Tiny symbols of young lives lost in the Holocaust

Bialik College student Mia Rom


 

'It is important for a collective memory to be passed on to the new generation.' Dalia Gurfinkel

1.5 million buttons. One for every child killed in the Holocaust.
 
It's hard to imagine 1.5 million of anything, but the students at Bialik College in Melbourne are gathering this many buttons to create a permanent memorial to the children killed in the Holocaust. They are asking for help in their project- do you have some buttons you could send to them?*


A few years ago I visited the Jewish Museum in Darlinghurst, Sydney, with my sister. It is an impressive museum- world class- and covers many aspects of Judaism. Two things linger in my memory, and both were found in The Children's Memorial. The first was a simple water feature, a drip at a time falling into the pool below. In all, 1.5 million drips make up the volume of water which cycles through the memorial.


1.5 million drops of water


The second was a haunting art installation by Israeli sculptress Elza Pollak, made of hundreds of children's shoes in fired clay. It is a tribute to those children who died but who left no trace.

"All That Remains"

Each of these projects seeks to preserve the memory of the children who, if they had lived to 2016, would be in their seventies and eighties. We can help the children at Bialik College to pay tribute to their Jewish peers from another generation through the simple act of sending them a button or two.*

I'm about to go and raid the button tin.

*The Bialik Button Project
429 Auburn Road
Hawthorn East
Victoria 3123