Queensland’s first Holocaust museum will open early next year in Brisbane’s central business district, the premier says.
During the 2020 state election campaign, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pledged $3.5 million for a museum and education centre to commemorate Jewish victims of Nazi crimes during World War II.
She says the museum will open next year in a building in the CBD’s Cathedral Precinct after the government struck a deal with Brisbane’s Catholic Archdiocese for a site.
“It’s still hard to fathom that in total six million Jewish people died during the Holocaust—1.5 million of them children,” Palaszczuk told parliament on Thursday.
“But it’s so incredibly important we continue to tell the horrific stories of the past, so that history is not forgotten and history does not repeat itself.”
Multicultural Affairs Minister Leanne Linard said the new centre would also host a virtual museum to educate Queenslanders about standing up against racism and prejudice and about “the devastating human toll of bigotry”.
She said Holocaust survivors have already recorded their memories and stories, some of which she heard at a memorial service earlier this year.
“We must never turn away from such stories and from the difficult conversations that such accounts generate because stories are powerful,” Linard told parliament.
“Stories such as that of Dr (Bert) Klug, who in 1939 was sent to a forced labour camp in Poland for two years, while his parents were deported to German concentration camps, where they were killed.
“Or the story of Suzi Smeed, who, along with her parents, survived the Holocaust thanks to the kindness and bravery of friends and strangers who kept them hidden with the full knowledge that providing such assistance could lead to a death sentence.
“These are the stories that need to be told.”
Brisbane’s Catholic Archbishop Mark Coleridge said it was an honour to partner with the new Holocaust centre.
“As a society, we need to work together towards a common goal that overcomes hatred and promotes peace. We need to build bridges, not walls,” he said in a statement.
“Inter-religious partnerships like this send a strong signal to the community that we are all sisters and brothers in a world where the other is not my enemy.”
