From the ASPJ President
Shalom, witaj and and welcome ASPJ members and friends!
For our organisation, 2024 has been another year full of growth and events. Pleasingly, we have seen the ASPJ expand its footprint in New South Wales (NSW).
We welcome two more ASPJ Board Members domiciled in NSW – Rita Nash and Helena Ameisen and we excitedly look forward to their contribution. At this time, we also farewell at this time NSW Board Member Karen Pakula and thank her for her contribution to the ASPJ. We owe much appreciation to our NSW-based members Estelle Rozinski and Lucy Taksa for driving this growth through their commitment and innovative efforts.
On the diplomatic front, the ASPJ welcomed and met with Ambassador Ben Hayes, prior to his departure for Warsaw to commence his role as Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Poland, the Czech Republic and the Republic of Lithuania. In July 2024, we farewelled the previous Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Australia, His Excellency Maciej Chmieliński and, only very recently, Łukasz Grabań from the embassy, with whom we had forged a very strong relationship. However, pleasingly, in only a short time, we have welcomed and built a strong relationship with the new appointments – Acting Ambassador, Chargé d’affaires Marcin Kawałowski in Canberra, Consul General in Sydney Piotr Rakowski and , from the office of the Consul General in Melbourne, Beata Koropatwa . We look forward to these friendships and for our growing co-operation together.
In 2024, the ASPJ has continued to host a wide range of high quality events. These included such webinars “Unsent Postcards from Łódź Ghetto”, “The Impact of the Events of March 1968 on the Polish Jewish Community” and a webinar featuring photographer Chuck Fishman. The ASPJ also hosted a chamber music concert performance of early 20th century Polish Jewish composers by Karolina Mikolajczyk and Iwo Jedynecki and an evening with Jewish Historical Institute Director Dr. Michal Trębacz. We end our 2024 events with webinars “Discovering Your Heritage” with POLIN Museum’s Matan Shefi and “Kulturedox” by FestivALT.
In 2024, we have further strengthened our strong organisational relationships with Warsaw’s Jewish Historical Institute and POLIN Museum of History of Polish Jews.
We also continue to publish, twice yearly, our ASPJ newsletter Haynt – our sincere thanks to its editor and our Co-Vice President Izy Marmur for his amazing efforts.
Finally, but not at all least, much acknowledgement and appreciation to the ASPJ Melbourne-based Board Members including Lena Fiszman, Andrew Rajcher, Eva Hussain and Peter Schnall, for all their drive, effort and support throughout the year.
The ASPJ sincerely thanks, in particularly the Wolf & Dora Rajcher Memorial Fund for its financial support and Polaron for its technology support.
I look forward to a continuation of further ASPJ events and activities in 2025.
Ezra May
President ASPJ