Since then, Italians in Italy and abroad have commemorated the victims of the Holocaust on January 27, the day Soviet troops broke down the gates of Auschwitz.

For several years now, the Italian Cultural Institute (IIC) in Sydney has partnered with the Great Synagogue of Sydney to organise events that unite the Italian and Jewish communities.

Past events include the screening of Mauro Caputo’s film L’orologio di Monaco about Giorgio Pressburger, conferences by Marco Sonzogni, Alice Loda and Rabbi Dr Benjamin Elton, and talks by Italian hero Giorgio Perlasca, Ambassador of Italy to Australia Francesca Tardioli, Dr Simon Holloway and Rabbi Elton.

To mark this year’s Giorno della memoria, the IIC and the Great Synagogue have organised a conference which, due to the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be held virtually via Zoom.

Titled ‘The Holocaust and the psyche – victim, executioner, spectator, beneficiary’, the event will be focused on the psychology of the Shoah.  

Associate professor Michael Robertson from the University of Sydney will deliver the keynote speech, providing an explanation of the differing roles psychology played in the Holocaust, as well as a review of the post-war psyche in Germany.

Robertson will also discuss the current challenges posed by intergenerational trauma to children of survivors and perpetrators of the Shoah.

Robertson earned his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of New South Wales in 1991, a Fellowship from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 1997, and a PhD from the University of Sydney in 2009.

He currently holds the position of visiting professorial fellow at the Sydney Jewish Museum.

Rabbi Elton will continue the event, providing a perspective from a leader in the Jewish community.

Rabbi Elton has been chief rabbi and first celebrant at the Great Synagogue since 2015.

He holds a Master of History from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Jewish History from the University of London.

He is the author of numerous articles on Anglo-Jewish and Australian religious history and is an Orthodox rabbinic advisor to leading institutions.

The online event will be held on January 27 at 6:00 pm via Zoom.

For more information, visit the website.