Jesse Lenn: a champion for community education

In 2017, you co-founded the non-profit, Youth Holocaust Education And Remembrance (HEAR), which aims to reduce hate by connecting young Australians with the memory of the Holocaust. How did this come about?

It was a long time ago now. There was a similar idea that existed already in Melbourne, along the lines of a ‘young friends of the Holocaust Museum’ group.

I was talking with a friend who knew someone involved in that group, and we realised there was a huge gap in the Sydney community. We got more friends together and started investigating further. It was in conversation with the Sydney Jewish Museum that we quickly confirmed there was a lack of a space for young adults that both commemorated the Holocaust and improved education and awareness around the topic.

That need was immediately proven in the first Youth HEAR event we put on, where, without any marketing, we had 80 young adults in a room hearing from Holocaust survivors. It really grew from there – lots of people were attracted to the idea, and wanted to get involved and volunteer their time.

I think it came down to being a great cause that lots of people believed in. We also based a lot of our work off the Gen17 survey results, which found people are connecting to their Judaism through the memory of the Holocaust.

Do you have Holocaust ancestry yourself?

Yes, on my mum’s side. Both of her parents were in the Holocaust.

What was your role within Youth HEAR?