Perth Voice Interactive

YOKINE’S Holocaust Institute of WA has welcomed $2 million pledges from both major parties leading up to the federal election, but says the circumstances behind the announcements puts a cloud over them.

The announcements, made on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, were aimed at curbing a rise of anti-Semitic attacks around the country and follows this week’s revelation of NSW police seizing a caravan packed with explosives, anti-Semitic literature and a list of potential targets. 

Prime minister Anthony Albanese committed $2m as part of a broader $6.4m initiative to establish a National Holocaust Education Centre in Canberra and upgrade existing Holocaust education facilities across Australia. 

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said the funding would support education about both the Holocaust and the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel.

Mr Albanese emphasised the importance of educating future generations about the Holocaust to combat prejudice and discrimination.

“We must never forget the atrocities of the Holocaust,” Mr Albanese said. 

“That’s why my government is making this investment in the National Holocaust Education Centre and in the Holocaust Institute of WA’s Education Centre at the JHub.

“The Centre will serve to educate our young Australians about the horrors of the Holocaust and teach them from an early age that such prejudice, hatred, and violence have no place here. Not now, not ever.”

Mr Dutton visited the institute at the Maccabi Community Centre as part of commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Atrocities

“Educating Australians about the atrocities of the Holocaust and the October 7 attacks is an important mission that deserves support,” Mr Dutton said. 

“By gaining awareness of the persecution and atrocities committed against Jews, Australians will have a better understanding of why there is no place for antisemitism in our community.”

Institute education director Judith Lawrence says while WA hasn’t seen the fire bombings and other attacks of over east, the local Jewish community has reported children being bullied in the playground and racial taunts being flung from car windows.

It’s left them with a sense of heightened anxiety and prompted schools and synagogues to raise their security levels from “three to a five”.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s on the back of blatant antisemitism, of violent attacks,” Ms Lawrence said of the federal pledges. 

“Of course, there’s pre-election frenzy, but there’s also another part of me that likes to believe in humanity, and maybe they have recognised this moment and this opportunity and the strength of what we’re trying to bring.”

The Holocaust Institute of WA, which has been educating students since 1990, has recently expanded its vision, moving beyond static exhibits to create an interactive education centre that fosters critical thinking and social awareness.

“The Holocaust Institute was formed to educate society, especially high school students, on the lessons of the Holocaust, and to honour the legacy of the victims and survivors,” Ms Lawrence said. 

“We had a very small static exhibition, and school students used to come. The most powerful element of that was survivor testimony.”

Dwindling

However, with the number of Holocaust survivors dwindling, the Institute has shifted its approach, while the October 7 attacks changed everything.

“Until October 7, our biggest focus was on how to teach without survivor testimony,” Ms Lawrence said. 

“We responded by filming testimonies and using technology to maintain that undeniable truth that builds empathy and crosses divides.

“We’ve seen a rise in blatant antisemitism in Australia, in our beautiful land where none of us thought that it would ever happen,” she said.

“It’s reminiscent of Nazi Germany, and it’s scary, it’s confronting, and it’s real.”

The Holocaust Institute’s new education centre will go beyond teaching historical events. 

“We want to take these lessons and make them relevant to the whole of WA society,” Ms Lawrence said. 

“We use, of course, the Holocaust as a well-documented case study. But this is not only about antisemitism and Jew hatred. It’s really about the opportunity to create a better WA—that’s the hope.”

She said the new approach is centred on understanding human behaviour and recognising patterns of hate before they escalate. 

“How was the Holocaust humanly possible? Recognising those patterns of hate, how it starts small with words, propaganda, violence without repercussion—this is what we need to unpack and think about critically,” Ms Lawrence said.

The Institute work with educators and students to ensure a relevant and engaging program. 

“We have a youth advisory group, so we’re designing it with the people that it’s targeted at.” 

The funding commitments will allow the Holocaust Institute to complete the fit-out of the new education centre, ensuring it meets world-class standards.

“The funding is to finish the fit-out,” Ms Lawrence confirmed. “So you know, all of those didactic tools that we need in the immersive and multi-modal experience.”

When asked whether the Institute had applied for the funding, Lawrence clarified that it was unsolicited. “No, we didn’t apply. We’ve been talking for a long time about the importance of this, the relevance of this in WA specifically.”

Ms Lawrence acknowledged that while some might question why funding targeting discrimination has been directed to the Jewish community, the Centre’s mission extends beyond Jewish history.

“There will be backlash, I imagine. Some people may ask, ‘Why is it all going to the Jews?’ I can appreciate that. I’m not saying that Jew hatred is the only hatred and the only form of discrimination. 

“But as I said, I hope that this is a message for the whole WA and that we can interrupt those patterns of hate.”

Looking to the future, Ms Lawrence hopes for deeper collaboration with other marginalised communities, including First Nations people. 

“We hope that we’ll be able to create, under the umbrella of the Holocaust Institute, a centre for tolerance where we can all come together and have these difficult conversations,” she said. 

by STEVE GRANT