Holocaust Centre founder Woolf dies
Inge Woolf, a child survivor of the Holocaust and co-founder of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, has died, aged in her late 80s.
A survivor and a former refugee, Woolf was born in 1934 in Vienna, Austria, but moved to Prague, then England, and then to New Zealand in 1957 in her early 20s.
With her husband, Wellington-born Ronald, she established Wellington’s premier photographic studio, Photography by Woolf. Ron died in a helicopter crash in 1987.
Inge served as the Wellington president of Zonta – an international organisation for advancing the status of women – as well as at Arthritis New Zealand, where she served as national president.
In 1990, she was awarded the Medal for Community Service, and in 1993, she was awarded the Queen’s Service Order for community service.
She was a 2019 finalist in the Women of Influence Awards – Community Hero category, and more recently was a finalist for the Welly Awards for community service.
She established the Holocaust Centre with a group of survivors, refugees and descendants, and remained an active fundraiser and educator until her death.
She shared her story with thousands of students and members of the public over the years, encouraging them to stand up for what was right, to speak out against prejudice and discrimination, and empowering them to know that hate starts small. But mostly, she wanted people to remember the lessons and victims of the Holocaust.
She remembered the swastikas going up in Vienna to welcome Hitler’s troops to the city, and brown-shirted men running down her street.
But mostly she remembered the fear, which stayed with her for her whole life, a knot in her stomach when she thought about that time.
She previously told Stuff: ‘‘We are a long way away from what happened in distance and in time, but it’s important for people to learn the lessons, recognise the signs like the ones we are seeing now. It’s important for them to stand up and be counted.’’