I would like to share with you an excerpt from the speech that I gave at Presentation Evening.

“To our Year 12 graduates, as I look out at you now during your last official King David moment I am taken to something very personal. Some of the staff would be familiar with some of the following but I’d like to share it with all of you tonight.

In 1938, my late grandfather, Kurt Lippmann, was perhaps the last Jewish high school graduate in his home city of Hamburg in Germany. He did not graduate in a public hall like this because it was already illegal for a Jew to be in a similar venue. In fact, later that year, a decree was passed which banned all Jewish students from attending school altogether.

The fact that he was able to graduate at all while the Nazi party increasingly placed restrictions on the lives of Jews was only thanks to some kindness, risk taking and ingenuity.

Kurt was a highly disciplined and studious young man who took his studies very seriously. His schooling was undertaken during the period when the Nuremberg laws caused the progressive erosion of human rights for Jews and laid the conditions for the Shoah.

In 1933, all Jewish teachers were dismissed from schools and universities in Germany. By 1936, it was estimated that 32% of teachers in Germany were members of the Nazi party. By 1938, principals were encouraged to dismiss those that were thought to be anti-Nazi and teachers were regularly informed upon if they did not seem to be suitably enamored with Hitler or the Nazi regime.

So this was the context in which my grandfather faced his final exams. If there was one thing that the Nazis did not want in 1938, it was a Jew topping the year level.

He was highly suspicious that the school administration would do what it could to fail him. This nearly came to fruition when he was preparing for his German history exam which was an oral examination.

In the corridor on the day before his oral examination Kurt walked past his teacher who offered him a cryptic remark. He said something to the effect of “Lippmann, these are very interesting times that we are living in. So much is changing.” Now, young Kurt racked his brain trying to interpret what his teacher was telling him.

Just a few months prior, Germany had annexed neighbouring Austria with what was referred to as the Anschluss. Kurt interpreted the ‘so much is changing’ reference to be a clue that he should study Austrian history rather than the German history that had made up the entirety of the curriculum. He spent the night swotting and sure enough, every question on his exam focused on Austria even though it had not been taught. To the consternation of the school leadership, Kurt passed his exam and achieved his graduation.

Kurt experienced another kindness. By 1938, it was forbidden for Jews to attend parks, restaurants, swimming pools, and beaches. The end of year graduation party was scheduled to be in a restaurant but when the class realised that Kurt could not attend, they decided to move the celebration to a private home so that he could. So Kurt was not only able to graduate but was able to do so alongside his classmates, many of whom were wearing their Hitler Youth uniforms.

What do we take from this story? I do not share it to tell you that you are so lucky to live in a time where you have been able to take for granted the protection of your basic rights. That should be obvious to you.

Fred Kok, who I will speak of later, has often encouraged you to harness the power of one – that moment where someone musters the courage to stand up for what truly matters. 

It sometimes happens on the tram, sometimes on the sporting field and sometimes on social media. The point is you can all take a risk to make someone’s life better.I think about the risk that my grandfather’s teacher took in giving him that hint. I think about the classmates of my grandfather who refused to acquiesce to the dehumanisation of Jews that had become so normalised.
I hope that each of you are graduating with the requisite values and courage to know when you need to stand up and I trust that you will do so.
I am also perplexed by the fact that presumably many of these classmates would have gone on to become soldiers and some may have been actively involved in the liquidation and systematic murder of Jews throughout Europe. How did they go from shifting their celebration to accommodate Kurt, to being representatives of the greatest evil known to humanity? How do we reconcile this?

These classmates, like you, received what was considered to be the best of education on offer. It is well documented that Germany offered extensive opportunities in culture, music, theatre, art, philosophy and science.
I guess my point is that a great academic education is not enough. While what you have studied is undoubtedly important – it is who you are that really counts. Each of us has great power to be a force of good in our immediate relationships and in our communities. 

Just over a year ago, the “Happiest Man on Earth”, Eddie Jaku passed away. Eddie was born in Germany in the same year as my grandfather. Despite his terrible experiences during the Shoah, Eddie decided to be a positive influence wherever he could. He said:  “Your efforts today will affect people you will never know. It is your choice whether that effect is positive or negative. You can choose every day, every minute, to act in a way that may uplift a stranger, or else drag them down. The choice is easy. And it is yours to make.”

So Class of 2022, your adoring teachers and school community have tried to endow you with the virtues and gifts to make a difference in your world. I encourage you to go out and make great choices.”