Cafe Scheherazade: 25th Anniversary
Description
For the thousands of Holocaust survivors who made their way to Melbourne, building and maintaining community was central to their new lives. For some, Melbourne provided them with the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and colleagues; for others, it allowed them to forge new connections. Central to so many of them was one particular location: a cafe on Acland street, where one could purchase Eastern European Jewish food, converse freely in Yiddish, Polish and Russian, and sit for hours on end. A moving tribute to the indomitable strength of our survivors, Arnold Zable's Cafe Scheherazade, which explores in detail the rich history of this iconic establishment, is now celebrating 25 years in print. To mark this auspicious occasion, Melbourne Holocaust Museum is hosting a panel discussion in which the legacy of this cafe will be explored, and at which visitors will be able to celebrate its enduring impact.
This event will also feature a live reading, performed by Jim Daly.
Image | Survivors at Cafe Scheherazade c.1990s. Facing the camera is Mendel Goldberg. MHM 2095 / Moshe Fiszman Collection.
Lineup
Arnold Zable
Arnold Zable is an acclaimed Australian writer, novelist, human rights advocate, and recipient of the 2021 Australia Council Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature. His books include Jewels and Ashes, Café Scheherazade, The Fig Tree, Scraps of Heaven, Sea of Many Returns, Violin Lessons, The Fighter, The Glass Horse of Venice and most recently, The Watermill — a quartet of tales exploring themes of survival, humanity, and resistance spanning the globe. He has a doctorate from the School of Creative Arts, University of Melbourne, and in 2025 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Melbourne for services to literature, multiculturalism and human rights.
Jim Daly
JIM DALY is a Green Room and Helpmann-awarded veteran of screen (100 credits) and stage (150+ plays) including La Mama (8:16 Vodka Syndrome), MTC (Arturo Ui), Malthouse (Macbeth – an Undoing), Belvoir (Natural Life), and national tours of Cosi and Hello, Goodbye, and Happy Birthday. A qualified teacher, Jim has Masters in Educational Administration and Applied Linguistics, and a PhD in theatre and performance, researching grotesque performance. He authored Scenes Seen: An Actor’s Life in Australia (2025).
Professor John Zeleznikow
John Zeleznikow is a Professor of Law and Technology at La Trobe University and conducts research at University of Granada and Bar Ilan University. He has published several articles on the Holocaust, and on how Cafe Scheherazade suppoerted survivors. John worked in the cafe for ten years, during which time he lived above it.
Eva Zeleznikow
Eva Zeleznikow is the Visitor Experience Manager at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum. She is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors Avram and Masha Zeleznikow and will represent the third generation in this panel discussion. Eva graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work with Honours from RMIT University in 2018. Her Honours thesis explored intergenerational Holocaust trauma among second- and third-generation survivors and its implications for social work. From 2018 to 2021, Eva worked as an Activities Facilitator and Social Worker at Jewish Care Victoria, where she worked closely with Holocaust survivors and developed programs that provided opportunities to share and preserve their life stories and experiences. Eva recently completed an MA in Holocaust Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel. As part of her studies, she interned at the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum and Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies in Israel, and completed her final internship at the House of the Wannsee Conference, a memorial and educational site in Berlin.
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