Holocaust survivor stories inspire schoolboy to create a lasting memorial

HOLOCAUST survivor Phillip Maisel has made good on a promise to “let the world know what happened” if he made it out alive. And teenager Kyle Morrish listened.

Student makes Holocaust sculpture

A KNACK for mechanics and sheer luck were the only things that saved Phillip Maisel in the Jewish ghettos and concentration camps of World War II.

The 92-year-old was living in Vilnius, Lithuania when the war broke out in 1939. Despite the hardships of living in one of the capital city’s ghettos, he was able to survive for five years before being deported to Germany.

Mr Maisel was first taken to Danzig, where he was held at the nearby Stutthof concentration camp and then at Dautmergen near Zollernalbkreis.

He worked as a motor mechanic, a trade he said made him valuable enough to keep alive.

“When I was in the Holocaust the chances of survival were very, very slim,” Mr Maisel said.

“I promised my friend that even if I survived for five minutes I would let the world know what happened and how much the Jewish people suffered.”

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Mr Maisel did survive. He was freed in April, 1945, remaining in Germany until his arrival Australia three years later.

Now living in Caulfield North, Mr Maisel made true on his promise when he began working at the Jewish Holocaust Centre, where he collects stories of Holocaust survivors for future generations, on retirement.

“I was very fortunate to survive and now I collect survivor’s stories,” he said.

“It’s amazing, because every survivor can be considered a miracle.”

These stories touched schoolboy Kyle Morrish so deeply he was inspired to pick up his tools to create a lasting memorial.

Kyle Morrish, 16, with his sculpture commemorating Holocaust survivors. Picture: Tanya Fry

The Cheltenham Secondary College 15-year-old spent months designing, shaping, welding and plating the sculpture now standing proudly at the Elsternwick centre.

The young history buff, who had always held a fascination with World War II, decided to act after visiting the centre, meeting Holocaust survivors like Mr Maisel and hearing their stories.

Kyle said he made sure his steel sculpture not only commemorated victims but showed the Jewish people’s endurance in the face of the horrors facing them in extermination camps.

“I loved that I got such a wonderful reaction when I handed it over, ” Kyle said.

Mr Maisel said the sculpture was “very impressive”.

“The most important thing is to teach people to love, not to hate ... to teach them tolerance, understanding and humanity,” he said.