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Memorial service held for murdered Australian Jew

March 21, 2010

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – A memorial service was held in Australia for the son of a Holocaust survivor whose body was found a few weeks ago.

Some 300 friends and relatives attended the service last week for John Garda, a businessman in the coastal town of Byron Bay, about 800 miles north of Sydney.

Two brothers have been charged over his alleged murder. Garda, 54, was last seen on Feb. 8; his body was found by police on Feb. 27 buried in the sand about 30 yards down a walking track, according to local media reports. His body was transferred to Sydney for a post-mortem.

Rabbi Moshe Serebryanski, a Chabad rabbi who serves the area, told J-Wire, a local Jewish Web site, that Garda had “readily identified himself as being Jewish.”

Garda’s mother, who survived the Holocaust, lives in a Jewish aged-care facility in Sydney. The Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney, which is part of the Progressive movement, listed Garda among their death notices this week.

Byron Bay is home to a growing Jewish community comprised mainly of expatriate Israelis and Jews from Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne who have opted for a quieter life.
 

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