Seventy-seven years ago, the concentration and extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by Soviet troops. Since 2005, 27 January has marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the six million Jews and millions of other victims slaughtered by Nazi Germany, and educating the public to prevent future genocides.

But there are fears the Holocaust is slipping out of memory. Today, Australia’s first national survey of Holocaust knowledge and awareness, conducted by the Gandel Foundation, revealed that nearly a quarter of adult Australians had little to no knowledge of the Holocaust. An article published by Australian Jewish News today showed 60 million instances where the Holocaust had been trivialised, often by anti-vaxxers and COVID-19 protesters.

The Gandel Foundation’s survey “demonstrated the low level of awareness and understanding of the Holocaust, especially in the younger-age cohort,” said Dr David Rosalky, from the ACT Jewish Community Inc.

“This is something we have observed in Canberra when school children come to the National Jewish Memorial Centre,” opened in 1971 to honour Australian Jewish soldiers. “Increasing awareness is always important, but a lack of focus in school curricula until recently has resulted in falling awareness levels.”

But Dr Rosalky hopes that a new institution announced last year, the Canberra Holocaust Museum and Education Centre, will reverse that falling awareness.

The National Jewish Memorial Centre will be extended to create 150 square metres of new exhibition space housing the new museum, telling the story of the Holocaust through the testimony of ACT survivors, said Tara Cheyne, ACT Minister for the Arts. The museum will also provide basic information on Judaism and Jewish life in pre-war Europe before its destruction in the Holocaust, Dr Rosalky said.

The ACT and Federal Governments each committed $750,000 to the project in 2021. The Commonwealth today announced a further $1.3 million for the museum as part of their commitment to support Holocaust awareness in Australia, bringing their investment in the project to $2 million.

“It is vital we never forget the tragedy, the massive loss of life that was the Holocaust, and the absolute evil that was committed during that time,” said Senator for the ACT Zed Seselja.

“The Museum is a fitting addition to our National Institutions in Canberra, honouring the memories of those who lost their lives, and serving to educate current and future generations of Australians on the atrocities of the Holocaust.”

Canberra’s Jewish community had long wished for a museum to explain about Judaism, antisemitism, and the Holocaust, Dr Rosalky said.

“The most direct way of countering antisemitism and its potential consequences, such as the devastation brought about through the Holocaust, is to educate the population about these behaviours and their consequences,” he said.

“This is true of racist behaviour towards any group in society. In Canberra, in particular, where the national institutions of democracy and the rule of law are based, the message can be extended to how a society shuns violent and destructive racist attitudes.”

Senator Seselja said the Liberal-National Government’s support of the Canberra Holocaust Museum and Education Centre was another example of their investing in Canberra institutions, including additional funding for the National Film and Sound Archives, the Museum of Australian Democracy, the National Gallery of Australia, the Australian War Memorial redevelopment, and the establishment of Ngurra: The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Precinct.

Ms Cheyne said the ACT Government welcomed the announcement.

Greens candidate for Canberra, Tim Hollo, is the grandchild of holocaust survivors. “It is welcome news that the Canberra Holocaust Museum and Education Centre will soon be built, creating a place on the doorstep of Parliament to memorialise and learn from one the most awful crimes in history, and to commit to never letting such a crime happen again,” he said.

“We must always remember that this deliberate attempt to exterminate entire peoples – Jews, Roma, LGBTIQ people – happened in a country that had been a modern democracy. Many people, including members of my family, lived in comfort, educated and employed, believing themselves safe, until their safety was brutally ripped from them.

“This is why, with the politics of hate rising again, with our democratic institutions under threat, with anti-semitic and Islamophobic and other racist attacks increasing, it is so crucial that this memorial and education centre is to be built here in Canberra, at the heart of our democracy.

“Those who seek to use the Parliament chambers to spread hate, to drum up prejudice, to incite attacks on groups of people, should be invited to walk down the hill and ponder what happens when that behaviour is taken to its conclusion. They should be brought face to face with its consequences. 

“Here in Australia, especially in this week when we mark both Invasion Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must grapple with the fact that our country is born of genocide. As well as this vital museum, our city still needs an official memorial to the Frontier Wars as part of telling the truth and working towards Treaty with First Nations peoples. I and so many other Jews recognise that we have a particular responsibility to work for Indigenous justice. We know that none of us will ever be safe until all are safe.”

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