We live in difficult times. The Coronovirus COVID-19 has affected all our lives and has brought our activities to a temporary halt. In 2020, Passover and Easter have coincided across the same dates – we are all celebrating our holidays, this year, in an unaccustomed manner, without much of our family and all our friends around us. The Australian Society of Polish Jews sends this message to the community:

The Australian Society of Polish Jews & Their Descendants Inc. (ASPJ) and the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs Inc. (AIPA) have written a joint letter to the Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Professor Piotr Gliński, expressing their concern over the delay in appointing a Director of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

On 10th May 2019, a competition selection panel made its recommendation as to the appointment of a Director. To date, the Minister has not confirmed that or any other appointment and both organisations have expressed concern that this delay is causing great harm to the reputation of the POLIN Museum, an institution which, since its creation, has won many awards and accolades worldwide.

To mark the Jewish New Year, the Polish Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Mr. Michał Kołodziejski, has sent his regards and warm wishes to the Jewish community, especially to the members and friends of the Australian Society of Polish Jews and Their Descendants.

Since taking up his appointment in Australia, the ASPJ has enjoyed an excellent working relationship with the Polish Ambassador and his staff. We look forward to continuing our mutual co-operation into the future.

The Beth Weizmann Jewish Community Centre auditorium, in Melbourne, was filled for the ASPJ’s first Genealogy Open Day featuring special guest, Polish genealogist and historian, Michał Majewski.

Having worked for the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland and with the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Michał provided the audience with valuable information about resources available to further their own family’s genealogical history.

Following Michał’s lecture and answering general questions, audience members were invited to bring their own, personal questions to representives of several specialist organisations. The ASPJ sincerely thanks representatives of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Victoria, the Polish Museum & Archives in Australia, the Genealogy Society of Victoria and Polaron for giving their time in support of our event.

During his week in Melbourne, Michał met with school students about their “Roots” projects and ran an intensive workshop for people who help others with genealogical research. He toured the Jewish Museum of Australia, the Melbourne Holocaust Museum & Research Centre and the Melbourne offices of the  National Archives of Australia.

ASPJ Co-Presidents Bernard Korbman and Ezra May, together with  Co-Vice-President Izy Marmur, met today with the next Australian Ambassador to Poland, Lloyd Brodrick, prior to his departure for Warsaw.

Their discussions included several important Polish-Jewish issues., including the impact of some of these issues on the life of today’s Jewish community in Poland.

Mr Brodrick is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was most recently Assistant Secretary, Budget Branch. He has previously served overseas as Acting Deputy Head of Mission, Australian Embassy, Baghdad; Deputy Head of Mission, Australian Embassy, The Hague; and Counsellor, Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Geneva.

Mr Brodrick holds an Executive Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Laws from the Australian National University; and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from Macquarie University.

He replaces the outgoing Ambassador, Paul Wojciechowski, whose three-year term ends this year.

Our Moshe Fiszman z”l, ASPJ foundation Board member, has been posthumously honoured with an OAM in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday honours list. Our Polish friends, Zygmunt Bielinski and Dr Sylvia Greda-Bogusz, have also both been awarded an OAM .

It is with immense sadness that we mourn the passing of Moshe Fiszman z”l – Holocaust Survivor – a founding and, until his passing, continuing member of the Board of Management of the Australian Society of Polish Jews & Their Descendants.

Moshe was born in Radom, Poland, in 1921. Apart from one brother, he lost his entire family during the Holocaust. He survived numerous concentration camps and several death marches.

When our organisation was founded and over the years, at our Board meetings, Moshe was the voice of experience and wise counsel.

Among his numerous passions was education – educating the young generation against the consequences of hate. As a Survivor Guide for Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust & Research Centre, literally thousands of school students, university students, politicians and others have, over many years, listened to Moshe’s animated and articulate description of his own Holocaust experiences

Despite his advanced years, Moshe’s mind was as sharp as ever. He was immensely widely-read and could recite, from memory, great swathes of Polish and Yiddish poetry and other literature in an animated and almost theatrical style – his recitations were such that once witnessed, never forgotten.

Together with his wife Franka and his two daughters, Anna and Lena, we mourn the passing our ASPJ Board Member and friend.
We have truly lost an icon of the Melbourne Jewish community.

May his memory be a blessing to his family and to all whose lives he touched.

An almost capacity crowd of 200 filled the hall at the Caulfield campus of Monash University to hear our Inaugural and 2019 ASPJ Oration delivered by Professor Dariusz Stola, Director of Warsaw’s POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

The audience, drawn from both Melbourne’s Jewish and Polish communities, heard him speak on the topic of The 1968 “Anti-Zionist Campaign” in Poland and Its Echoes Today – Polish Debates on the Holocaust – a topic which resonated with both communities.

The event was MC’d by Melbourne Jewish community leader Nina Bassat AM and was hosted by the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation. The ASPJ sincerely thanks both Mrs Bassat and Sue Hampel OAM for helping to make our Inaugural Oration such a success.

Melbourne, Australia

The Henryk Sławik Award is presented in honour of the spirit of the life and deeds of Henryk Sławik, (saving over thirty thousand lives in occupied Hungary, five thousand of those being Jews). The Board of Management of the ASPJ has decided to honour individuals who, or organisations which, have worked towards enhancing mutual respect and understanding between the Polish and Jewish communities.

This year’s Guest Speaker was newly-appointed Polish Ambassador to Australia, Michał Kołodziejski. We were also honoured to have this year’s Award presented in the presence of three currently-serving members of the Polish Senate – Senator Elżbieta Stępień, Senator Dr. Tomasz Latos and Senator Grzegorz Długi.

A special award was presented posthumously to the family of the late Andrew Korab, who sadly passed away in January 2018. As the President of the Polish Club Albion, he was a good friend to the ASPJ and a strong supporter of our efforts in bringing our communities together. Polish Club Albion Acting President, Dr Marek Kijek, (pic right) accepted the certificate on behalf of the Korab family and read a very moving letter from Andrew’s wife.

As in previous year’s, the Award’s musical interlude was provided by members of the Melbourne’s well-known klezmer band “Klazmania”