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July 2, 2004/Tamuz 13 5764, Vol. 56, No.41
Jewish history down underAn image from the Exodus: the Jews of Australia
NORMAN LEVINE
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The six floors of the Sydney Jewish Museum include exhibits on the history of the 20th-century experience of European Jewry, its near-annihilation under Hitlerism and its resurrection in the State of Israel.
Photo courtesy of Norman Levine |
It is generally known that the English deported some of their convicts to Australia, but it is not widely recognized that in 1788, 16 of these convicts were Jewish. Accepting the judgement of history, the Jewish Museum in Sydney begins its recounting of the history of Australian Jewry with a list of the first convicts who were brought to the Land Down Under, and amid this enumeration are the names and guilty verdicts of the Jewish transgressors.
As an example, the list contained the following charges and sentences against four Jewish malefactors: Daniel Davids received a seven-year sentence for stealing a copper pot, and Peter Opley received a seven-year sentence for stealing a woman's gown. Joseph Tuso and Joseph Levy both received life sentences for, respectively, highway assault and theft and theft of property.
"This is a part of our past we cannot deny," said Betty Wilkenfield, a guide at the Sydney Jewish Museum. "The good news is that the Jewish community grew in Australia, prospered, and made significant contributions to the advancement of Australian society, culture and politics."
I visited the Sydney Jewish Museum during Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), and in observance of the holiday, the museum organized a special exhibit in honor of "The Holocaust in Hungary." Even though their defeat was imminent, the Nazis occupied Budapest on the morning of March 19, 1944. By May of that year, the Nazis executed a frenzied mass deportation of Jews to labor and death camps, and in three months 600,000 Jews were killed in crematoriums.
The Jewish museum is located at 148 Darlinghurst Road, and consists of six floors - and the "Holocaust in Hungary" occupies the top level. The first floor recounts the story of the Jewish settlement in Australia beginning with the First Fleet, the bringing of the first Torah in 1830, and the building of The Great Synagogue, patterned on the central synagogue in London, in 1878. The second floor narrates the coming of Hitler to power as told by Holocaust survivors. The third floor documents the development of Jewish ghettos in Europe with an emphasis on the Warsaw Ghetto. On the fourth floor is a memorial to the children who died in the Disappearance and the fifth floor is called the "Dropping of Tears," a commemoration consisting of tears of water falling from the ceiling into a basin, and on the white wall behind a poem by Elie Wiesel.
The Jewish museum focuses on the 20th-century experience of European Jewry, its near annihilation under Hitlerism, and its resurrection in the State of Israel. The museum serves as an education center for the entire Sydney community as schoolchildren are frequently bused there to learn about genocide to any nation. The impact of the museum is accentuated by the presence of many Holocaust survivors acting as guides who impart a personal immediacy and authenticity.
Another testament to the history of Australian Jewry is The Great Synagogue, located at 187A Elizabeth St., just across the street from Sydney's Hyde Park. The Great Synagogue is also a war memorial commemorating the loyalty of Australian Jews who fought in the Australian Army in World War I and World War II.
There are between 120,000-130,000 Jews in Australia, and about 43,000 live in Sydney. Jews were welcomed into Australian society, prospered in the country, and showed their gratitude through their loyalty to the government. Australia opened its doors to Jewish immigration after the Holocaust; it voted in favor of the creation of the State of Israel, and the present Prime Minister, John Howard, is both pro-American and pro-Israel. In addition, interfaith cooperation flourishes in Sydney, and one indication of this religious synergy was the prayer services of repentance called by the Council of Christians and Jews of New South Wales at the crypt of St. Mary's Cathedral in remembrance of the Shoah.
My visit to Sydney not only overlapped with Yom Hashoah but with Anzac Day, a holiday of remembrance of the Australian and New Zealand war dead, particularly at the Battle of Gallipoli in WWI. Orchestrated by Winston Churchill, the Battle of Gallipoli, near Istanbul, proved to be a disaster and scores of Australians and New Zealanders died. Jews were also in the trenches at Gallipoli and proved faithful comrades during WWII, and the patriotism of Australian Jews, symbolized by the war memorial at The Great Synagogue, is one of the sinews of the Australian-Jewish symbiosis.
The Jewish community in Sydney is self-conscious, self-perpetuating and internationally involved. The city possesses 26 synagogues, and only three are non-Orthodox. This doctrinal conservatism is strengthened by the fact that 50 percent of Jewish schoolchildren attend Jewish day schools. The solidarity of the Jewish community is also demonstrated by the fact that the rate of intermarriage is 30 percent, lower than rates in the United States. The Australian Jewish News is a weekly that informs the Jewish community of Jewish events in Sydney, and also offers in-depth coverage of diplomatic affairs concerning Jews on a worldwide basis.
I have visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of German-Jewish History in Berlin, and although I was impressed by the efforts of Australian Jewry in generating the Sydney Jewish Museum, the physical dimension and scope of the Washington, D.C., and Berlin museums are incomparable. Size, however, is not the most important factor, and what impressed me most was the proclamation of witness: the Jews of Sydney were a link in the global chain of Judaism. At the same time that Anzac Day was observed, the State Zionist Council of New South Wales announced the celebration of Israel's 56th Independence Day.
Norman Levine is a Phoenix author and free-lance writer.