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.
