Ernest Friedlander OAM has spent his life spreading peace.
A Holocaust survivor, he uses his extraordinary story of being saved by a German soldier to help change attitudes towards racism and prejudice.
Ernest is founder of the Moving Forward Together Association (MFTA), a Sydney-based social initiative aimed at creating better understanding.
After a 60 per cent spike in racist incidents early in the pandemic, the NSW Governor launched the Stop Racism Now campaign in 2021 teaching individuals how to combat racism. With their track record in designing effective programs aimed at fostering communal harmony, MFTA created the 2023 Stop Racism Now social media outreach campaign. It won the NSW Premier’s Multicultural Award for Community Campaign of the Year.
Ernest received an Order of Australia in 2007 for his services in combatting prejudice, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors in 2022.