Cape Town February 2020
WE ARE HERE! at SA Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth
On Friday 13 March 2020, the South African Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth will be hosting a presentation by Eli Rabinowitz, from Perth.
Eli, who is the founder of the education project the We Are Here Foundation, will be giving a talk accompanied by video footage about the programme for youth across the globe. The foundation focuses on the importance of educating Jewish youth about the Jewish partisans during the World War II. He will be giving an update on the success of this project, which is funded by the US government.
The project which started at schools in Australia is now functioning in Belarus, Lithuania, Israel and the USA. Communities across the globe have been taught to sing the famous Partisans Song (Shir HaPartizanim).
His message is loud and clear: WE MUST NEVER FORGET!
If you would like to attend please email us at museum@beyachad.co.za
For more information please visit the website: https://wah.foundation
WE ARE HERE! An Education Program That Inspires Upstanders
#WeRemember
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
27 January 2020
Holocaust Remembrance Day – The Words THAT Matter!
Words can make a difference – both for good and evil. ORT students have been using the defiantly optimistic words of Vilna poet Hirsh Glik to inspire themselves and others as part of our ongoing campaign to bring Zog nit Keynmol to new generations. This video shows just a few highlights of their stunning recitals of Glik’s lyrics to the song, which is renowned as the anthem of the Jewish partisans.
ORT Multi language: Source Youtube: https://youtu.be/FoN-28ZpJBw
ORT St Petersburg, Russia Recited in English: Source: youtu.be/7zesjCyfE_Y
For more info: please visit https://elirab.me/zog-nit-keynmol/
Maryusya Zarembo, student at ORT de Gunzburg School #550 in St Petersburg, Russia, is in awe of Hirsh Glik’s defiantly optimistic lyrics to Zog Nit Keynmol, the anthem of the Jewish partisans.
“This is the first time I’ve read or heard the poetry of someone from that time. It’s hard for me to imagine how he could have found the time or energy to be creative in those circumstances, but he did. And his verses are very powerful and life-affirming,” Maryusya said.
Learning the lyrics, Maryusya said, had made her think about the Holocaust and its lessons for humanity.
“We have to learn that a person must not be humiliated or destroyed because of their ethnicity, faith or politics,” she said. “We can’t expect everyone to be a saint but the more we protect each other, the more tolerant we are, the stronger humanity will become. The alternative is extinction.”
The Partisans’ Song in English
by Hirsh Glik, as translated by Aaron Kremer
Never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue,
Because the hour we have hungered for near;
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble — we are here!
From land of palm tree to the far-off land of snow,
We shall be coming with our torment and our woe;
And everywhere our blood has sunk into the earth,
Shall our bravery, our vigor blossom forth.
We’ll have the morning sun to set our day aglow,
And all our yesterdays shall vanish with the foe;
And if the time is long before the sun appears,
Then let this song go like a signal through the years.
This song was written with blood and not with lead;
It’s not a song that summer birds sing overhead;
It was a people among toppling barricades,
That sang this song of ours with pistols and grenades.
Never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue,
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble — we are here!
Ellenbrook Secondary College and Carmel School
Western Australia
The World Premiere – the four language Partisan Song
In Yiddish, Hebrew, English and Noongar (Aboriginal)
The World Premiere of the four language Partisan Song
Source: youtu.be/iIJ-rC-DcWA
THE PARTISANS’ Song – in Cape Town
with Survivor Miriam Lichterman
Zog Nit Keynmol – in Cape Town with Miriam Lichterman
Source: youtu.be/GKKZgimSOtE
ORT Kiev #141 – Zog Nit Keynmol
ORT Kiev #141 – Zog Nit Keynmol
The Holocaust Survivors’ Anthem #WeRemember
Source: youtu.be/rz3UErZJAJw
ORT St Petersburg #550 – Zog Nit Keynmol – #3
ORT St Petersburg #550 – Zog Nit Keynmol
Source: youtu.be/VxZL6WpkvZw
ORT St Petersburg #550 – Zog Nit Keynmol – #2
ORT St Petersburg #6 – Zog Nit Keynmol – #2
Source: youtu.be/5mSf5NpIKM4
ORT Moscow #1540 Zog Nit Keynmol
ORT Moscow #1540 Zog Nit Keynmol
Source: youtu.be/9SIY-IZJ9Hc
Lauder School Tula – Zog Nit Keynmol
Lauder School Tula – Zog Nit Keynmol
Source: youtu.be/llKaelpDJjE
ORT Kazan #12 – Zog Nit Keynmol
ORT Kazan #12 – Zog Nit Keynmol
Source: youtu.be/j-H2duiFNRU
ORT Dnepropetrovsk #144 – Zog Nit Keynmol
ORT Dnepropetrovsk #144 – Zog Nit Keynmol
Source: youtu.be/xATkR_FWKV0
ORT #94 Odessa – The Holocaust Survivors’ Anthem
ORT #94 Odessa – The Holocaust Survivors’ Anthem
Source: youtu.be/9qLqSepTb28
ORT #41 Chernivtsi -The Holocaust Survivors’ Anthem
ORT #41 Chernivtsi -The Holocaust Survivors’ Anthem
Source: youtu.be/cEj0RusVgUQ
ORT Kishinev #22 – Zog Nit Keynmol
ORT Kishinev #22 – Zog Nit Keynmol
Source: youtu.be/0BtV4yUX4cA
Tallinn Jewish School – Zog Nit Keynmol
Tallinn Jewish School – Zog Nit Keynmol
Source: youtu.be/NytvW0TSgio
WeRemember – Zog Nit Keynmol
WeRemember – Zog Nit Keynmol
Source: youtu.be/SL9FjpzCYNE
School #4 Novogrudok, Belarus
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Source: youtu.be/mC-ENiOXrhQ
Simonas Gurevicius & Daughters Sing Zog Nit Keynmol –
Simonas Gurevicius & Daughters Sing Zog Nit Keynmol – YouTube
Source: youtu.be/6BlmPWRpsVg
WE ARE HERE! in Melbourne
Using memory and legacy to educate the generations that follow, and to create upstanders out of bystanders!
The William Cooper Legacy is gaining momentum!
Special events celebrating William Cooper were held in Melbourne over 5 days in December.
These events connected Upstanders from diverse backgrounds, from the William Cooper Institute at Monash University to the Richmond Football Club, and from The Ark Centre in East Hawthorn to Temple Beth Israel.
Below is my selection of photos which highlights these events, and connects our WE ARE HERE! Human Rights and Social Justice project to the growing world of Upstanders influenced by William Cooper’s once long forgotten protest way back in 1938.
I have also incorporated parts of Barbara Miller’s report into this post. Barbara is William Cooper’s biographer. Thanks Barbara!
The Events- 2019:
- Barbara Miller Book Launch
- The William Cooper Dinner at Richmond FC
- The launch of the William Cooper Institute at Monash University
- The special Shabbat at The Ark Centre
- The interfaith youth seminar in Ascot Vale
- A visit to William Cooper’s former home in Footscray
- Some William Cooper icons around Melbourne city
- The World Premiere of the Kristallnacht Cantata
The Barbara Miller Book Launch
White Australia Has A Black History is available as a paperback from Barbara Miller’s website, and Barbara would love you to review it on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
The link to the book on Amazon is – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X1MYCDX
The link to the book on Goodreads is https://www.goodreads.com/review/new/47942441-white-australia-has-a-black-history
Barbara giving a talk on William Cooper at an Author Event at Lamm Jewish Library in Melbourne 3 December 2019
Shattered Lives Broken Dreams is at the printer – almost ready to be released!
Barbara on the radio
Barbara Miller:
David Jack interviewing Barbara on J-Air Jewish Radio in Melbourne on 4 December 2019 with Maurice Klein working the desk. The topic was Kristallnacht and William Cooper. It was on the Beersheba Vision program run by Peter Kentley.
Link to the interview:
https://omny.fm/shows/beersheba-vision/4-12-2019-beersheba-vision-ep6-barbara-miller-will?fbclid=IwAR2FJ-NnLDDU9FwuO5yVtHw8LhONQZ-jYb-o5zYi73XQWSmrZkRDEKCQ8d0
Richmond FC Seminar & Dinner
The Seminar
Abe Schwarz
Eli Rabinowitz, Barbara & Norm Miller
My slide – thanks to Stuart Rhine-Davis of Ellenbrook Secondary College
Barbara Miller
The Richmond Football Club and the William Cooper Legacy Project convened by Abe Schwarz hosted a seminar and dinner on 5 December 2019. It announced a new William Cooper Centre which will integrate sport, culture and diversity as the home to the Korin Gamadji Institute emerging Indigenous leaders program, the Bachar Houli Academy, Melbourne Indigenous Transition School (MITS) and women’s and community football.
There were four speakers at the seminar – Barbara Miller, biographer of William Cooper, Mike Zervos CEO Courage to Care, a teacher from Parkdale College called Natalie Baker and Eli Rabinowitz, founder, the WE ARE HERE! Project. Nola Kelly, the great-granddaughter of William Cooper, Leonie Drummond, Uncle Boydie’s daughter, shared briefly. Barbara is pictured speaking. A mural of the Tigers AFL players on the wall.
Richmond Tigers
The Table List
Eli Rabinowitz, singer Lior Attar, Tali Kellman and Alex Kats
Professor Jacinta Elston, Monash University and William Cooper’s great grandchildren, Leonie Drummond and Lance Turner, with Eli Rabinowitz
David Jack
Eli, Rabinowitz, Professor Jacinta Elston & Abe Schwarz
Jamil Tye, Roberto D’Andrea & Aunty Di
Eli Rabinowitz, dancers, Abe Schwarz
Eli Rabinowitz, Uncle Boydie Turner, Alex Kats, Kevin Russel, ?, David Jago
William Cooper’s family
SlideShow
Ngarra Bulla Ferra
Ngarra Bulla Ferra
Richmond FC, Melbourne 8 December 2019
Source: youtu.be/3WNgvqQQGbs
Richmond FC Dinner
Abe Schwarz & Uncle Boydie
William Cooper Legacy Film by David Jack
Monash University Clayton – William Cooper Institute Launch
Eli Rabinowitz, Bill Appleby of Jewish Care & Norm Miller
Eli Rabinowitz & John Gandel
Barbara Miller, Minister Ken Wyatt & Eli Rabinowitz
Leonie Drummond
Dancers
Andrew Markus, Pauline Gandel, Simone Markus & Eli Rabinowitz
Eli Rabinowitz & Vedran Drakulic
Eli Rabinowitz & Professor Susan Elliott
Eli Rabinowitz & Professor Jacinta Elston & Associate Professor Chivonne Algeo
L-R photos – The Hon Minister Ken Wyatt with Barbara and Norman Miller at Monash University, the Unveiling of the plaque at Monash Uni with Uni staff, Cooper family and the Minister, and the Millers with Dr John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel.
On 6 December 2019, the 81st anniversary of the 1938 AAL protest, Monash University launched the William Cooper Institute. The Gandel family’s philanthropy made the centre possible. Stirring speeches were made by the Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Mr Ken Wyatt, Chancellor Simon McKeon, the Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Jacinta Elston, Dr John Gandel AC, and Leonie Drummond, Uncle Boydie’s daughter.
Minister Ken Wyatt said that William Cooper cut a pathway for people to follow and showed bravery in the face of opposition. He said William Cooper stepped out and left footsteps in the sand to follow. He said he had recently returned from Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech, had paid tribute to William Cooper.
The Ark Centre – Cross Cultural Shabbat
Rabbi Gabi Kaltman and the ARK Centre held an Indigenous themed Shabbat service and meal honouring William Cooper on 6 December 2019
Eli Rabinowitz, Viv Parry, Lisa Naphtali, Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann, Kate Brocker, Shane Charles & Abe Schwarz
Shane Charles & Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann
A Very Special Duet by Shane Charles & Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann
A Very Special Duet by Shane Charles & Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann
The Ark Centre Aboriginal Kabbalat Shabbat In Honour of William Cooper Melbourne, Australia 6 December 2019
Source: youtu.be/o-pbcrTtfTQ
The Interfaith Youth Human Rights Seminar in Ascot Vale
Elana Saks
A visit to William Cooper’s House in footscray
The Footscay Railway Station
Eli Rabinowitz & Christine Newman, owner of the William Cooper house.
The William Cooper Justice Centre
The former Nazi Consulate in Melbourne where William Cooper marched to, and left his petition
Kristallnacht Cantata – Temple Beth Israel
The Kristallnacht Cantata: A Voice of Courage held its world premiere on 8 December at Temple Beth Israel St. Kilda, Melbourne. The strident music of the orchestra conveyed the build-up to the Night of the Broken Glass and the shattering of glass and lives that took place. A tribute to William Cooper, the Cantata imagined a moving duet between Cooper and Otto Jontof-Hutter who was arrested in Stuttgart during Kristallnacht along with thousands of other Jews.
Otto’s grandson, world-famous violinist Ron Jontof-Hutter, active in the Berlin-based World Doctors Orchestra but living in Melbourne, conceived the Cantata. An Israeli composer living in Melbourne, Alon Trigger, collaborated with Ron as the lyricist and world-famous conductor Dr David Kram, as musical director, to put the Cantata together.
The event was held in Temple Beth Israel synagogue and Barbara was asked to read a scripture and she chose Isaiah 62:1-7. There was a beautiful performance by the Yeng Gali Mullum Indigenous Choir.
Photos L_R, Uncle Boydie watching the orchestra of the Kristallnacht Cantata and the Yeng Gali Mullum Indigenous Choir.
For the start of the Kristallnacht Cantata, scroll to the 1 hr 41 min mark
back in Perth – On Noongar Radio with Jodi Ryder
Manager: Paul Whitton
Vale Simonas Dovidavicius
Vale Simonas Dovidavicius.
Standing between Laima Ardaviciene and me in Kėdainiai, Lithuania on 15 June this year. Simon passed away last week and was laid to rest on the 18th December 2019.
In Kaunas at Sugihara House on 11 June 2019
Simon was the Executive Director of the Sugihara Foundation in Kaunas.
Long Life to his family, and may his memory be for a blessing.
My video of Simonas from 2015
A previous post:
Sugihara House Museum
Sugihara House Museum
My second visit to the Museum, but first time meeting with Simon Davidovich, director of the Museum and Jewish tour guide. Also visiting the Museum were Richard Freedman of the Holocaust Centr…
Source: elirab.me/sugihara-house-museum/
My first visit:
Chiune Sugihara And His Legacy
Chiune Sugihara And His Legacy
This post is in honour of Chiune Sugihara. Contents 1. A profile of Sugihara 2. Photos of my visit to the Sugihara Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania in May this year 3. Nine Forth, Kaunas. May 2012 4. T…
The Value Of Being An Upstander
The Value of Being an Upstander! – Cape Jewish Chronicle
The Value of Being an Upstander! – Cape Jewish Chronicle
By Eli Rabinowitz “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing’ – Edmund Burke, philosopher. I wrote about the Bielski Partisan Reunion in Belarus in July in last month’s CJC, and what an inspiring event it was. There were numerous other groups that operated in the region …
William Cooper – Empowering Diversity Celebratory Dinner
The Richmond Football Club, Melbourne
5 December 2019
The Seminar
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The dinner
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Richmond Football Club – Wikipedia
Richmond Football Club – Wikipedia
This Week With William Cooper
TIMETABLE
Tuesday, 3 December 2019
Thursday, 5 December 1938
Friday, 6 December 2019
Sunday, 8 December 2019
In the Press:
http://www.jwire.com.au/the-kristallnacht-cantata-a-voice-of-courage/
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Swastikas In Customs House Sydney
Thirty Four years ago when I visited Sydney for the first time, I walked into The Customs House in Circular Quay, and saw something that has remained unresolved (for me) since 1985!
Please read on!
I visit Sydney several times each year to see my family, as well as for business. However, I don’t ever get to Circular Quay, one of the major tourist areas in the world!
Last Sunday, 24 November 2019, while in the area, I decided to revisit the building, to satisfy my curiosity!
AND THEY WERE STILL THERE!
Inside the entrance of the building.
What do you make of it?
I called in at the information desk in the lobby of the building, and I was given this information sheet.
The receptionist told me that two Jewish tourists recently called in at her desk quite distraught after walking into the building, and seeing these symbols.
I searched the net on the subject. This what Wikipedia has to say about these symbols – quite detailed and informative:
As part of this Wiki article above, you can read:
Post–World War II stigmatization
Because of its use by Nazi Germany, the swastika since the 1930s has been largely associated with Nazism. In the aftermath of World War II it has been considered a symbol of hate in the West,[160] or alternatively of white supremacy in many Western countries.[161]
As a result, all of its use, or its use as a Nazi or hate symbol, is prohibited in some countries, including Germany. Because of the stigma attached to the symbol, many buildings that have used the symbol as decoration have had the symbol removed.[citation needed] In some countries, such as the United States’ Virginia v. Black 2003 case, the highest courts have ruled that the local governments can prohibit the use of swastika along with other symbols such as cross burning, if the intent of the use is to intimidate others.[5]
No-Nazism sign
—————-
I decided to write to the Australian Jewish News, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, and J-Wire (online zine)
These were the replies:
Vic Alhadeff – NSW Jewish Board:
As the leaflet says, it’s there as Buddhist/Hindu culture. Nothing to be done.
Henry Benjamin – J-Wire:
You would have a problem visiting Bali. The swastika is part of the island’s culture.
The AJN did not respond!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?
Should a public building in Sydney, Australia have these images displayed in its entrance, and with no visible explanation given – only when I asked at reception!
These may be positive symbols in Asia, but what about in a country that has a large population of Holocaust survivors and their descendants.
What do you have to say on the matter?
UPDATE
I called the front desk at Customs House this morning, and spoke to Veronica, who told me that there is a plaque in the foyer. Neither Jill nor I saw it!
Veronica kindly took a couple of photos for me and also pointed me to an item on their website – see below
My updated notes arising from this last image:
The plaque states that during WWII the floor was covered – interesting!
Both right and left facing swastikas are on the Customs House floor (not just counter clockwise as per the plaque above).
My photo of the floor
Thanks and best regards
Eli Rabinowitz
Perth, Australia
The Customs House
Source: www.sydneycustomshouse.com.au
The pamphlet
Customs House
Kristallnacht Commemoration
Kristallnacht Commemoration 2019 in Perth
Kristallnacht Commemoration | WE ARE HERE!
See photos and videos on original post here on: wah.foundation/kristallnacht/
