Interview with Bernard Kezelman
Object numberM2026/086
TitleInterview with Bernard Kezelman
CreatorSydney Jewish Museum (interviewed by)
DescriptionInterview with Bernard Kezelman conducted by the Sydney Jewish Museum for the Serving Australia military exhibition.
This interview was completed in 2009 and has a running time of 46 minutes.
To access this interview, please contact collections@sjm.com.au.
Bernard was born in London on 1 Aug 1923. His father, Aaron Kezelman, got a position at the Great Synagogue and at age 13 the family emigrated to Australia. Bernard was first called up at the age of to fight in the militia but wanted to serve overseas so at the age of 19 on 27 July 1942 he enlisted in the AIF.
After a few months of training he was sent to New Guinea as part of a mobile anti-aircraft unit. After a while Kezelman was transferred to anti-aircraft radar. He remembers the difficult conditions, poor food and health conditions as well as being bombed and strafed prior to the Japanese invasion being rebuffed at Buena and Gona.
With the arrival of the American forces Kezelman became much more attentive to his Jewish identity and began attending Friday night services which they held. He also describes celebrating the Jewish Holy Days as some of the positive memories of his experience.
Kezelman was fairly good at maths and the slide rule so he was transferred to a meteorological division. They would be in charge of finding out the velocity and direction of winds at different heights would be passed along to operations to plan how much petrol would be needed etc He was discharged on 2 July 1946 with the rank of Bombardier.
This interview was completed in 2009 and has a running time of 46 minutes.
To access this interview, please contact collections@sjm.com.au.
Bernard was born in London on 1 Aug 1923. His father, Aaron Kezelman, got a position at the Great Synagogue and at age 13 the family emigrated to Australia. Bernard was first called up at the age of to fight in the militia but wanted to serve overseas so at the age of 19 on 27 July 1942 he enlisted in the AIF.
After a few months of training he was sent to New Guinea as part of a mobile anti-aircraft unit. After a while Kezelman was transferred to anti-aircraft radar. He remembers the difficult conditions, poor food and health conditions as well as being bombed and strafed prior to the Japanese invasion being rebuffed at Buena and Gona.
With the arrival of the American forces Kezelman became much more attentive to his Jewish identity and began attending Friday night services which they held. He also describes celebrating the Jewish Holy Days as some of the positive memories of his experience.
Kezelman was fairly good at maths and the slide rule so he was transferred to a meteorological division. They would be in charge of finding out the velocity and direction of winds at different heights would be passed along to operations to plan how much petrol would be needed etc He was discharged on 2 July 1946 with the rank of Bombardier.
Production placeSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Production date 2009-11-10 - 2009-11-10
Production period21st Century
SubjectGreat Synagogue, education, immigration, home front, Australian Imperial Force, armed forces, living conditions, Judaism, holidays
Object nametestimonies
Materialdigital
Dimensions
- duration: 46.00 min
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum collection, interview with Bernard Kezelman.
Transferred from SJM Community Stories.