Non-Executive Director of SBS and former CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies (JBOD), Vic Alhadeff, has always been extremely proud of his Greek roots.
Speaking with The Greek Herald back in May 2021, Mr Alhadeff explained how not only was the Alhadeff family ‘one of the largest Jewish families on the Greek island of Rhodes,’ but both of his parents were also born there.
This all changed in 1938 – a year before World War II erupted.
Anti-Semitic decrees were passed in many parts of Europe banishing Jews from civil society. There were approximately 4,000 Jews living on Rhodes at the time and approximately half of them left for places such as the United States and South Africa.
Mr Alhadeff’s father, Salvatore, left Rhodes and went to Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia, with the aim of bringing out his parents, his teenage sisters aged 14 and 16, and his fiancé Becky.
READ MORE: NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO, Vic Alhadeff, on his passion for Greek causes.
“But then WWII erupted and he wasn’t able to bring them out. In 1943, German forces arrived on the island and in 1944 they sent the Jews who were still on Rhodes island to Auschwitz. That included my father’s parents, sisters and his fiancé,” Mr Alhadeff tells The Greek Herald.
“His parents were murdered at Auschwitz, his sisters both survived and what happened to Becky? He was told that she had been killed and she was told he had been killed.”
Approximately 40 years later, Salvatore was on holiday in Cape Town, South Africa, when he overheard his fiancé’s name in a restaurant.
Doing justice to his father’s story:
Whilst we won’t spoil what happens next, this true story of turmoil and upheaval is the main focus of Mr Alhadeff’s new play Torn Apart by War.
The play is the first act of a larger production titled, Letters From a Troubled Past, which will be performed at the ARA Darling Quarter Theatre in Sydney on March 17 -19 and at the Randwick Ritz in Sydney on April 3.
Ahead of its opening night, Mr Alhadeff admits he never even considered turning his father’s life into a play until he was encouraged by Sydney theatre producer, Moira Blumenthal.
Since then, Mr Alhadeff has spent the last two years writing the play and trying his best ‘to do justice’ to a father he loved but rarely saw. His parents divorced when he was a child and he was sent to boarding school in Zimbabwe whilst his dad relocated to Zaire.
“It’s been an intense journey because my father’s story was a story of turmoil, of upheaval in his life and then one also thinks about what could have happened if he had married the person he was engaged to. Everything would have been different,” Mr Alhadeff explains.
“Also… I’ve never written a play before and so inserting myself into my father’s story has been a pretty emotional experience and a very challenging one.”
Despite these challenges, Mr Alhadeff hopes his play will not only honour his father, but also the countless other Jewish stories of tragedy and loss from WWII.
“On a deeper level, I really want to raise awareness of the Holocaust and specifically, awareness of the Holocaust in Greece because it is not widely known,” he concludes.
A worthy cause which we look forward to learning more about at the launch of ‘Torn Apart by War’ on March 17 at the ARA Darling Quarter Theatre in Sydney. Bookings: moirablumentalproductions.com.au and jiff.com.au.
READ MORE: Hundreds from Sydney’s Greek community gather to commemorate the Greek Pontian genocide.
