Global award for Holocaust educator
News
After devoting his life to Holocaust education, Adelaide sculptor Andrew Steiner OAM says he is “humbled and honoured” to be a recipient of the inaugural Éva Fahidi Award which is named after a prominent Hungarian Holocaust survivor.
“It is deeply moving to receive an award named in honour of Éva Fahidi, whose voice and activism resonated around the world,” Mr Steiner (pictured) said during an interview at his Stonyfell studio.
The 92 year old is also a Holocaust survivor from Hungary and has spent more than four decades teaching the lessons of the Holocaust to thousands of people through school and university presentations, exhibitions and community engagement.
Éva Fahidi (1925-2023) wrote articles and lectured to youth groups at Auschwitz about the Holocaust. In 2011 she agreed to testify in the criminal trials of former concentration camp guards in Germany. She also published her memoirs and in her 90s attracted significant international media attention for participating in performances of a dance theatre play about her life.
The award features a small replica of a statue by Anikó Weiss and it sits on a wooden base created by Mr Steiner and a friend. While he was unable to attend the award presentation in Budapest, he gave an acceptance speech in Hungarian by Zoom.
Mr Steiner plans to display the award in the Adelaide Holocaust Museum which is scheduled to reopen to school visits this month and to the public later in the year.
The museum has received a $500,000 grant specifically for its education program. A major refurbishment of the building has tripled the floor space and new exhibitions will be installed after additional funding has been secured.
Mr Steiner said the museum, which is located in the Adelaide Archdiocese’s Fennescey House, was a great example of “interfaith collaboration” and a “shining light in the darkness we are currently experiencing”.
“With the extraordinary problems humanity is facing at the moment, it’s only through education and interfaith collaboration that we can hope to make some advances,” Mr Steiner said.
“It’s impossible for us to change the world but I guess it’s incremental and if we reach out to thousands of students annually, and achieve success with them, then we are fulfilling our tasks to work towards a better world than the one in which we entered into.
“Very many people have no idea that the Holocaust actually happened, so the role of the museum has never been more important that it is currently.”
Mr Steiner said his initial reaction to the Bondi shootings was “absolute devastation”.
“Weeping within because it really it’s a horrendous tragedy for the nation,” he said.
“Was I surprised? Not truly because of all the omissions prior to it and all the actions, and inactions, for two years that allowed it to happen.
“If people can do horrible things with impunity, of course it keeps encouraging them.
“This is a watershed, a turning point. Can we go from here very energetically to counter these various forces and problems?”.
