Abraham Wajnryb, b. 1912, Kielce, Poland. Immigrated to Australia 1947, d. 1993.

Dr Abraham Wajnryb often spoke about “freedom and slavery”. Moral dilemmas that he faced as a young doctor in the Warsaw ghetto and the fear of his own inertia are issues he struggled with until his death in 1993. He would say that in the camps, every time a decision was made in someone’s favour, others were instantly jeopardised. “One certificate granting work meant ten others died,” he said. “One falsified paper protecting the identity of a treated underground member endangered many others.” For the young doctor compelled to make these awful ethical decisions, a major concern was still the preservation of human dignity.

l) Abraham Wajnryb as a young man
r) Abraham Wajnryb in Sydney

In the last days of the war, Abraham was one of 1000 camp inmates on a forced Death March from Estonia to Germany. During the last 3 nights of terror, he was certain he was being marched to death. But he was also sure that the guards’ eyes appeared afraid and defeated. When he noticed heavier retreating traffic and heard talk of French troops over the hill, he and his friends ran for the forest. Ironically, he says, “It was easier to change the status of a prisoner than to actually feel free.”

In 1947, Abraham and his wife Luisa migrated to Australia where they requalified as doctors and established themselves in medical practice. He always felt that it was important to speak about the Holocaust. Although tragic, he believed that it was a link in his children’s and his people’s history. In annual lectures which he gave in Israel, he would explore questions of morality and ethics as they relate to the Holocaust.

Read A. Wajnryb’s memoir (1988) They Marched Us Three Nights, Melbourne, Jewish Holocaust Centre