24^th September 2014
On 28 September, the Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry hosted a memorial event  and the unveiling of a monument in honour of the victims of the Babi Yar Massacre in Kiev, one of the largest single massacres of Jews during the Holocaust, and a seminal moment in the history of the Jewish people.
The event was co-organised with the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, the Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe, the Sydney Jewish Museum, and the Aus­trali­an Asso­ci­ation of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Des­cend­ants.
We extend our sincere appre­ci­ation to the Federal Member for Wentworth and Minister for Com­mu­nic­a­tion the Hon­our­able Malcolm Turnbull for deliv­er­ing a moving speech and unveiling the monument with the Mayor of Waverley, Sally Betts. We also warmly thank the Federal Member for Sydney and the Deputy Leader of the Oppos­i­tion and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Inter­na­tion­al Devel­op­ment the Hon­our­able Tanya Plibersek for her powerful words.
The community is deeply appre­ci­at­ive to the federal, state and local rep­res­ent­at­ives who attended the event, and by doing so, demon­strated their com­mit­ment to fighting anti-Semitism and under­stand­ing the history of the Jewish people. We take comfort in the knowledge that our political leaders are united in their oppos­i­tion to antisemitism and in their support for Holocaust com­mem­or­a­tion and education.
We wish to acknow­ledge the Member for Kingsford Smith the Hon­our­able Matt Thistleth­waite, Senator for New South Wales Sam Dastyari, the Member for Vaucluse the Hon­our­able Gabrielle Upton, the Member for Coogee Bruce Notley-Smith (who was also rep­res­ent­ing the Premier of New South Wales), the Hon­our­able Walt Secord MLC (who was also rep­res­ent­ing the leader of the NSW Oppos­i­tion), the Mayor of Waverley Sally Betts and Coun­cil­lors Kay, Clayton, Goltsman, Guttman-Jones and Mouroukas, City of Sydney Coun­cil­lor Vithoul­kas (rep­res­ent­ing the Lord Mayor Clover Moore) and the Race Dis­crim­in­a­tion Com­mis­sion­er Dr Tim Sout­pom­masane.
The ECAJ also wishes to thank Mayor Sally Betts and Waverley Council for approving the erection of the monument at Council’s Memorial Gardens.

It is our sincere and solemn hope that those who survived or lost family at Babi Yar or in other massacres through­out the Soviet Union will draw strength from the knowledge that we will never forget what they endured.
Robert Goot AM SC,
President
For further inform­a­tion:
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au