Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) 27 January 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the allies;

(b) over a million Jews and 150,000 non-Jews were murdered in the Auschwitz death camp; and

(c) 27 January has since become International Holocaust Day, and is marked by ceremonies around the world acknowledging the horrific nature of the official policy of genocide against Jews that was manifested in the Holocaust and that claimed 6 million lives;

(2) calls on all Australians to remember these crimes against humanity in order to ensure Australia's continuing condemnation of any attempts to repeat such horrors; and

(3) in light of Australia having one of the largest groups of Holocaust survivors and the bipartisan support for the previous government's legacy to the maintenance of the memorial of the camp, calls on Australia to keep a representative on the international committee that supervises the maintenance of the memorial at Auschwitz.

On 27 January the world commemorated the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in southern Poland by the Soviet armed forces. Seventy years ago is a long time in human memory and today there are only a few survivors who have memories of Auschwitz. Soon there will be none. That is why it is important to remember what happened there. Auschwitz was a place where the German Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler killed more than one million people in cold blood as part of a calculated campaign of extermination. On 30 January 1939 Hitler mockingly, in response to an appeal from President Roosevelt, told the Berliner Sportpalast that the outcome of a new world war 'will not be the victory of Jewry but the total annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe'—the 'vernichtung der judischen rasse in Europa', as he said. We now know that he meant what he said.

The overwhelming majority of those killed in Auschwitz were Jews, transported in cattle cars—as very movingly portrayed in Mr Lowy's recent tribute to his parents by establishing of one of the original cattle cars at the site; a site where all of the people were exterminated in gas chambers or were worked to death in nearby camps such as Monowitz. Many years ago I had the honour of launching a book by Mr Grossman, who talked of his experiences in Monowitz. I will never forget his emphatic wish that the US B29s that were flying overhead had bombed the crematoriums and the gas chambers.

The dead of Auschwitz included 150,000 non-Jewish Poles, 23,000 gypsies, at least 15,000 Soviet prisoners and 10,000 of other nationalities. Finally, in late 1944, even when the war was clearly lost, the Nazis transported 400,000 Hungarian Jews to be murdered. By the end of 1944—the last people were killed in October, by the way—the SS had killed most of the European Jews that they could get hold of in Europe. SS leader Himmler, aware that Germany was losing and fearing for his own neck, ordered all the killing stopped and that the camps be destroyed and covered up as best they could be. The Red Army approached and the SS evacuated the camp on 17-18 January 1945. Tens of thousands of prisoners were marched towards the freezing landscape of other camps further into Germany, such as Gross-Rosen, Mauthausen, Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald, where Alfred Hitchcock and the British film crew later filmed those incredible scenes that we are all so familiar with. It is very interesting to recount the fact that a great director like Alfred Hitchcock thought it was his ethical responsibility to film those scenes. Thousands of people died in those futile marches.

On 27 January the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front under Marshal Koniev reached the town of Auschwitz. Only about 7,000 prisoners were still alive in Auschwitz and Birkenau, whose barracks had once housed 200,000. To commemorate those things there are superb institutions such as Yad Vashem in Israel, the Holocaust museum in my electorate and of course the Auschwitz Foundation.

The Auschwitz foundation was established in 2009 to raise funds required to ensure that the site of the extermination is preserved for future generations as a paradigm of the remembrance of racism and what happened during the Nazi occupied regime there. In 2012, Prime Minister Gillard gave the Auschwitz foundation, on behalf of the Australian government, significant support—$500,000. This is important for Australia to do; after all, Australia is where the largest number of Holocaust survivors per capita have gone, apart from Israel. It is the right thing to do because Australia has an ethical interest in international affairs.

It is sad that at the recent anniversary memorial in Poland only the Australian government was represented. I think it would have been much better if it had been bipartisan. Australia was represented very capably on the international memorial foundation that supervises the camp now by Ambassador Jean Dunn. In the future, I would see it that the Australian government would elevate our representation on that, along with Germany, the United States, France and Poland, so that we preserve the memory of that dreadful place. It is a lesson to people right across the world of just what the outcome is of murderous threats against any race or individuals. We are seeing now a revival of these brutish sentiments across the world. Let it never happen again. Our watchword must be: 'Never again'. (Time expired)

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I willingly second the motion. I thank the member for Melbourne Ports for this motion. It is particularly important that we acknowledge events of this character, because they are so horrific we never want to see them again, as he said. I note that my colleague will also be supported by other Jewish members of this parliament in debate on this motion, but I speak as non-Jew. I speak as one who is moved by the tragedy that the Jewish people suffered and when I think of the enormity of it. I am told that some six million Jewish people died in the Holocaust. There were almost 11 million people in total who were killed, and it is important to acknowledge the many people of other backgrounds in Eastern Europe who also lost their lives. At Auschwitz, it is believed between 1.2 and 1.8 million people were killed. When you think of the atrocities, the torture and the way in which people were treated as less than animals, this Holocaust has to be regarded as one of the most depraved human rights abuses, a stain on our human history. I think it is very important that we acknowledge that.

I have not been to Auschwitz. I have been to Terezin in the northern Czech Republic. I saw something of that dreadful camp. I saw the gravestones of the many Jewish people who were killed there. It brought it home to me. What it also brings home to me is its impact upon us here in Australia. We took some 35,000 Holocaust survivors; only Israel, I think, saw a greater number. What I consider to be one of the greatest periods in Australian history was when we took so many people, and we continue to take refugees today. We have a very strong view that people should not be subjected to persecution of this sort.

Can I simply say that for me I do have indirect connectivity through my wife, whose father was a German Jew. He was one of those who did survive because he was able to leave Germany before the Second World War. In that sense, we know the pain that people have felt.

So I think it is appropriate that we mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. I think it is appropriate to acknowledge how many people were murdered. I think it is appropriate to recognise that 27 January was International Holocaust Remembrance Day and for all Australians to remember these crimes. Unless we learn from events like this, they will be repeated. It is the great tragedy of the world today that we see so little regard for human life and that in so much of the Middle East people are still threatened and that depraved conduct occurs which can in no way be defended. To my colleague I will just say that I feel for you and your community. We very much want to see the world be a better place. We thank you for your role in helping to remind us all that we as a people can be so much better.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased and honoured to have the opportunity to speak about International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which last month marked the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Allies. I thank and commend the member for Melbourne Ports for this motion. I know this is an issue very close to his heart and important to his electorate. I would also like to thank Rabbi Meltzer and Rabbi Feldman, who are both here from the Canberra Jewish community. It is wonderful to have you here today, gentlemen. Again, I welcome you both to Canberra as you are relatively new to Canberra. It is wonderful that you could be here to support this motion from my colleague. Thank you very much for joining us here.

There are few survivors who have memories of Auschwitz, and that is why it is so important for Australia and the world to commemorate this dark part of our world history and to warn against any attempts at repeating such horrors. And they were truly horrors. More than one million people, the majority Jews, were killed at Auschwitz as part of Adolf Hitler's German Nazi regime. His calculated campaign of extermination is now referred to as the Holocaust. The dead at Auschwitz included 150,000 non-Jewish Poles, 23,000 Gypsies or Romani, 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war and more than 10,000 other non-Jewish prisoners of many nationalities. The campaign continued at other camps in Poland and Belarus. The total number of those killed in the seven extermination camps was at least 3.2 million and possibly 3.8 million. Those numbers are chilling.

Auschwitz was finally liberated by Russian forces on 27 January 1945, a date which has subsequently become International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This day is marked by ceremonies around the world acknowledging the horrific nature of the official policy of genocide against Jews that was manifested in the Holocaust and that claimed six million lives.

Labor has made a proud contribution to the Auschwitz foundation project. In 2012 then Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced Australia's contribution to the Auschwitz foundation project. Australia joined with the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, France, New Zealand and Poland in providing funding to restore and preserve the memorial site at Auschwitz. The Labor government announced half a million dollars in funding towards the project, demonstrating our commitment to Holocaust survivors and the impact that they have had an Australian society in so many positive and constructive ways. Australia's commitment to the Auschwitz foundation project also forms part of a broader plan to educate and inform future generations. This commitment by Labor is something I am personally very proud of and something I believe will benefit all Australians in many, many ways.

The devastation of World War II has had a large impact on Canberra, with a number of Poles finding sanctuary here. In fact, I understand across Australia more broadly we became home to the second largest population of Holocaust survivors per capita. Many participated in great nation-building projects such as the Snowy Mountains scheme and later chose the nation's capital as their future home. The Polish community in the ACT began to grow significantly from the late 1940s, and the ACT Jewish community was formally constituted in 1951. The National Jewish Memorial Centre, which is in my electorate, just down the road from Parliament House, was opened in 1971, with generous financial assistance from individuals and organisations interstate.

The Canberra Jewish community is relatively small and is made up of many public servants, professionals, academics, students and those working in the private sector. The ACT Jewish community runs adult education classes, Hebrew school, youth activities, school activities, welfare and relations with the general community and Jewish organisations outside Canberra. This community makes up a strong and vibrant part of Canberra, and I hope it will continue to flourish in coming years.

I think the presence of the two rabbis here today sends a very strong message of their commitment to the Jewish community here in Canberra but also more broadly to the Jewish community across Australia. We have not had rabbis at our synagogues here, and we now have two. Their presence has been greatly appreciated by the community, which has warmly embraced them. It is wonderful that they are here today.

In concluding, I would like again to recognise the significance of this day. (Time expired)

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Melbourne Ports for bringing this important motion to the parliament and congratulate him on his strong advocacy on behalf of his electorate but particularly for what he has done for the Jewish community in this place. I also acknowledge the member for Canberra and thank her for her important words as well as acknowledge the presence in the gallery of Rabbi Meltzer and Rabbi Feldman.

I come to this motion with a heavy heart, because my own family background is no different to that of many other Jewish members in communities in Melbourne, Sydney and elsewhere, in that I had relatives who passed away in the Holocaust, including two great-grandparents and great aunts who lost their lives at Auschwitz. So it was with some trepidation that I went to represent the Australian government at the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and made my way, with 3,000 other people, to this historic ceremony. Ten years ago there were some 1,500 survivors there. This time round, there were only 300. In 10 years time, there may not be a survivor present. But I was able to see the presidents of Germany, Switzerland, Poland and France, and many other world leaders, come to pay their respects to the more than six million Jews who lost their lives in the Holocaust, including, tragically, 1.5 million children, and to remember what happened at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where 1.1 million people lost their lives, 90 per cent of whom were Jewish. Also, importantly, people from Romani backgrounds, people who were homosexual, people with a disability and political prisoners from Poland and Russia also lost their lives there. For the first time, I walked through those gates that said, 'Work will set you free,' and I saw the orderly nature of the camp where so many innocent people lost their lives. I saw the ovens and the showers where gas came down instead of water. People were put through slave labour in the coldest and most brutal of conditions. People lost their humanity. And the cultured, intelligent, educated German nation was allowed by the world to get away with such horrors.

I left asking the question: how could we and the rest of the world have stood by when the country that produced Wagner, Mozart and Bach were allowed to kill their fellowman and deny them any human dignity? But that is the tragedy of the Holocaust. I know I stand with everybody in this place, regardless of their political persuasion, to say: never again.

I am reminded of that famous Lutheran pastor and theologian Martin Niemoller, who himself was targeted by the Nazis after originally being a supporter of the Nazis. What Niemoller said was: 'First they came for the socialists, and I wasn't a socialist, so I didn't say anything. Then next they came for the trade unionists, and I wasn't a trade unionist, so I didn't say anything. Then they came for the Jews, and I wasn't a Jew, so I didn't say anything. And then they came for me, and there was no-one left to speak up for me.'

That is the lesson of the Holocaust—that even the most cultured nation, such as Germany, could go down to the lowest possible level to do what they did. But the rest of the world was relatively silent. When General Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the Allied forces, came upon a liberated concentration camp, he said there would come a time in the world when people denied that what had taken place here had actually happened, so he called upon senior journalists and political leaders from around the world to come and bear witness to what had transpired in these most horrible of horrible places. Thankfully, there are good people like General Dwight Eisenhower who will ensure that all those innocent lives that were lost are remembered. This is a very important occasion to remember, but it is also a very sad day for many of us in this chamber.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Assistant Treasurer. The time allotted for this debate had expired, and I also acknowledge the motion moved by the member for Melbourne Ports and also the presence of our guests in the gallery today.

Debate adjourned.