The treasured possessions of Holocaust survivors are being shared with the world

Photographs of objects belonging to or left behind by concentration camp survivors are on display at a museum in Sydney and around the world. Here, Holocaust survivor Olga Horak tells SBS News why it's important history is never forgotten.

Olga Horak with her treasured possession. Source: Katherine Griffiths

When Olga Horak left the Belsen Bergen concentration camp in Germany in April 1945, a blanket, woven for SS guards and left behind, became one of her few possessions.

"I had nothing, I had the blanket, the wooden clogs, and I had the short hospital gown - nothing else," the 93-year-old, who lives in Sydney, told SBS News.

Olga's blanket is one of her only possessions that survived from her time in the concentration camps. Source: Sydney Jewish Museum

Olga was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. She was 14 when the war broke out in 1939, and as they were Jewish, her family would soon be torn apart. 

In 1942, Olga’s sister was rounded up with other Jewish teens and transported to Auschwitz. Despite going into hiding, her father and grandmother would also be taken to the gas chambers there. 

Olga and her mother were stripped, shaven and numbered, and forced to live in various camps.

The blanket, which is now too delicate to be picked up, was woven by inmates of Auschwitz from human hair and recycled fibres and made for the SS guards.

It is now on display at the Sydney Jewish Museum, where Olga volunteers. 

The museum is also exhibiting a large-scale photographic collection of other Holocaust artifacts called "It's Personal".

The photographed artifacts are from the archives of the Ravensbruck and Sachsenhausen concentration camps.

People at the exhibition (SBS) Source: SBS

"They talk to me," Olga said. 

"It's like it's coming out from there, the information, even if I wasn't in certain places where these pieces were photographed."

"I was an inmate in five different camps, and I've seen a lot. The memory cannot be wiped out, ever."

'Moving photographs'

Photographer Richard Wiesel, the son of holocaust survivors, is behind the exhibition. 

"It's doing what I want it to do, and it was touching, and very moving, to hear that from a survivor," he said.

"It is personal. And for me, looking at themes of resilience and growth through trauma have always interested me."

A baby dress that features in the the exhibition. Source: Richard Wiesel

Some of the artifacts have not been on display before, with Mr Wiesel granted special access to photograph them.

One item in the collection includes a photograph of a bear that belonged to an unknown boy.

Upon arrival at Ravensbruck in 1944, he accidentally dropped it and was fatally struck on the head with a rifle butt by an SS officer when trying to pick it up.

German political prisoner Anni Sindermann, who witnessed what happened, picked up the teddy and kept it for the remainder of her life.

A teddy bear at the exhibition (SBS) Source: SBS

"People have been exceptionally moved," Sydney Jewish Museum curator Rosalyn Sugarman said.

"I have seen people in tears, and even myself, I find it unavoidable that you tear up when you engage with one of the objects and you read their accompanying story."

'It's not a fairytale'

Hunger and disease were rife in the concentration camps. 

Olga says she and her mother were lucky to have each other and imaginary cooking became their motivation to keep going. 

“We cooked verbally … and promised ourselves to make the most beautiful cakes if we survived,” she has said previously of the experience.

This photograph of a message in a shoe features in the exhibition. Source: Richard Wiesel

Despite suffering from typhus and diphtheria, Olga and her mother survived to see the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945.

But only a day later, while queuing to register as survivors, Olga’s mother’s collapsed and died.

As the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camps approaches, Olga is determined that through exhibitions like 'It's Personal' that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten.

"Years ago, people did not want to hear about what we went through," she said.

"It's not a fairytale. It's a different part of history, which never existed before and hopefully never will exist again.

This exhibition is also on display in South Africa, with a different selection of images, and will be shown in the UK, the US, Russia and Germany in 2020.

It’s Personal: Images of objects from Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen runs until 8 March 2020 at the Sydney Jewish Museum.