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Tuesday, 11 November 2014

Earlier this year UWA graduate Jenny Shub received an Order of Australia Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours for her ongoing work in Holocaust education and awareness.

More than twenty years ago Jenny became involved with the Holocaust Institute of WA, believing time was running out for WA Holocaust survivors whose unrecorded stories were too valuable a part of history to be lost. Her daughter-in-law Alice Shub (née Nelson) says Jenny spent hundreds of hours visiting their homes and recording their stories.

"Her support and counselling led many who had never been able to speak about their wartime experiences to tell their stories. She also worked tirelessly to identify those ordinary citizens who risked their lives to rescue Jews during the Holocaust, coordinating the process for several individuals now living in Australia to be acknowledged at the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem," says Alice. [Alice studied creative writing at UWA and is the author of The Last Sky (Fremantle Press) short listed for The Australian/Vogel Literary Award.]

"I was so very lucky to be born in Australia," says the graduate, "and have always felt that the Jews of Europe were extended family - indeed some of them were." says Jenny.Jenny's grandfather came to Australia from Russia and hoped to create a better life for his children. Both of Jenny's parents won scholarships to Perth Modern School and later studied at UWA, her father being among the early Irwin Street students.

After leaving Perth College at 16, Jenny worked for a year in the Zoology Department and it was there that she was encouraged to enrol. She studied Arts, was a Hockey Blue and secretary to the Arts Union while her brother David studied Law and played cricket and football for the University.

When Jenny and her brother graduated, they became further links in the family's UWA chain, and since then additional links have been added by her sons Danny and David, and by grandchildren - one currently studying engineering while his brother graduated two years ago. So the family now has four generations of UWA graduates.

Jenny was on the Guild Council in 1947 and still has a framed photograph of the members of that year, some of whom became well-known identities. She studied philosophy and psychology at UWA, and had a 40-year career as an educational psychologist.

Today, she is still drawn back to the campus for reunions. "I still have such affection for the place..." she says.

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