The Indigo Valley resident, who was raised a Jew, had been forced to wear the Star of David by Nazis before going into seclusion in Rotterdam with a Christian family.

Carrying that heartache Mr Hymans arrived in Wodonga in 1986 after having emigrated to the US and then Australia in 1971.

But despite his ordeal, the Dutchman willingly told his story, first in a self-published 1994 book Treasures from the Attic and then through talks to the region's school children.

Mr Hymans died on Friday, just shy of his 94^th birthday, and his funeral will be held at Wodonga cemetery on Thursday.

But, on his orders, mourners will not be donning black.

“He hated black and he had been a Christian for many years and he said ‘I know where I'm going – it's not a sad time, it's a celebration’,” youngest child Ruth Oates said.

Mr Hymans’ shift from Judaism to Christianity was forged in World War II during a stay in hospital.

“I saw an insight and my eyes were opened,” Mr Hymans told The Border Mail in 1987.

“The Jews were waiting for a messiah that the Christians knew had already come.”

Having been “caged” in the attic of a Rotterdam Christian home for 22 months, Mr Hymans emerged with a girlfriend Johanna who was to become his wife but he was restricted.

“I couldn't walk straight – I walked like a drunk,” he said.

“It made me feel sick and immediately I wanted to go back inside.”

It was after the death of Johanna in 1986, that Mr Hymans began his book, rising before dawn to type up his memories.

It led to talks at schools with the photographer recalling to students the destruction of his homeland. 

“I tell them the story of Rotterdam, which was heavily bombarded, bombed mercilessly,” he said in 2013.

“Three times the size of Wodonga burned down after the bombardment.”

Mr Hymans had four children Liz, Philip, Dorcas and Ruth, 15 grandchildren and 23 grandchildren.

“I have been blessed – we have four doctors, two nurses, an anaesthetist, and now I'm just looking for a car mechanic,” he joked in 2013.

Grandson William Oates has written a eulogy for Thursday’s funeral which reflects on the legacy that has emerged from his Opa’s wartime bolthole.

“Joy that can bloom in the midst of the Holocaust, hope that is not dimmed by death, love that reaches across the ages to unite – these are the treasures Opa found in that attic that I will for ever be most thankful for,” William penned.