The eve of the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazism in Europe (May 8) was the occasion for the holding of the Abraham and Heintje Eisenberg Memorial Lecture, entitled "The Sephardic Jewish Diaspora in the Mediterranean and Beyond" at the Sala Isouard of the Manoel Theatre.

In his opening remarks, Dr Carmel Vassallo, of the Mediterranean Institute of the University of Malta, noted that the 20th century had seen the demise of both the Sephardic Jewish communities of North Africa and the Middle East, and, in a much more dramatic and brutal manner, of the Ashkenazi Jewish world that had existed in Europe before World War II.

In dedicating the evening to the victims of the Holocaust, or Shoah, Dr Vassallo noted that it was important not to forget others, such as the Armenians, who had also been subject to genocidal policies, and called on European governments to do more to put a stop to the tragedy unfolding in Darfur.

Tito Mesod Benady, MBE, was the first speaker for the evening. Entrusted with the Herculean task of recounting the story of the Sephardim in less than half an hour, Mr Benady highlighted, in particular, the role of Phoenician converts to Judaism in the spread of the Jewish Diaspora around the Mediterranean, for long the area where most Jews were to be found.

The second speaker for the evening was Aline P'nina Tayar, who looked at the odyssey of the members of a Maltese Sephardic family, the Tayars, as they established themselves around the Mediterranean and beyond.

The evening ended with a reception accompanied by Judeo-Spanish music, attended by many distinguished local and foreign guests, including the German Ambassador, Georg Mertn, and Catharina Harvey, granddaughter of Abraham and Heintje Eisenberg, who died at Auschwitz.