Good-bye Chapel on Station
What a warm and welcoming place! A community gallery, a place of worship, a time to share memories. Thank you, Chapel on Station!
Special event: The 'unbelievable' but true life story of one of the 'Dunera boys'
Sunday, 21 June, 5pm
Listen to a podcast of Werner's talk here >>>
Our guest speaker, Werner Haarburger, is a very special story teller – only, his story was taken from real life.
Our guest speaker, Werner Haarburger, is a very special story teller – only, his story was taken from real life.
The son of a Jewish father and a mother who was born a Catholic and became a Lutheran, escaped Nazi Germany on a children's transport with the aid of friends from the Netherlands. "Later, I studied Dutch to show my immense gratitude to these courageous people who helped me."
When Werner got to England, he was classified an enemy alien and interned. He spent time on the Isle of White and in Liverpool. "Those were hard times - we had very little to eat and we couldn't even wash ourselves."
But it got worse. In 1941, Werner was put aboard the HMT Dunera together with other Jewish refugees, Italian POWs and captured seamen from the german Merchant Navy. The ship was hopelessly crowded. "We slept in layers: there were those on the floor, those on the benches, the tables and - the lucky ones - in the hammocks."
As soon as they arrived on board, their suitcases were searched, all their valuables were taken and then the cases were thrown into the sea. The journey lasted 57 days. "Right towards the end of the trip, someone discovered a half of an old, used toothbrush. Now, we could brush our teeth - in salt water. There was no toothpaste." There were no facilities to wash, no soap, no change of clothing. "Two people died during the journey. They were wrapped in sacking - a brief Hebrew ceremony took place - then they were thrown overboard. I was 17 - it was hard to witness this." One of the internees was so desperate, he jumped overboard and drowned. "Once a day, we were marched across the deck - to get some fresh air. We had no idea, where we going and we did not know what was happening. We got no news of the war."
"How does one cope, in a situation like that?' Werner is asked. 'What did you do?' "We became like zombies. We did nothing because there was nothing one could do." Things changed when the boat arrived in Fremantle and the young medical officer reported the treatment of the prisoners to the Australian authorities. "When the authorities in Britain found out, how we had been treated, there immediately was an enquiry - in the middle of the Blitz. The British were aghast at what had happened to us." The officer in charge was court-martialed.
Despite these terrifying experiences (the vessel was even attacked by German torpedoes), Werner is a warm and humorous speaker. A survivor who shows great wisdom.
Werner's father was killed in Germany, one of his aunt's committed suicide - she chose to end her life rather than face the concentration camps.
When recently, he was invited to speak to school children in Germany, there were many questions. "The young people in Germany are very interested, they want to know what happened. I make it clear to them that I do not bear them any ill-feeling. You are not responsible for what your parents did. Sometimes parents are responsible for what their children do but not the other way around."
Thank you, Werner, you are an inspiring speaker!
Successful launch at Chapel on Station Gallery, Box Hill
The exhibition was opened officially by Alex May, gallery curator, followed by an opening speech by Sabine Nielsen, exhibition coordinator and author (read Sabine's speech here)
Next, Dr Brigitte Lambert reflected on her family’s post-war situation in Germany, her parents’ decision to move to Australia and the personal experience of coming ‘home’. Brigitte is a doctor of linguistics, associated with Melbourne University and the Languages Action Alliance. Amongst many other things, she is also a writer, has been involved in translations and editing of various publications.
Brigitte was born in Germany and came to Australia as a child. She and her family, too, were boat people. Her parents were 'displaced' people, having been driven been driven out of their homeland when various German-occupied territories were retaken. Brigitte was born in a refugee camp in Germany, and even though she was not part of the long trek, she knew the word 'Flucht' (escape). It had been internalised together with other memories of conversation amongst adults overheard.
When the family arrived in Melbourne, they were placed in Bonegilla. Camp life seemed normal to Brigitte, in fact, for a long time she believed everybody started life in a camp before they moved out into the world – in Brigitte’s case: Box Hill.
Brigitte feels strongly for children who arrive here with their parents. So often, she feels, their needs are overlooked – or adults fail to explain to their children what is happening. From one minute to the next, they are taken out of the familiarity of a safe home and environment, with grandparents and extended family – to be taken to a place where they cannot even understand the language.
She remembers feeling dazed when she arrived here.
Maybe that is the reason that she has studied linguistics and has become a strong advocate for language maintenance, language learning and the value of multilingualism. She is involved in the Languages Action Alliance and since 2009, she has organised the Melbourne Language Picnic - an event to “celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity”. She is currently engaged as an 'online grandparent' for German students at primary school and her online program Oma and the Bilingual Story is extremely popular.
Read more about Brigitte's story here.
The next speaker's, Tri Nguyen, journey to Australia began in 1980 when he was eight years old. With his father, his sister and other family members, he boarded a boat. The journey was horrendous – they were in constant fear of being captured by pirates and the boat was caught in a taifun. They were taken to an island of Malaysia and lived behind barbed wire under terrible and frightening conditions. Eventually, they were accepted as refugees and taken to Australia. Tri has positive memories of arriving here and being treated with kindness – people were eager to help with food and clothes and teaching English.
Because that is not happening now to refugees languishing on Manus and Christmas Island, Tri last year (2014) embarked on a pilgrimage – towing a replica of the boat he came on, he walked to Canberra – to make a quiet plea for better treatment for asylum seekers. Like we have found during the cause of the exhibition, Tri and his three Iranian companions, found, they were constantly swapping stories with locals on their way. The aim of the walk was to raise awareness of the human side of asylum seekers, ''rather than just the issue''. Tri has been quoted: ''The idea is that we are at our best when we show compassion and work for justice for those who are oppressed.''
Tri is a Baptist pastor in Brunswick, he is associated with Sanctuary, Baptcare's asylum-seeker accommodation program and he works with Iranian asylum seekers there and in St Albans.
The launch concluded with snacks and non-alcoholic drinks and an opportunity to meet Zeitzeugen (contemporary witnesses).
Next, Dr Brigitte Lambert reflected on her family’s post-war situation in Germany, her parents’ decision to move to Australia and the personal experience of coming ‘home’. Brigitte is a doctor of linguistics, associated with Melbourne University and the Languages Action Alliance. Amongst many other things, she is also a writer, has been involved in translations and editing of various publications.
Brigitte was born in Germany and came to Australia as a child. She and her family, too, were boat people. Her parents were 'displaced' people, having been driven been driven out of their homeland when various German-occupied territories were retaken. Brigitte was born in a refugee camp in Germany, and even though she was not part of the long trek, she knew the word 'Flucht' (escape). It had been internalised together with other memories of conversation amongst adults overheard.
When the family arrived in Melbourne, they were placed in Bonegilla. Camp life seemed normal to Brigitte, in fact, for a long time she believed everybody started life in a camp before they moved out into the world – in Brigitte’s case: Box Hill.
Brigitte feels strongly for children who arrive here with their parents. So often, she feels, their needs are overlooked – or adults fail to explain to their children what is happening. From one minute to the next, they are taken out of the familiarity of a safe home and environment, with grandparents and extended family – to be taken to a place where they cannot even understand the language.
She remembers feeling dazed when she arrived here.
Maybe that is the reason that she has studied linguistics and has become a strong advocate for language maintenance, language learning and the value of multilingualism. She is involved in the Languages Action Alliance and since 2009, she has organised the Melbourne Language Picnic - an event to “celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity”. She is currently engaged as an 'online grandparent' for German students at primary school and her online program Oma and the Bilingual Story is extremely popular.
Read more about Brigitte's story here.
The next speaker's, Tri Nguyen, journey to Australia began in 1980 when he was eight years old. With his father, his sister and other family members, he boarded a boat. The journey was horrendous – they were in constant fear of being captured by pirates and the boat was caught in a taifun. They were taken to an island of Malaysia and lived behind barbed wire under terrible and frightening conditions. Eventually, they were accepted as refugees and taken to Australia. Tri has positive memories of arriving here and being treated with kindness – people were eager to help with food and clothes and teaching English.
Because that is not happening now to refugees languishing on Manus and Christmas Island, Tri last year (2014) embarked on a pilgrimage – towing a replica of the boat he came on, he walked to Canberra – to make a quiet plea for better treatment for asylum seekers. Like we have found during the cause of the exhibition, Tri and his three Iranian companions, found, they were constantly swapping stories with locals on their way. The aim of the walk was to raise awareness of the human side of asylum seekers, ''rather than just the issue''. Tri has been quoted: ''The idea is that we are at our best when we show compassion and work for justice for those who are oppressed.''
Tri is a Baptist pastor in Brunswick, he is associated with Sanctuary, Baptcare's asylum-seeker accommodation program and he works with Iranian asylum seekers there and in St Albans.
The launch concluded with snacks and non-alcoholic drinks and an opportunity to meet Zeitzeugen (contemporary witnesses).
Contact details
Chapel on Station Gallery
cnr Station St & Ellingworth Pde, Box Hill
phone: 03 9890 5810
www.chapelonstationgallery.org.au
cnr Station St & Ellingworth Pde, Box Hill
phone: 03 9890 5810
www.chapelonstationgallery.org.au
