Elise Hawthorne
Fleeing the Nazis, Eva with her parents Fritz and Margaret Stern arrived in Sydney in January 1939. Back in Vienna, Eva’s father was an active member of the Social Democratic Party; becoming a fugitive of the Nazis after the Anschluss (union) of Austria in 1938, annexing the smaller nation into a greater Germany. Once landing in Sydney, Eva’s family, along with thousands of other Jewish European refugees, were helped by the Australian Jewish Welfare Society, today called JewishCare. Eva and her parents moved around, following her father’s work as a well-respected mechanical engineer, settling in New Zealand before returning to Sydney in 1949.
In 1952 Eva married Paul Engel, settling down to domestic bliss, having two children Roger and Carrie. The Engel family was living safe and comfortable lives, when in the mid-1970s Eva and Paul decided to establish a regular youth discussion group At the Engels, organising monthly meetings at their home in Sydney’s Double Bay. These events gave hundreds of Jewish youth the opportunity to meet in a European salon-style setting, Eva and Paul aiming to foster an atmosphere of learning, listening and discussion. Sadly Paul passed away in 2001, he is very much missed by his family and friends, Eva saying that they were a “real partnership.” Growing up politically aware thanks to her parents and having survived the Nazis, Eva knew of the importance of speaking out and sharing her own and others stories. As a young girl, Eva remembers the movie newsreels showing the British liberating the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and feeling that “it could have been me.”
In the mid-1980s, Eva established the Second Generation Group, the first of its kind in Sydney. Members participated in the 1985 inaugural Reunion of Survivors Conference, held at the University of New South Wales. Out of that, Eva along with others realised that there was a need to establish a Child Survivors of the Holocaust group in Sydney, to provide support and a safe environment for child Holocaust Survivors. Eva was also involved at the genesis of the Sydney Jewish Museum and is still an active volunteer, once a guide, she now speaks to school children, continuing to share her story.
In the 1990s Eva was instrumental in establishing the B’nai B’rith Singers choir, which ran for over 20 years. Eva was also involved in Project Heritage, a NSW Board of Jewish Education initiative where Holocaust survivors pass on their life stories to school children; becoming “living historians.” Out of that, the Custodian Group was formed. Eva was also involved in the early stages of Courage to Care, recruiting volunteers; the backbone of this unique program.
Deservedly awarded an OAM in 2001, Eva is always looking towards the future. She would dearly love to form a group of elders comprised of members of the Stolen Generations and child Holocaust Survivors, with the aim of them speaking to young Australians, fostering greater empathy for the lives of others – a reoccurring theme of Eva’s incredible life journey to date.
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