Qld to open first Holocaust museum in 2023
Queensland’s first Holocaust museum will open early next year in Brisbane’s central business district, the premier says.
Annastacia Palaszczuk
During the 2020 state election campaign, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pledged $3.5 million for a museum and education centre to commemorate Jewish victims of Nazi crimes during World War II.
She says the museum will open next year in a building in the CBD’s Cathedral Precinct after the government struck a deal with Brisbane’s Catholic Archdiocese for a site.
“It’s still hard to fathom that in total six million Jewish people died during the Holocaust – 1.5 million of them children,” Annastacia Palaszczuk told parliament on Thursday.
“But it’s so incredibly important we continue to tell the horrific stories of the past, so that history is not forgotten and history does not repeat itself.”
Multicultural Affairs Minister Leanne Linard said the new centre would also host a virtual museum to educate Queenslanders about standing up against racism and prejudice and about “the devastating human toll of bigotry”.
She said Holocaust survivors have already recorded their memories and stories, some of which she heard at a memorial service earlier this year.
“We must never turn away from such stories and from the difficult conversations that such accounts generate, because stories are powerful,” Ms Linard told parliament.
“Stories such as that of Dr (Bert) Klug, who in 1939 was sent to a forced labour camp in Poland for two years, while his parents were deported to German concentration camps, where they were killed.
“Or the story of Suzi Smeed, who, along with her parents, survived the Holocaust thanks to the kindness and bravery of friends and strangers who kept them hidden with the full knowledge that providing such assistance could lead to a death sentence.
“These are the stories that need to be told.”
Brisbane’s Catholic Archbishop Mark Coleridge said it was an honour to partner with the new Holocaust centre.
“As a society, we need to work together towards a common goal that overcomes hatred and promotes peace. We need to build bridges, not walls,” he said in a statement.
“Inter-religious partnerships like this send a strong signal to the community that we are all si sters and brothers in a world where the other is not my enemy.”
27,000 Holocaust survivors migrated to Australia after the second world war, making Australia the largest per capita survivor population outside of Israel. Queensland became home to around 70 survivors, all of whom made important contributions to the multicultural fabric of the State.
Jason Steinberg
Jason Steinberg, Chairman of the Queensland Holocaust Museum and Education Centre, said: “We will remember those who perished at the hands of the Nazis – 6 million Jews, 5 million marginalised communities such as the disabled, LGBTI, Romanies, Jehovah’s Witnesses – and we will honour those who survived, as well as those that protected and saved lives.
We will educate Queenslanders, Australian and international visitors about the atrocities of the Holocaust and most importantly, we will teach tolerance, acceptance and harmony and give people the courage to stand up against all types of racism, hatred, indifference and antisemitism.
Now more than ever, the lessons of the Holocuast are important with antisemitism and racial hatred prevalent in our socieity, we need to learn from he past. In Queensland, 60% of the Queensland Jewish population have reported experiencing serious hatred and abuse.”
He added: “The physical museum is set to open to the public by mid-2023. We are creating a mobile museum as well, which will go on tour across regional Queensland, as well as a digital museum that will be relevant internationally.
Our digital museum will be the world’s first purpose-built online Holocaust museum. At the start of COVID, many museums globally established an online presence based on their physical museums by providing 360-degree tours, webinars and education resources. We thought differently and our digital offering will set a new world standard.
We are deeply appreciative of Premier Palaszczuk, Minister Linard, Minister Hinchliffe and Treasurer Dick’s incredible support and the Queensland Government’s very generous funding.”
AAP
Thank you to the Qld Premier for enabling the existence of a Holocaust Museum in Brisbane. I so look forward to the opening mid next year. It couldn’t come at a better time, with antisemitism and Holocaust denial increasing exponentially all around the world, and Australia certainly being a part of that. Victoria in particular has shown sobering evidence of the increase and brazen behaviour of neo-Nazi movements. It is startling to read that 60% of Queensland’s Jews have experienced hate and abuse.
There is also much ignorance. So many younger people don’t know of the Holocaust, or perhaps recognise the name, but don’t know what it really means. This is where the museum and education centre will come into its own. How we get the word out there and attract attendance will be crucial to the impact it can have.
Lovely to read your post, Heidi Siemer – so open and honest. I’m from Melbourne originally and had Holocaust survivor friends – Melbourne has the largest percentage per capita outside Israel of survivors – and Jewish writer friends who were children of survivors. To expose oneself and confront what happened and how it happened is a deeply disturbing thing, but the only way to be able to acknowledge in a meaningful way such an event as the Shoah. That is what I found, anyway.
I have been waiting and waiting for news of this museum. I’m so thrilled to hear that it is still going ahead and that it will be in such a central spot in the city. As a teacher I look forward to bringing students.
My grandfather was a Nazi soldier and I feel deeply interested, and distressed and horrified by all that happened in the past.
I look forward to being exposed to the stories of fellow humans and to engage in deep learning. I want to do all I can to prevent such horrors happening again in this world. Very excited!