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Generations After

Auckland Second Generation Group
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Email:  akldsecondgen@orcon.net.nz
The Auckland Second Generation Group began in 1994 and has a mailing list of over 100 people. This also includes a number of Second Gen who live outside of Auckland. We meet approximately every 6 weeks either in person or on zoom. The group is open to sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors, anyone with one or two parents impacted by the Holocaust in the period 1933-1948. The parent may have been a camp survivor or may have fled Europe as a refugee prior to or during the Second World War. We feel a real bond with each other which makes the group so important.

Our  Auckland group produced our own book, Mixed Blessings: New Zealand Children of Holocaust Survivors Remember, edited by the late Debbie Knowles  and published by Tandem Press in 2003. The book consists of nineteen chapters written by second generation people, mostly by members in Auckland but also with chapters from Wellington. The book includes family recipes, acknowledging the importance of food to our heritage. It also bears witness, honouring the legacy of the lost and of those who survived to carry on.


Michael Alford, a former Aucklander and known to many of our members, was our most recent speaker. Michael spoke to us on Zoom from Spain about his book  “What’s Luck Got to do with it?” which tells his family story. The book focuses on his father’s youth in Upper Silesia and his migration to New Zealand in 1939. It also touches, among other things, on the impact of the holocaust on Michael’s family, his uncle’s role in staging the premiere of the Three penny Opera in Weimar Berlin, the pre-war NZ refugee policy, experiences of migrants integrating into New Zealand in the ‘40s and his experience as child of refugees growing up in New Zealand. This was one of our best attended meetings.

Naomi Johnson
Co-Leader
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At this link below Deborah Knowles explains what it means to be a member of the Second Generation. Her personal view first appeared in the book, "Mixed Blessings: New Zealand children of Holocaust survivors remember" published by Tandem Press in 2003.
READ MORE


​Read more personal stories from Generations After Auckland members:


​HANNAH BRODSKY
​
Avrom-Osher and Beila: The Missing Link of my Soul
read more
DEBORAH KNOWLES
Joe Grossman: 'Don't talk silly, darling'
READ MORE
CLAIRE BRUELL
Frank and Alice Briess

READ MORE
NAOMI JOHNSON
Hans Johnson
READ MORE
DIANA WICHTEL
Daddy Mad Face and Daddy Angel Face
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read more
IAN MORRISON
Morris Morrison: Father and Son 
          
READ MORE
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Wellington Second Generation Group coordinator and Auckland Second Generation Group co-leader 

Wellington Second Generation Group


Email:  info@holocaustcentre.org.nz 
​The Wellington Second Generation Group started in May 2018. Since then it has grown to a membership of over 50 and holds meetings every second month. It was formed for the “Second Generation”, the children of Holocaust survivors, anyone of parents impacted by the Nazi regime during WWII, to get together and talk about the unique set of circumstances of their upbringing. For example, it was typical for our refugee parents never to mention the Holocaust to us and many in the group are only now researching and learning about the horrific events which brought our parents to New Zealand.

Irene Buxton
Coordinator​
October 31st - Nov 12, 2021
At the Wellington Jewish Community Centre, 80 Webb St, Wellington, 'Painting from the Holocaust's Barbaric Periphery' - an exhibition by Master of Fine Arts student Michelanne Forster, based on her study of Holocaust representation in painting, and expressing her identity as a member of the Second Generation.  Her reflections are as follows.
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Reflections of Painting from the Barbaric Periphery
By Michelanne Forster
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The Holocaust is, for me, the biggest story in my life. It sits on my shoulder wherever I go. Facts alone can’t represent this impossible blot on humanity. I have a belief, perhaps naive, that artistic expression is a positive way to grapple with the Holocaust’s legacy. In undertaking a Master of Fine Arts degree at Massey University’s College of Creative Arts, I wanted to investigate how the shadow of the Holocaust still falls in this faraway corner of the Pacific.

Although I’ve had a long career as an author and playwright, I decided to use painting as my artistic medium. Over the two years of the Master’s programme, I searched for a new language- a visual language- to express my emotions and insights as a member of the second generation. At first, this project was like walking backwards in the dark. But gradually, with the help of my supervisors (both practicing artists), research about Holocaust representation, and many long hours at the easel, I found a language using charcoal, pencil, watercolour, acrylics, and oils. “The Barbaric Periphery’, a term coined by Sidra DeKovan Ezrahi, an Israeli academic who writes about the futility of trying to get to the black centre of the Holocaust, rightly points out, this is a place only survivors understand. But we, of the second and third generations can still contribute and remember from its barbaric periphery- and this is what I set out to do.  
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I approached the Wellington Jewish Community Centre board who kindly agreed to let me show my final exhibition on the premises. Rabbi Ariel Tal opened the exhibition, highlighting the importance of art, and Jeremy Smith, representing Temple Sinai, spoke about the on-going work of Holocaust education.  My examiners, Dr. Huhanna Smith, the head of Massey’s School of Art, and Aaron Lister, a curator at Wellington City Gallery, expressed great pleasure in my chosen exhibition space. Many from the second-generation told me, in personal and moving ways, what my research and art meant to them. 
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I was moved that the WJCC board accepted my offer of a large painting of a menorah in honour of my father, Michael C. Forster, who died in September 2021.  Dad and his Uncle Ludwig were supported by the Viennese Jewish community in 1934 during a time of great personal upheaval and uncertainty- and now I saw this exhibition as my opportunity to give back. I know that I stand on the edge of an experience I did not have, that I will always look into that abyss and mourn a family I will never know.  However, I have learned that art made on that periphery brings companionship, connection, and hope.
CLICK TO READ MICHELANNE'S EXEGESIS

On May 30th, 2021 the Wellington Second Generation Group had an afternoon of remembering our parents through their baking. It was a warm and nostalgic afternoon. Each “ baker” brought a cake their parents used to make and talked about the memories evoked.
​The photo  (left) shows the food we recreated and thoroughly enjoyed eating. The other photo (right) captures our parents generation in 1980. Many thanks to Kathy Kerry for initiating and organising this event. We are collecting the recipes from this event and enquiries about these are welcome.

Irene Buxton
Coordinator
VIDEO:  Eva Woodbury shares the story of her fathers remarkable efforts to rescue Jews during the Holocaust.                                         
L'Dor vaDor Public Talk 28 July 2021

​Wladamir Riszko, is believed to have hidden 16 people in a cellar in the Polish city of Przemysl between 1942 and 1944 - including the woman who later became his wife.  Efforts are underway to have him recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
Stuff.co.nz Article
JC News Article
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HCNZ Generations After  - Facebook group

Created in October 2014, HCNZ Generations After is a closed Facebook group that provides a forum for Holocaust survivors, their descendants and others impacted by the Holocaust to connect.
If you would like to be added to the group, submit your request to the group's administrator on Facebook: Join HCNZ Generations After group.

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​80 Webb Street, Te Aro
Wellington, 6011
New Zealand
04 801 9480

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DETAILS:

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80 Webb Street
Te Aro
Wellington, 6011
New Zealand
04 801 9480
info@holocaustcentre.org.nz

DIRECTIONS:

HOURS:

Monday: 10am - 1pm
Tuesday: 10am - 1pm
Wednesday: 10am - 1pm
Thursday: 10am - 1pm
Friday: 10am - 1pm
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 10am - 1pm

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