Interview with Maurice Kriss
Object numberM2026/088
TitleInterview with Maurice Kriss
CreatorSydney Jewish Museum (interviewed by)
DescriptionInterview with Maurice Kriss conducted by the Sydney Jewish Museum for the Serving Australia military exhibition.
This interview was completed in 2010 and has a running time of 32 minutes.
To access this interview, please contact collections@sjm.com.au.
Maurice Kriss was born in London in 1937. His family migrated to Australia in 1947. Kriss describes having a troubled upbringing and being forced to leave at age 12 which resulted in him enlisting in the Merchant Navy at age 13.
In 1954 Kriss joined the Australian Navy and was part of the Gunnery branch. He served in served in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency as well as the Korean War.
Kriss gives an anecdote of what it was like being on a ship with 3000 servicemen and when being divided by religion he was the only Jew. One of the commanders had read that on Fridays Jews were supposed to walk to synagogue and made Kriss walk to the closest shul which was 9 hours away.
This interview was completed in 2010 and has a running time of 32 minutes.
To access this interview, please contact collections@sjm.com.au.
Maurice Kriss was born in London in 1937. His family migrated to Australia in 1947. Kriss describes having a troubled upbringing and being forced to leave at age 12 which resulted in him enlisting in the Merchant Navy at age 13.
In 1954 Kriss joined the Australian Navy and was part of the Gunnery branch. He served in served in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency as well as the Korean War.
Kriss gives an anecdote of what it was like being on a ship with 3000 servicemen and when being divided by religion he was the only Jew. One of the commanders had read that on Fridays Jews were supposed to walk to synagogue and made Kriss walk to the closest shul which was 9 hours away.
Production placeSydney, New South Wales, Australia
Production date 2010-02-05
Production period21st Century
Subjectantisemitism, Jewish education, merchant navy, Royal Australian Navy, Malayan Emergency (1948-1960), Jewish diaspora
Object nametestimonies
Materialdigital
Dimensions
- duration: 32.05 min
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum collection, interview with Maurice Kriss.
Transferred from SJM Community Stories.