Antisemitism warning as multimillion-dollar restoration of Adelaide’s Holocaust museum launched
“I couldn’t bring myself to tell my 10-year-old, Rose Matilda, that another Matilda, also 10 years of age, had been murdered,” Education Minister says at the relaunch of Adelaide’s Holocaust museum. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong was among the crowd last night.
Hundreds attended the relaunch of the Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre’s (AHMSEC) education facilities last night after a $2.5 million Commonwealth-funded restoration of its Wakefield Street headquarters.
Speaking to InDaily ahead of its relaunch, AHMSEC founder and Holocaust survivor Andrew Steiner OAM said many non-Jewish Australians had stood in solidarity with their Jewish neighbours after the Bondi terror attack.
“How did this horrific massacre happen in Bondi?’ This is a reasonable question and a reasonable starting point,” he said.
“It happened because of certain government actions and certain inactions – the combination of the two allowed it to happen.
“Exactly the same scenario as we had in the 1939 appeasements. Appeasements never work. Appeasements postpone the inevitable, and by the time it actually comes, it has escalated to something much, much bigger.”
Steiner was concerned about the impact of pro-Palestine protests on rising antisemitism.
“We had them at Sydney Opera House and numerous similar protests in Melbourne with absolute impunity,” he said.
You might like
Among the high-profile guests at last night’s event were SA Governor Frances Adamson, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and Education and Police Minister Blair Boyer.
There were numerous federal MPs and senators, interfaith leaders and state politicians also present.
A plaque was also unveiled and blessed by interfaith leaders.
In an impassioned speech, AHMSEC CEO Annetay Henderson-Sapir said that “when people visit us, they learn that antisemitism neither started nor ended with the Holocaust”.
“They see how easily minority groups can be turned into an ‘other’, that the quickest way to create an us, is to create a them,” she said.
“To the members of the ever-welcoming, resilient, vibrant Jewish community, we have known suffering in the past four years.
“But tonight is a simcha, a happiness, as we celebrate that Am Yisrael Chai, we are still here, sharing our stories and embracing that hope and compassion and dedication can change the world.”
SA’s Education Minister Blair Boyer told guests that the Bondi terror attack had left his daughter confused and terrified, speaking of the importance of AHMSEC to combat antisemitism and other forms of hatred.
“It’s very difficult to explain to anyone, let alone a 10-year-old, why a human being would want to murder another human being because of their race,” he said.
“She asked me if children were hurt, and I lied and said they weren’t, because I couldn’t bring myself to tell my 10-year-old, Rose Matilda, that another Matilda, also 10 years of age, had been murdered.
Stay informed, daily
“I eventually lurched into a description of the Holocaust. At this point, Rose basically withdrew from the conversation, because what I was saying to her was so beyond the realms of what she thought could happen in this world that it was just easier to walk away.”
Antisemitism envoy Segal said that her vision to combat antisemitism is through education.
“We have to be honest that we’ve seen a tenfold increase in antisemitic incidents in 2024 and that reminds us that hate is not theoretical – it’s very real, and it leaves lasting scars – and for Jewish Australians, including those in Australia, that sense of vulnerability is not abstract,” she said.
“Parents are worried about their children at school, and students at universities are hesitant to be openly Jewish. Families are questioning what the future holds and whether they are still safe.
“And we know that it’s not just the Jews, that if it can happen to the Jews, it will happen to others.”
Steiner said the restoration, undertaken by Sarah Constructions, would allow the museum to reach thousands of school students and spread his message of compassion and tolerance, with a doubling of the centre’s education space and a tripling of its museum space.
He said AHMEC’s Wakefield Street headquarters, located in Fennescey House, loaned by the Catholic church, had been in a “very bad” and “derelict” condition for many years, saying the restoration was “a massive job”.
The museum has been closed for about two-and-a-half years to carry out the works, with AHMSEC continuing to provide education services and school incursions in the interim.
“So, we continued our educational service, which is our core role, and increasingly more important. And, as it is currently, the world situation, our shattered nation, our important urgency has really increased, in all honesty,” he said.
While the structural work is now complete, Steiner said hundreds of thousands still needed to be raised to install new high-tech displays.
The upgraded museum will include galleries on pre-war Jewish and European life before the Holocaust, a space with exhibits about the Holocaust, a gallery sharing the stories of South Australian Holocaust survivors, a reflection space, a temporary gallery, an education space, a library and resource centre and a café.
The museum is not open to the public at the moment, with Steiner hoping the new exhibitions could be completed by the end of June, in a bid to educate visitors about the Holocaust as well as antisemitism and hatred in the present and future.
“All of us are more similar than different. Children are not born with hate. Hate is acquired. Currently, around the world, it’s totally out of control.”
Steiner was born in 1933 to a patriotic and affluent Jewish family in Budapest. His life changed with the occupation of Hungary by Nazi Germany in 1944, and Steiner spent most of his childhood in hiding, along with his sister and parents.
In his immediate family, 12 of his relatives were murdered, including an entire family. Steiner’s own family narrowly escaped being assassinated.
