Holocaust memoirs donated to library

The first comprehensive collection of Australian Holocaust memoirs was donated to the Monash University Library late last month.

The donation was made by The Australian Centre for the Study of Jewish Civilisation, Faculty of Arts, as a major milestone in a project to locate and collect Holocaust memoirs written and published in Australia.

The collection of 54 books is now housed in the Rare Books Collection, Level 1, ISB Wing of the Sir Louis Matheson Library, Clayton campus.

Additional volumes will be added to the collection as they become available.

"The inclusion of these memoirs in the collection is a significant milestone in the documentation of Holocaust experiences written by survivors. As historical documents they are a valuable addition to the study of the Holocaust, but importantly, it also secures their place in posterity," said centre director, Professor Andrew Markus.

A diverse crowd of more than 70, including authors and their families, attended the hand-over ceremony held in the Matheson Library on Sunday, 25 July 2004.

In a moving speech, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Homer Le Grand, expressed his hope that the collection would be used not only by researchers but also by the broader community, particularly people who are not Jewish.

"This project is of great importance, not only for Jews but for all of us for they remind us that the victims of the Holocaust, those who survived and those who died, share in our common humanity."

"Stories; that is, first-person accounts, rather than Histories or statistics are what touch us not only in the mind but in the heart and which bring home to us the lessons we should ever remember from the Holocaust."

To access the collection visit the Rare Books Collection, Level 1, ISB Wing, Matheson Library, Clayton campus.

View titles in the collection by searching the library catalogue, limiting your search to the Rare Books collection, using the key words "Holocaust Memoirs Collection".

Professor Le Grand's speech can be viewed in full from the Australian Centre for the Study of Jewish Civilisation website. 

16 August 2004

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Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Homer Le Grand, addresses the crowd of authors and their families at the hand-over ceremony for the first comprehensive collection of Australian Holocaust memoirs.