17.9.24
Dad purchased his first movie camera in the early 1960s, and since then he has always had a camera in his hand (or on a tripod) - filming friends, family and major events.
When he passed away in 2016, he left us a huge collection of his VCRs together with a detailed catalogue of the recordings. Just before he died he pointed to me and said YOU, only YOU will look after my collection. Promise me you will!. Even though I thought to myself what would I do with a thousand VHSs, I respectfully nodded, Yes dad, I’ll look after them.
And so I did. I glued the tapes (not the precious ones) on the walls of my house to mimic old Roman friezes, and then began the long, time consuming project of digitalising the rest - the family tapes. Included in this group are mum and dad’s interviews or testimonies of their experiences during the Holocaust, run by the Melbourne Holocaust Museum (2000), as well as extensive interviews organised by the USC Shoah Foundation founded by Steven Spielberg in 1994, (origianlly called 'The Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation').
Surrounded by all these tapes and documentation, I've somehow adopted the role of ‘family historian’ or Gatekeeper’ - the one who gathers together the family’s archival memorabilia and stories. To me it’s an exhilarating and worthwhile project. I hope one day a great grand kid may wonder about his/her great grand mother or great grand father — and the information will be there.
Here is a segment of one of the Shoah Foundation's series of testimonies where the family gathers together, nearly 30 years ago. Mum introduces us, and then reads out two letters she wrote, dedicated to her grandson Anton on his Bar Mitzvah.
Coincidentally, after I had digitalised the whole series, I found these same interviews or testimonies online and way better quality on the site's Visual History Archive.
Segment of an interview with mum, by USC Shoah Foundation, 1996.
Top L->R: Justine Peleg, Anton Peleg, Jane Korman, Celina Peleg
Bottom L->R: Sunny Korman, Yasmin Korman, Adolek Kohn, Gil Korman, Marysia Kohn
1996
Marysia’s speech to Anton
14.2.1988 (on Tape 2, 1:04:44)
Speech 1
My dearest ‘General Anton’.
Yesterday was your Bar Mitzvah. When you were born I gave you a profession – a military one – I wanted you to become a general.
It was a half joke, buried in a hidden emotion that would sometimes come out like a storm. It was a protest against our past, when we were helpless and stripped of all dignity. I became a lethargic creature, afraid of my own shadow.
In you, my grandson, I want to create the revenge – for my father, mother, and all the nameless victims. You should be the example of a newborn ‘Maccabean’, standing up boldly to the tyrants who victimised the weak ones in this world.
My message to you is for a better tomorrow – not to forgive, not to forget - but to give a hand to each other, to build a better tomorrow for everybody. Let me give you an example. The little cakes we enjoyed today were made by my German girlfriend and are symbolic of (what we need to do) to build a better tomorrow.
Speech 2
My dearest ‘General’,
I’d like to make a small correction to your thoughtful address to me. I would like to be not just remembered as a grandmother preparing your ‘favourite food’. But I would like to be remembered as a grandmother who, above all, fought for justice and a quality of life for all.
With time you'll understand that all the material gains are very handy, very useful – a life lived well, but they are second in importance. The main thing is to aim to better yourself as a true human being. I want to be remembered as one of the lucky ones - a remnant of (a people who survived) the Holocaust.
We (me and grandpa) came to Australia in January 1949 – then 24 and 27 years old - and a one and a half-year-old baby (Celina). We were penniless, homeless, but full of stars in our eyes, with eager hearts, and hands to build our lives from ashes, blood, and tears left behind in Poland.
You mustn't look far to find a noble example in your auntie Jane and your uncle Ronny. Both of them gave up all the goodness/comforts of this world to fight for, and follow their ideals (to quality of life obtain?) in Israel.
God bless you my grandson,
Yours for ever,
Nanna Marysia
TV room covered with dad's recorded VHS tapes
'
...and the loungeroom 'frieze'
Audio tapes and film cartridges on the ceiling
Dad's video catalogue
Dad's video catalogue
An example of the subjects he recorded
Detail of one of the pages
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