“Please keep the memory alive,” Olga Horak told The AJN two years ago. That request is more poignant than ever after the beloved Holocaust survivor, author and artist passed away last week, days after turning 98. Horak was passionate about education and continued to volunteer at the Sydney Jewish Museum, of which she was a founding member, right until the end.
Incredibly, she recounted her survival story for the last time the week before her passing to a group of school students – including her own great-granddaughter. “The best way to continue her legacy is by speaking out and fighting back at the mere sniff of antisemitism, whether you are Jewish or not,” Horak’s grandson Jonathan Sankey told The AJN. Sankey said she continued to follow the news every day until she died.
“When she saw people flying Hamas and ISIS flags she was devastated that this could happen in her beautiful home of Australia, when she thought she left all of that behind,” he said. “More than anything she was disappointed in our government, that our racial and anti-discrimination laws were not worth the paper they’re written on.” When Horak was at home, Sankey said most of the conversation revolved around the Holocaust and what it means to be Jewish.
“She went through these unimaginable horrors, but more than anything she just got on with it. There was no victim mentality. She came to Australia with her family all dead, no money, no government assistance and only three months later.