Come Visit the Centre
The displays focus on the Holocaust and New Zealand:
Jewish life before and after the Holocaust.
Two parallel Timelines, events in Europe and the New Zealand responses.
The experience of the Holocaust told through the stories of New Zealand Holocaust survivors.
Powerful videos of Holocaust survivors telling their stories.
View the new exhibition 'Auschwitz to Aotearoa: Survival in Nazi Concentration Camps' about nine Jewish women, from different countries and backgrounds, who survived Auschwitz and later came to New Zealand.
Gain an insight into the experiences of Holocaust survivors based in New Zealand and their war-time lives.
Learn about the challenges refugees from Nazi Europe faced in New Zealand.
HCNZ Named one of Wellington's "Must-Visit Museums" by Culture Trip
The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand was picked by Culture Trip as one of their New Zealand Local Favourites 2017/one of Wellington's must-visit museums. Here is a link to their review.
Paul Seideman Award and 10th Anniversary Competition
Paul Seideman, a survivor of 5 different camps, has established a competition for Year 10 and Year 11-13 students at New Zealand secondary schools that teach the Holocaust. As a Jewish Czech youth, Paul suffered grievously but managed to survive for years in the Nazi German concentration and labour camps during World War II. After liberation he emigrated to Australia and then New Zealand. He now lives in a Wellington retirement home. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet Army, on 27 January 1945, Paul has funded this annual competition.
Entries are now called for the Paul Seideman 10th Anniversary Competition. Details are available on requirements and applications are available here.
Transcript of Dame Susan Devoy's Holocaust Remembrance Day Speech
I have been coming to annual Holocaust Memorial services since I was appointed Race Relations Commissioner.
A year ago I shared a taxi van up here with Vera Egermayer and several other women who are here today.
Our driver was a rude man. Impatient and grumpy.
And yet at the end of our trip, instead of moaning about him Vera turned to me and said:
This is clearly an unhappy man. I feel sorry for him and his sadness.
I’m sharing this story with you all today because Vera’s empathy for a stranger is the kind of thing the world needs more of today.
HCNZ Visits Nelson Students to Teach Humanity
Read a Stuff.co.nz article about the HCNZ's educational outreach program here.
Circa Theatre Presents: Caging Skies, by Desiree Gezentsvey
Caging Skies, a play written by award-winning writter Desiree Gezentsvey and directed by visionary director Andrew Foster, has its world premier at Circa Theatre beginning August 12. More details about the play and showtimes are available here. Tickets can be booked here.
Desiree Gezentsvey and the CAGING SKIES Production Team most gratefully acknowledge the generous sponsorship of The Adam Foundation, Sally & Tim Thomson-Gregg, Michael Pitt, Ari Chait, Sandra & Garrick Zukerman, Susan & Nigel Isaacs ~ THANK YOU! We would be delighted to hear from any Theatre/Arts Philanthropists who would keen to become sponsors of this meaningful show! Please contact Desiree Gezentsvey (021 771 560 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Heartfelt thanks also go to the HCNZ, Inge Woolf, Chris Harris, Kaye Clark, WJCC and Temple Sinai, family and friends for your support and for promoting the play ~ please spread the word and share links on social media, hope to see you all there!
More information:
Yom HaShoah 2017 Key Note Address
At Temple Sinai, Wellington, Sunday 23 April (27 Nisan) 2017
by Rick Sahar
After getting back from Israel, I crossed paths with an acquaintance who asked, had I been away, to which I answered, yes, I’d been to Israel with a group of NZ High School Teachers at a 17-day Seminar to study at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem the lessons learnt from the Holocaust, to which he looked me straight in the eye, and startled me by saying… “It never happened”.
A couple of days later, I was at a fund-raising concert, and introduced to a couple attending. When someone else there asked me what I’ve been up to, I mentioned recently returning from Israel, you know the rest; but I was surprised by what was said by one of the couple, “now the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians exactly what the Nazis did during WW2 to the Jews”.
Oh, and then there was someone else, who after I mentioned The Yad Vashem Seminar informed me, “it wasn’t just the Jews’ Holocaust; there were a lot of the Litvaks also killed” and when challenged about his revisionist view, told me that I’m the one “out of touch”…
False news and Freedom of speech
Media release
26 April, 2017
New Zealand’s Holocaust Centre strongly supports the concept of free speech, but works to make young people question what they read online and be aware of the dangers of false news, the Centre said on the occasion of its tenth anniversary.
Holocaust deniers and falsifiers have no barriers to publishing false news through the Internet and other digital media.
“We aim to teach young people to go back to the source material that we can provide through survivor testimonies and links with databases, such as the one collected from the concentration and death camps by the International Red Cross. The 30 million records housed at Bad Arolsen in Germany, and now available online, are indisputable evidence recorded by the Nazi perpetrators themselves,” the Centre said.
Dame Susan Devoy and Holocaust survivor and HCNZ director Inge Woolf warn about dangers of hate speech
Read about it here.
Watch a video interview of them here:
Updating Holocaust Centre Database
UPDATING OUR DATABASE: As we reach our 10th birthday, we are giving our database a makeover. Whether you've been with us since the beginning, or just want to join our mailing list. Please take 45 seconds to update your information. Thank you very much.
HCNZ Exhibition Guide
The HCNZ Guide contains information and guidance about the various exhibits present in the Holocaust Centre. It can be accessed here.
Sponsors
We gratefully acknowledge the very generous support of the Raye Freedman Trust, Claims Conference, and David Levene Foundation:
In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this educator training project. Through recovering the assets of the victims of the Holocaust, The Claims Conference enables organisations around the world to provide education about the Shoah and to preserve the memory of those who perished.
Upcoming events
Get Directions to the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand
The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand is located at the Wellington Jewish Community Centre,
80 Webb Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011.
Open Sunday - Friday 10am - 1pm, and outside these hours by special arrangement.
Get in Touch
Phone us: +64 4 801 9480
Email us: info@holocaustcentre.org.nz
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A Member of AHO
The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand is a member of the Association of Holocaust Organizations - an International Network for the Advancement of Holocaust Education, Remembrance & Research
A Registered Charity
The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand is a registered charitable entity and donations are tax deductible. Charity registration number CC48551.