Object numberM1992/008:005
DescriptionPhotograph of the speakers’ podium at the second conference of the Dror Zionist youth movement in Austria, held at the Bindermichl DP camp. Part of a collection of documents and photographs belonging to Holocaust survivor Max Schein, who spent time in displaced persons camps in Austria before immigrating to Australia in 1949.
Max Schein (formerly known as Moniek Himmelschein) was born in Warsaw, Poland on 15 January 1928 to Smol Goldstein and Chaya Himmelschein. He had two brothers, Yankele and Herzl, and two sisters, Yadviga and Chana. The family suffered great financial hardship and when their father Smol died when Max was only six months old, his mother was unable to support all her children. Yankele and Max were sent to orphanages until Max was age 10. Returning home, his childhood continued to be difficult. His mother could not work and often could not feed her family. He experienced frequent anti-Semitism throughout Junior school, often involving physical violence.
When war broke out the family escaped to a set of horse stables. They lived there for a month until the German occupation, when they were moved into what would become the Warsaw Ghetto. There was no running water or electricity and food was scarce. Max’s light hair and perfect Polish, learned through the orphanage, allowed him to pass as a non-Jew and move around Warsaw relatively easily. In mid-1940, Max tried to escape with his family but they became separated.
Max survived by moving from village to village over the next few years under false names. He suffered physical and sometimes sexual abuse by farmers and villagers in his search for food, work and clothing. At the end of the war Max returned to Warsaw to look for his family. He found that his brother Yankele was murdered in Auschwitz, but his mother and sisters survived.
Max Schein (formerly known as Moniek Himmelschein) was born in Warsaw, Poland on 15 January 1928 to Smol Goldstein and Chaya Himmelschein. He had two brothers, Yankele and Herzl, and two sisters, Yadviga and Chana. The family suffered great financial hardship and when their father Smol died when Max was only six months old, his mother was unable to support all her children. Yankele and Max were sent to orphanages until Max was age 10. Returning home, his childhood continued to be difficult. His mother could not work and often could not feed her family. He experienced frequent anti-Semitism throughout Junior school, often involving physical violence.
When war broke out the family escaped to a set of horse stables. They lived there for a month until the German occupation, when they were moved into what would become the Warsaw Ghetto. There was no running water or electricity and food was scarce. Max’s light hair and perfect Polish, learned through the orphanage, allowed him to pass as a non-Jew and move around Warsaw relatively easily. In mid-1940, Max tried to escape with his family but they became separated.
Max survived by moving from village to village over the next few years under false names. He suffered physical and sometimes sexual abuse by farmers and villagers in his search for food, work and clothing. At the end of the war Max returned to Warsaw to look for his family. He found that his brother Yankele was murdered in Auschwitz, but his mother and sisters survived.
Production date 1947
SubjectZionism, youth movements
Object namephotographs
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mr Max Schein