Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 2 March, members and friends of the Jewish community converged on Australia's oldest synagogue, in Hobart, for the announcement of the establishment of a Holocaust Education and Interpretation Centre. As Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on the day, the centre has been established so that future generations can say, 'Never again.'

Attending on the day was a constituent of Bass, Holocaust survivor Felix Goldschmied, who immigrated to Australia in 1948 as a young boy. Dr Goldschmied was born in what was then Czechoslovakia and lost most of his family members at Auschwitz. Dr Goldschmied said that the establishment of an education centre is incredibly important, as he fears stories risk being forgotten as Jewish survivors grow old, taking their memories of the atrocities of World War II with them.

I would also like to highlight another Holocaust survivor from the Northern Tasmanian community, Dr Gershon Goldstein, who was, sadly, unable to attend the announcement. Dr Goldstein was born in the Netherlands during the war to a Dutch mother and Jewish father. Like Dr Goldschmied, he lost many relatives in the Holocaust—almost 100 relatives, in fact—including his father, his grandmother, an uncle, an aunt, cousins, six great-uncles and two great-aunts. Dr Goldstein has spent years teaching students about the Holocaust and has long been campaigning for it to be taught more widely in the school curriculum, with a particular focus on countering anti-Semitism. Dr Goldstein, I hope that this centre is a step forward in achieving your goal.