Arnold Zable remembers Abram Goldberg’s epic life

Abram Goldberg died in Cabrini hospital on September 21. He was approaching his 101^st birthday.  I write my tribute on his shloshim, 30 days after his passing, marking an end to an intense period of mourning. In the secular adaptation, it is a time to look back and reflect on a life. And what an epic life Abram lived.

Born in Lodz, the youngest of four siblings, Abram’s life pivoted on a promise he made to his mother, on 29 August 1944, the day he arrived with her in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Do everything humanly possible to survive, she insisted,  before they were separated. Wherever you find yourself, tell the world happened to your family and to your people.

Abram fulfilled the promise. He spent his life bearing witness. He seized every chance he had to tell his story. He spoke at countless forums. He was a founding member of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum where he guided many thousands of school children and adults. Just weeks before his passing he was at the museum, still sharing his life’s journey. He spoke of his murdered father, mother, siblings, extended family. He spoke for the millions whose voices were silenced.

A lifelong member of the Jewish Labour Bund, Abram embodied its social democratic and egalitarian principles, and its emphasis on friendship and community. The Bund was family. I first met Abram when I was seven years old at a Bund gathering. I saw him for the final time 70 years later, two weeks before his passing. He lay in state at Cabrini hospital surrounded by his loved ones and a constant stream of visitors. He knew the end was near, but he cherished each remaining day, regardless.