Australians Jill and Eli Rabinowitz visited the site of the Great Synagogue of Kassel Germany in November 2024, where 86 years ago, on 7 November 1938, Kristallnacht, known as Pogromnacht in Germany, began.
Translation of this plaque
The Synagogue
This is where the Great Synagogue of the Kassel Jewish community stood, completed in 1839 and having 2,301 members in May 1933.
Many had already fled when, on 7 November 1938, activists from the Nazi Party broke into the synagogue and broke open the Torah shrine, setting fire to prayer scrolls and cult objects.
The city administration immediately demolished the intact building in order to build a parking lot there. The community was broken up.
Jill and Eli Rabinowitz with Tanja Colgan, German teacher Goethe Institute
The Project is a two-hour workshop of a book reading with a creative art activity for upper primary classrooms (Years 5 and 6). The story links with HASS units on civics, migration and refugees. Intercurricular learning opportunities promote values of empathy, kindness and inclusivity in the multicultural classroom.
This project is a stepping stone to the study of the Holocaust, refugees and anti semitism in high school. The project is unique at the primary school level.
The WE ARE HERE! Foundation provides the calico pockets, art materials and paints together with a free mini copy of In My Pocket for each student.
In My Pocket is Dorrith Sim’s true account of her escape from danger on the Kindertransport.
The Project is supported by the German Embassy in Canberra and the German Hon Consul in WA.
The German version of the book, In Meiner Tasche, is promoted by the Goethe Institute in Australia.
Zoom/Teams training is available for teachers.
The project was first launched at Jewish Day schools around Australia and South Africa in 2023/4. Since then, it has been successfully extended to state, private, Catholic and Independent schools as well as to public libraries.
Today in Perth started off with morning tea at the State Library of Western Australia with my mining experts, historian Lenore Layman, Richard Hartley (who just completed “Westralian Founders of 20th Century Mining,”) and Peta Chappelle, whose PhD thesis on “Merton’s Reward” explored the involvement of Charles Kaufman (Ken’s Baden-born great great uncle) in the Western Australian mining boom in the 1890s. They brought me the kinds of goodies genealogists love & suggested new avenues of research. Thanks to Michelle Urban from the local JGS for arranging this & providing lunch with the effervescent Eli Rabinowitz followed by a tour of Perth.
Tuesday 2 August – Day 3
Crossing Westminster Bridge
Meeting Laura Konviser
With Daniel Horowitz
Enjoying the London weather!
The 4th and final day – 3 August
The Imperial War Museum, Lambeth
Back to the Park Plaza for the end of the conference
In My Pocket Project – Introduces a powerful family story to 9 to 11 year olds
From: Eli Rabinowitz
Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2023 01:38:14 EDT
In My Pocket Project – an autobiographical picture story and related art workshop about the Kindertransport
Introduces a powerful family story to 9 to 11 year olds
Dorrith Sim was born Jewish, went on the Kindertransport in July 1939, and was fostered by non-Jewish people in Scotland.
Her parents were murdered in Auschwitz. She commemorated each year with a yahrzeit candle.
Most importantly, Dorrith wrote a children’s book, age appropriate for 9 to 11 year olds, to tell her true story, explaining how she went from the discrimination as a Jew in Germany to the kindness of people in Scotland. Dorrith’s family story speaks powerfully to all young children today.
Dorrith’s children in Scotland, the Scottish Jewish Archives, Gathering Voices in Glasgow, Points of Arrival at the University of Edinburgh, the Stadmuseum in Hofgeismar, the German Embassy in Canberra and the Hon German Consul in Perth, all have freely provided the resources to the WE ARE HERE! Foundation, to make this project available globally.
Starting this week, the WE ARE HERE! Foundation’s CEO, Eli Rabinowitz, is travelling to Germany, Lithuania, Israel, Scotland and England to further develop these resources. Eli will be presenting at the IAJGS Conference in London at the end of July.
Schools, public libraries and museums are adopting the project, a true life story powerfully introducing the subject of family history to primary school students.
Carmel Primary School in Perth Australia together with the WE ARE HERE! Foundation recently ran the first ever incursion of the project.
The German Embassy in Canberra reports:
Permission to use these photos have been obtained.
The project consists of a book reading, a Q & A session, and an associated art workshop with the students.
Each student gets to take home a free mini pocket book of Dorrith’s true story and their painted artwork.
In addition, the WE ARE HERE! Foundation prints A4 books for school libraries.
The project is also being run in public libraries in Perth and Mandurah as well as the main WA Boola Bardip Museum in Perth.
All five Sydney Jewish Day primary schools are running the project in 2023, as well as non-Jewish schools such as the Montessori School in Perth.
The project has now expanded into South Africa whereHerzlia and Weizmann primary schools in Cape Town will run the project this year – the first collaboration with schools outside Australia!
Keep the kids entertained these school holidays check out our great range of FREE children’s activities available at our libraries.
There’s lots of awesome free activities at your local library.
Designed by the WE ARE HERE! Foundation and supported by the German Embassy in Australia, join a creative and interactive workshop that inspires children to be advocates for human rights.
Participants get to read and watch an uplifting true story and learn about our multicultural communities and diverse backgrounds. This is followed by a creative arts & crafts workshop.
The Foundation aims to teach children about Human Rights, and this inspiring program provides children with the tools for building strengths to deal with our diverse world.
In a world first, the Partisans’ Song will be sung in Yiddish and te reo Māori tomorrow, Thursday, 27 January in the NZ Parliament for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It will be sung by a student of the NZ School of Music, Victoria University, Wellington, accompanied by a pianist.
United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Thursday 27 January 2022
The Holocaust was a turning point in history which prompted the world to say, “never again”. In 2005, the UN designated January 27th – the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945 – as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual call to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and to work through education, documentation, and commemoration to prevent future acts of genocide.
This day we reaffirm our commitment to making “never again” mean just that. We gather in honour and remembrance of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, and all victims of the Nazi regime and its collaborators, persecuted for their ethnicity, political views, disabilities, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. Today, and all days, we stand against antisemitism, discrimination, and apathy.
This year, our nationwide theme of resistance reminds us of the impact the act of even a single individual can have. We remember all forms of resistance – armed and unarmed, Jewish, and non-Jewish – against the Third Reich.
In keeping with the NZ government’s traffic light framework, all Holocaust Centre of New Zealand commemorative events on UN International Holocaust Remembrance Day require My Vaccine Pass for entry.
This applies to indoor and outdoor events in all cities.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Nance Adler, Aron & Henryka Bell (Bielski) & Eli Rabinowitz in Novogrudok, Belarus
Eli Rabinowitz & Asaela, daughter of Asael Bielski, in the Naliboki Forest, Belarus
On 30 October 2020 I posted:
We are pleased to advise that WE ARE HERE! Foundation has just had the Partisans’ Song translated into Māori – our 30th language!
Translated by Hēmi Kelly Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Tahu-Ngāti Whāoa
Lecturer | Te Ara Poutama, Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development Researcher | Te Ipukarea, The National Māori Language Institute Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Kaua rawa e mea ko te mate anahe tō huarahi,
Ahakoa āraia ana te kiko o te rangi e te pōuriuri,
Kei te tata mai te wā kua roa e tāria ana;
Ka rū te whenua i te takahi a ngā wae – ki te haka!
Mai i te whenua o te nīkau, ki te whenua kōkēi o te huka,
E haere nei mātou i runga i te kōharihari me te tiwhatiwha;
Katoa ngā wāhi i pipī ai ō mātou toto ki te papa,
Ka puāwai mai i reira tō mātou māia me tō mātou kaha.
Ka whiti tonu te rā i te ata, ka ao te rangi,
Katoa ngā raru o nanahi ka ngaro me te hoa kakari;
Ā, ki te roa te wā i mua i te aranga mai anō o te rā,
Tukua mā tēnei wai ngā tau e whakaaomārama.
I titongia ai tēnei waiata ki te toto, kaua ki te matā;
Ehara i te waiata e haria ai e ngā manu o ō te raumati rā
Engari nā te iwi i te kauhanga riri a Tū,
Tēnei waiata a mātou i hari ki te pū me te pohū.
Kaua rawa e mea ko te mate anahe tō huarahi,
Ahakoa āraia ana te kiko o te rangi e te pōuriuri,
Kei te tata mai te wā kua roa e tāria ana;
Ka rū te whenua i te takahi a ngā wae – ki te haka!
