An experience "that will stay with them for a lifetime": students meet Holocaust survivor Jack Meister

During an excursion to the Sydney Jewish Museum as part of their HSC Modern History course they met holocaust survivor Jack Meister.

Mr Meister shared his story with the students from Hawkesbury and another school and then answered their questions.

After the formal meeting, the Hawkesbury students were lucky enough to meet Mr Meister again at one of the exhibitions within the museum and continued their chat.

Mr Meister was born in Kielce, Poland, in 1928, where he grew up with traditional Jewish values, until he was 11-years-old when the Nazis came.

In March 1941, Mr Meister and his family were sent to the Kielce ghetto, where he was forced into labour until August 1942, when the ghetto was liquidated.

Upon returning from his forced labour, he found his family was gone, and only recently discovered their potential fate.

Mr Meister was then transported to Radom labour camp, where he worked in a factory for a year, before being transported to Auschwitz.

He was tattooed with the number B488 on his forearm. At the end of 1944, Jack was sent on a death march to Buchenwald.

He remained their until April 1945 when Buchenwald was liberated by American soldiers. Mr Meister was then taken to Switzerland, spending two years being re-socialised. He immigrated to Australia at the end of 1949.

Hawkesbury's Human Society and its Environment teacher, Justin Brady, said it was a very special experience for the students.

"We can present written sources and we can present visual sources and audio visual sources through documentaries," he said. "

But to be able to be in the same space, in the same room, as someone who has that lived experience, I think it helps absolutely with empathetic understanding and it helps develop [the student's] own knowledge, which in turn can assist with critical thinking and evaluation when it comes to HSC assessment."

Mr Brady said there was definitely an academic benefit for the students in talking with Mr Meister.

"It was such a profound experience and I think an opportunity that will stay with them for a lifetime.

"The wisdom that Jack shared. For someone who's been through such an unfathomably challenging experience, the lowest of humanity, and to still find so much joy in life and express so much gratitude for what they have in life and what life has to offer, that I thought was just an incredible sentiment for our students to to see."