My beautiful mother Thelma Webberley passed away a week ago. Her professional life was in journalism, and her private passions were classical music, European and Australian literature, overseas travel, feminism and community development. Because Thelma put all her considerable post-retirement energies into the organisation Bnai Brith, it is apt that this post is dedicated in her memory.
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Bnai Brith International, the global voice of the Jewish community, is an important organisation for Jewish humanitarian, human rights and advocacy work. Since 1843, Bnai Brith has operated in more than 50 countries around the world. The organisation came to Australia in 1944, starting first in Sydney, then in Melbourne in 1945.
Taking its inspiration from the Versetz Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam, Courage to Care was first exhibited in Melbourne in May 1992. It was a tribute to the few courageous people who risked their own lives during the Holocaust to help save individual Jews; only through their moral stance could they ensure that some human decency remained in Europe's brutal times. The amazing stories of Raoul Wallenberg, Senpo Sugihara and Oskar Schindler were described, of course, but so were many others whose names we may not be familiar with.
The last photo shows A Courage to Care guide in Melbourne discussing Sir Nicholas Winton, the British man who rescued her from Prague when she was a little girl. I can think of no better role model for school students than Winton, a true hero and Righteous Gentile.
Many thanks to Martha Vanderhoek for the book Courage to Care: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, Jewish Museum of Australia, 1992. The book focused on the testimonies of the Rescued who survived and emigrated to Australia, and on those Rescuers who also came here. Martha's in-laws' amazing story of rescue and survival in Nazi Netherlands was important to read.
By 1992, 10,000 people had been honoured by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as the Righteous Among the Nations of the World. Now Australians were paying their respect to those Righteous Gentiles.
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Today Courage to Care is a Bnai Brith education programme supported by a travelling exhibition - it promotes tolerance, respect and acceptance of all people. Courage to Care highlights the dangers of prejudice and discrimination, as experienced during the Holocaust of course, but in Australia as well. Students are helped to understand of the roles of victim, perpetrator and bystander.
The volunteers specifically use the stories of Holocaust survivors, paying particular attention to the Righteous Gentiles Among the Nations, as I described above. Even though most students think they can NOT have any impact on the world, Courage to Care empowers each individual to take positive action in relation to discrimination and bullying in all forms. Bullying still destroys adolescent lives as surely as any other form of psychological and physical attack.
Courage to Care offers workshops, presentations, exhibition viewing and facilitated discussion and is particularly designed for high school students. Although the exhibition is also open to the general public, the goals of the programme are clearly educational:
1. having consideration for all people
2. rejecting racism, prejudice and intolerance
3. standing up against injustice and
4. showing that each individual can make a difference.
The rural and regional schools in eastern Australia must find the programme very useful. 6000 high school students participated in Courage to Care during a 12 months period, in Victorian rural high schools alone. And Melbourne is an excellent city to run the programme. From 1946 on, this Jewish community had the highest percentage of Holocaust survivors in the world, second only to Israel.
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Sir Nicholas Winton as a role model
One section of Bnai Brith Victoria provides scholarships for teachers to participate in this programme. Scholarships include an economy return fare to Israel, tuition fees, hotel accommodation and a modest daily allowance. It is known that high school history teachers have learned a great deal of modern history in these courses – once they are back in their schools teaching again, they give a speech to Bnai Brith, documenting their experiences and their own learning.
My father and a young tour guide, alongside my late mother
Istanbul market
Bnai Brith International, the global voice of the Jewish community, is an important organisation for Jewish humanitarian, human rights and advocacy work. Since 1843, Bnai Brith has operated in more than 50 countries around the world. The organisation came to Australia in 1944, starting first in Sydney, then in Melbourne in 1945.
Taking its inspiration from the Versetz Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam, Courage to Care was first exhibited in Melbourne in May 1992. It was a tribute to the few courageous people who risked their own lives during the Holocaust to help save individual Jews; only through their moral stance could they ensure that some human decency remained in Europe's brutal times. The amazing stories of Raoul Wallenberg, Senpo Sugihara and Oskar Schindler were described, of course, but so were many others whose names we may not be familiar with.
The last photo shows A Courage to Care guide in Melbourne discussing Sir Nicholas Winton, the British man who rescued her from Prague when she was a little girl. I can think of no better role model for school students than Winton, a true hero and Righteous Gentile.
By 1992, 10,000 people had been honoured by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as the Righteous Among the Nations of the World. Now Australians were paying their respect to those Righteous Gentiles.
Courage to Care in rural Wodonga
High school students visit the exhibition
The volunteers specifically use the stories of Holocaust survivors, paying particular attention to the Righteous Gentiles Among the Nations, as I described above. Even though most students think they can NOT have any impact on the world, Courage to Care empowers each individual to take positive action in relation to discrimination and bullying in all forms. Bullying still destroys adolescent lives as surely as any other form of psychological and physical attack.
Courage to Care offers workshops, presentations, exhibition viewing and facilitated discussion and is particularly designed for high school students. Although the exhibition is also open to the general public, the goals of the programme are clearly educational:
1. having consideration for all people
2. rejecting racism, prejudice and intolerance
3. standing up against injustice and
4. showing that each individual can make a difference.
The rural and regional schools in eastern Australia must find the programme very useful. 6000 high school students participated in Courage to Care during a 12 months period, in Victorian rural high schools alone. And Melbourne is an excellent city to run the programme. From 1946 on, this Jewish community had the highest percentage of Holocaust survivors in the world, second only to Israel.
Courage to Care in rural Mildura
High school students in a lecture
Scholarships for history teachers are available. Each year in January, the International School for Holocaust Studies in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem conducts a Holocaust Seminar for English speaking educators. It is an intensive 3-week programme of 140 hours, with lectures, group discussions, films and survivor testimony. Several field excursions are also included. Pedagogic workshops are given throughout the course for high school history teachers. Participants access the wide range of materials located in its Archives and the Resource Centre.
One section of Bnai Brith Victoria provides scholarships for teachers to participate in this programme. Scholarships include an economy return fare to Israel, tuition fees, hotel accommodation and a modest daily allowance. It is known that high school history teachers have learned a great deal of modern history in these courses – once they are back in their schools teaching again, they give a speech to Bnai Brith, documenting their experiences and their own learning.