Sabina Wolanski
Sabina Wolanski, married Sabina van der Linden-Wolanski OAM (8 June 1927 – 23 June 2011)[1] was a Holocaust survivor and author. Her book Destined to Live: One Woman's War, Life, Loves Remembered is a memoir of her account of her experience of the Holocaust.
Biography
Wolanski, born in Borysław, Poland (today Ukraine), was 12 years old when her home town in Poland was invaded by the Nazis. In her diary she recorded what happened, including the humiliations and terrors, the murder of her family and her survival. In Borysław, she met the industrialist Berthold Beitz,[2] who had helped shelter Jews in Poland. Leaving Europe after the war, Wolanski began a new life in Australia. In 1967, she gave evidence in a trial in Bremen of Friedrich Hildebrand, the man who had killed her father and brother. While there, she met the daughter of a former Nazi who was researching her own past.
In May 2005, when Germany opened the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Wolanski was chosen to speak on behalf of the six million dead. In her speech she noted that although the Holocaust had taken everything she valued, it had also taught her that hatred and discrimination are doomed to fail. Her story was profiled on the ABC program Australian Story.
Wolanski died on 23 June 2011 in Sydney, aged 84.[2]
Wolanski supported Sydney-based programs promoting intercultural understanding, including Courage to Care, which teaches schoolchildren to avoid discrimination, and Together for Humanity, a multi-faith charity which encourages inter-faith tolerance and understanding among schoolchildren.[3]
References
- ^ "Depositories of Memory - Sabina Haberman-Wolanski - Bełżec". www.belzec.eu. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Jewish community mourns Holocaust survivor from Borysław" by Stuart Rintoul, The Australian (25 June 2011)
- ^ "Survivor used her loss to help unite world". 26 June 2011.
- Susskind, Anne (10 May 2008). "Maternal love protection against hatred". The Australian. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2008.
- Mitchell, Natasha (7 June 2008). "Courage: Guts, grit, spine, heart, and verve". ABC Radio National. Retrieved 16 September 2008.
- Use dmy dates from November 2016
- Use Australian English from November 2016
- All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
- Articles with FAST identifiers
- Articles with ISNI identifiers
- Articles with VIAF identifiers
- Articles with WorldCat Entities identifiers
- Articles with GND identifiers
- Articles with J9U identifiers
- Articles with LCCN identifiers
- Articles with PLWABN identifiers
- Articles with DAAO identifiers
- Articles with DTBIO identifiers
- 1927 births
- 2011 deaths
- People from Boryslav
- People from Lwów Voivodeship
- Polish emigrants to Australia
- Australian memoirists
- Australian people of Polish-Jewish descent
- Jewish Australian writers
- Holocaust survivors
- Australian women memoirists
- Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia