Past Programs
World War 2 - 2008
Lucie Pollak Langford
13/11/2008
In 1942, 16-year-old Lucie Pollak was rounded up with her Jewish family and transported from her native Czechoslovakia to a Nazi work camp in the east of Poland.
Amid the horror of her daily life, she met and fell in love with a Polish boy named Jan and together they planned her escape. Lucie tells the 50-year-old story of their courageous love and her desperate bid for freedom.
Maestro Tommy Tycho
23/10/2008
Over half a century Maestro Tommy Tycho has built a reputation as one of Australia's most respected musical directors. He has worked with showbiz greats such as Sammy Davis Jr and Shirley Bassey, performed for royalty, composed scores for films and television, and conducted some of the finest philharmonic orchestras in the country.
He traces the path of his musical success from its origins in Budapest before the Second World War, where he crouched under his parents' piano listening to the gathered artists talk and perform; to working as a storeman in post-war Australia.
Oriel Grey
09/10/2008
In the late 1930s and 1940s, playwright Oriel Gray was a bright star in Sydney's bohemian literary and artistic milieu. She began her long career writing political revues and plays for the New Theatre, which operated under the stern patronage of the Communist Party of Australia.
Oriel Gray recalls her childhood, her interest in writing and the stage, and her wartime years involved in radical theatre -- a time of rare unity for the Australian left as they came together in the fight against fascism.
Oriel Grey died in July 2003.
John Ross: the Silhouette Man
02/10/2008
With just a pair of scissors, a sheet of black paper and nimble hands, John Ross has been cutting silhouettes for 65 years. From Detroit's Put-in-Bay Steamer to the humid tents of WW2 Philippines to the Australian agricultural show circuit, John takes us on a colourful journey of his life.
Edward Oleszkiewicz Part 2
12/06/2008
Towards the end of the Second World War Edward Oleszkiewicz piloted Lancaster bombers out of Britain. Later when he migrated to Australia he had some interesting encounters with Australian officials who attempted to expel him to East Germany, even though he had fought for the Allies.
In 1943, at the age of 21, he was recruited into the Polish Air Force and trained in Britain as a bomber pilot. Edward's missions flew over Hamburg and Bremen, cities that were already destroyed. By 1944 he claims they were needlessly dropping surplus bombs.
After the war he was given 10 minutes to decide whether to emigrate to Australia. He took his chances here and worked for the Hydro Electric Scheme in Tasmania. However when the authorities would not allow him to socialise with guests at his work camp he and his workmates quit. This led to the threat by the Department of Immigration to send them back to East Germany. After they proved that they had fought for the Allies they were allowed to stay, and Edward went to work at Woomera Rocket Range.
He spent most of his life in Opossum Bay, Tasmania, where he used his skills in building and electronics to make a living. There, under the shadow of Mt Wellington, he was also able to pursue his passion for landscape painting.
Edward Oleszkiewicz Part 1
05/06/2008
Edward Oleszkiewicz had many adventures as a teenager fighting in The Middle East during the second world war. While it was a matter of life, death and harsh conditions he managed to have some laughs as well.
His parents were Polish, although he grew up in Romania. In 1940 he fled the invading Nazi army by being smuggled onto a boat which eventually led him to Haifa, where he joined The Polish Carpathian Brigade.
He fought as a rat of Tobruk, alongside the Australians, under General Leslie Morshead. This required keeping your head down and your wits about you, as they were constantly under seige.
There Edward gained the nickname 'Grenade Eddie' because of his fondness for using hand grenades in all sorts of situations. He also witnessed a memorable encounter between an Australian gunner and a British captain that saw the gunner affectionately call the captain 'Shorty Pants'.
After the war the Australian government invited these Polish Rats of Tobruk to immigrate to Australia because of the relationship they formed on the battlefield with the Australian soldiers.
