Tuvia Lipson rolls up his shirt sleeve to reveal the number 131835 – the figure that became his identity as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in World War II.
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The 91-year-old Holocaust survivor does this every time he shares his story for the Courage to Care exhibition – as he did at Wangaratta High School.
Mr Lipson does not go into details about his experience, but there’s one story he considers particularly powerful – told to him by a woman he met whose family housed a Jewish girl in secret.
“After two and a half years, a soldier came in and said, ‘We know you are keeping a Jewish girl here – if you don’t give her to us you will be killed’,” he said.
“No one said a word, so they shot her mother.
“The officer said to the father, ‘I'm giving you one last chance’, but the father kept quiet, so they shot the father.
“The officer said to the soldier walking out, ‘kill the girl’.
“He couldn’t do it – he shot at the ceiling so the officer outside was assured the girl was killed.”
These stories are the basis of the Courage to Care program, which has toured Australia since 1994 and aims to “empower students to stand up against prejudice, racism and bullying”.
Co-ordinator Les Kausman said students across the North East would visit an interactive exhibition based on the Holocaust and survivors, on display at WHS until Friday, June 3.
“If there is one thing students will remember of their school career, it’s hearing the testimony of a Holocaust survivor,” he said.
“The program carries these messages to the youth of the day to graduate from bystanders to up-standers in the face of injustice.”
Tuesday’s exhibition opening also featured key-note speaker, Wangaratta doctor Prue Keith and the presentation of a “local hero” award to Daniel Cowan.
Mr Cowan said he was shocked to receive the award for humanitarian work in 2013.
“I went to the Philippines and, in the second week I was there, there was a 7.2-magnitude earthquake and big typhoon that killed 6000 plus people,” he said.
“I was lucky enough to get involved in relief work in the directly affected areas.
“It was pretty confronting, seeing some pretty horrible things, that challenged me as a human being.
“I’m not a hero – I’m just a guy who did what I thought was right.”
