5
April
As time passes The Holocaust of World War II moves further into the pages of history. The tragedies and atrocities are at risk of becoming facts, figures and statistics on a page taught to disinterested students who would rather be at the beach than in a stuffy classroom. Eighty-one-year-old human rights activist Halina Wagowska counters this [...]
5
April
I am sure that many of us have played that game when out and about, where you wonder about the lives of the people sitting opposite you on the train or next to you in a doctor’s surgery. But no matter how fervent our imaginations, real life always manages to trump it. In her [...]
4
April
Halina Wagowska’s The Testimony is a memoir comprised of a series of recollections of her experiences as a Jew in holocaust, to her time settling in Australia and her humanitarian efforts. Although the stories span many years the unifying thread is that each story focuses on prejudice, managing to juxtapose the darkness that exists inside [...]
4
April
Discussing the war is an ongoing issue for Holocaust survivor Halina Wagowska. Not just because of her own emotional discomfort, but for other reasons as well. The horror she is sharing with others, the fact that a lack of shared experiences makes comprehension almost impossible, and the fact that she struggles with the sympathy and [...]
26
March
Halina Wagowska has lived an incredible life that would make for a great work of fiction; if it wasn’t all true. From surviving the atrocities of Auschwitz to helping Black Saturday victims, you will read The Testimony and find yourself on a rollercoaster of emotion: you will feel sad, angry, confused and uplifted at the [...]
19
March
Halina Wagowska’s experiences as a young Jewish child in Poland– leading inexorably to ghetto life and transportation to death-camp horrors of the Third Reich – up to her emigration to Australia and subsequent life as a ‘refo’ are the basis for this collection of autobiographical fragments. The book’s title refers to a deal the author [...]
16
March
I’m the kind of person who cries watching sad advertisements, so as a general rule I tend to steer clear of tear-jerking non-fiction. With that said, my Polish heritage has created a significant interest in the Holocaust and the genocide of World War II, and it was with great interest that I read 81 year-old [...]
14
March
Halina Wagowska, author of The Testimony, joined Richard Stubbs in the 774 ABC Melbourne studio “Sometimes in this job we’re lucky enough to be touched by truly remarkable people. On Wednesday, that’s exactly what happened when Halina Wagowska came in to tell us her story. She’s remarkable for a number of reasons, but what strikes you most [...]
8
March
Halina Wagowska, survivor of Auschwitz and Stutthof, speaks with Howard Sattler about her time in the concentration camps and why she had to write The Testimony. Interview on 6PR 882
8
March
With The Testimony 81 year old Holocaust survivor and humanitarian Halina has put a human face and a personal touch to one of the world’s greatest shames, taking us into her world, a world shattered by war and ignorance and hate. Halina claims early in the book that she is not a ‘writer’ but let [...]