinematography and the exquisite editing, the movie failed to connect with me on an emotional level. Overall, I believed that the Sydney Jewish Museum was more beneficial is understanding the Holocaust and provided a better insight into events and information related. (Max)

One can read as much on the Holocaust as they want or watch documentaries but being confronted with the reality of the events is completely different. Hearing the stories of survivors and their descendants as well as journals or other sources created at the time gives a perspective into the Holocaust which can really engage you with the content and experiences. Overall, the excursion was a great experience. It was something that could be taken beyond those confines and contribute to someone as a person and a globally aware citizen. I think this is part of why I enjoy history – even though it is a study of the past, it continues to have outstanding relevance to our lives, our experiences and our growth as people. (Luca)

The excursion ultimately presented two differing but equally compelling perspectives of the Holocaust and its aftermath. The exploration of the Holocaust as an experience through memory rather than as an event recounted in a conventional narrative structure provided the opportunity for minimalist storytelling within the film Ida. The historical context of the film is built through the atmosphere of the movie: wide shots of empty nothingness that, from the very first scenes, begin to take shape as a clear representation of a shattered country recovering from the brutal despair experienced during the Holocaust. All of this was accomplished without ever directly referencing any significant events. This perspective offered a meaningful insight into life within Poland following the German occupation, and allowed us to grasp a new sense of the reclamation of identity that began to be experienced as a result of the Holocaust. Rediscovery of the past through fragmented recollections and broken bones — both figuratively and literally — was a viewpoint that we had not previously discussed in class, and was one that I found to be particularly captivating and emotionally compelling. (Olive)

Gregor Macfie
History Faculty