Courage to Care
ExhibitionAddress at Taree RSL Club, Tuesday 21 March 2000
by
The Honourable Justice Marcus Einfeld AO QC
Courage to Care
Exhibition
Address at Taree RSL Club, Tuesday 21 March
2000
by
The
Honourable Justice Marcus Einfeld AO QC
“Courage to
Care” aims to promote understanding and harmony among all races and
cultures, refutes myths about the Jewish people, bring home the reality of the Holocaust and
draw attention to the heroism of “Righteous”.
This exhibition is
a small tribute to the heroic
individuals who risked their own lives during the Holocaust to help save Jews
from the Nazi genocide. Ordinary people who took it upon themselves to
demonstrate humaneness, fairness and compassion to people who were being
hunted and destroyed by the regime in power in their own country.
At great risk to themselves and their family, they
provided a hiding place, food and shelter sometimes for years, to people whom
they had often not previously known or even met. The exhibition honours those
courageous individuals and the people they saved, many of whom now live in
Australia. Their “Courage to Care”
for those not in a position to care for themselves, and with the ever -present
threat of execution should they be discovered, has surely earned them the
right to the title of "Righteous Among the Nations". Their actions
saved lives and ensured that some human decency remained in those dark and
brutal times of WWII.
"Courage to
Care" draws its inspiration from the Deeds of Valour from “The
Righteous Among the Nations”, those rare individuals who dared to shelter
Jews from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.
The
"Righteous among the Nations" program was established at Yad Vashem
in Jerusalem 1953 to honour those men and women who risked their lives during
the Holocaust to save the lives of Jews.
To date, over 16,000 individuals have been recognised by Yad Vashem as
"Righteous among the Nations", representing over 7,500 authenticated
rescue stories.
In Australia, there are known to be 24 people who have been recognised as Righteous. Some have passed away, many are in poor health. In addition, there are many Holocaust survivors in Australia who themselves were rescued by one of the Righteous. The stories of these people represent one of the most powerful messages imaginable of the importance of standing up against oppression and injustice.
B'nai B'rith's
“Courage to Care” exhibition,
subtitled "Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust", was originally
assembled by the Jewish Museum of Australia and the Jewish Holocaust Museum,
Melbourne. B'nai B'rith’s Raoul Wallenberg Unit, converted the exhibition
into a travelling exhibition and educational experience, and has presented it
in a number of sites in regional Victoria.
Now, together with additional materials generously provided by the
Sydney Jewish Museum and others, it is touring regional NSW
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Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) was a leader of the church's opposition to Hitler. He was interned in Nazi concentration camps from 1938-1945. |