Holocaust Memorial Day

27 January 2015

Why did I survive? Perhaps I

survived to keep the memory alive.
Holocaust survivor Iby Knill

Foreword
Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on 27 January. It is a time for everyone to
remember the attempted annihilation of Europes Jewish population, Europes
Roma and Sinti Gypsies, and the many other victims of Nazi
Persecution. HMD also highlights the importance of commemorating the
genocides that have happened subsequently in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia
and Darfur.
This years theme is Keep the Memory Alive', with today, 27 January 2015,
marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Today
also marks the 20th anniversary of the Genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia.
For that reason it is seen as particularly important that the theme for this major
anniversary year focuses on memory, to remember those who were murdered
and honour the survivors.
This booklet contains personal stories and reflections of why it is important to
keep the memory alive.
Special thanks goes to Gwen Lamb for sharing her stories, Kehilat
Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and
pupils from Macmillan Academy.

The Brush

A Man I met who lives in Nottingham, whose father bribed an SS General with a gold
ingot inside his brush. His father was a professor but was made to sweep streets.
He melted all the Gold owned by his wife and two sons and hid it inside this brush.
The brush was given to the SS General in exchange for smuggling them over the
Swiss Border- which he did!
Four members of the family were saved and settled in Nottingham.

-Gwen Lamb

Mum and Dads Wedding, In Leazes

Park Synagoue
-

Gwen Lamb

The Story of David Berger

David Berger was born around 1915, in Przemysl, in Southern Poland. He belonged
to Akiva Zionist Youth Movement and in 1939 he went to Vilnius, where Zionist youth
groups gathered. This group photo was taken in 1940 in Vilnius, and David sent it to
his girlfriend, Elza Gross, who had left Poland in 1938 for Palestine.
On 2 March 1941, David sent a postcard to Elza to say goodbye, as he correctly
assumed he would not survive. He wrote to her that the worst of it all is the lack of
knowledge of when I will return and see you.
He was shot dead in Vilnius, Lithuania in 1941.
Through the publicising of his story we have discovered more about David, including
this image of him. Perhaps the additional information, albeit still limited, can assist us
in honouring his wishes and remembering that 'someone named David Berger had
once lived'.

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

Joan Salter
Joan Salter is a child survivor of the Holocaust. Born Fanny Zimetbaum in Brussels
on 15 February 1940 to Polish Jewish parents, she was three months old when
Belgium was invaded by the Nazis.

I was young enough to adapt to my new life My name was changed to Joan, my
language from French to American. Over the next few years, little Polish Fanny
Zimetbaum morphed into all American Joan Farell.
But then the war ended. It took the refugee agencies time to locate splintered
families It was not until 1947 that I was reunited with my parents in London. This
might seem like the fairytale ending but it was anything but
-

Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

My Aunt Rebecca and Meyer Suznitzki. Meyer is my uncle by marriage and his
sister ,Bunya Jakobson, fled the hospital leaving her 2 year old baby as Nazis were
outside.

Gwen Lamb

Kindertransport
On 28 June 1939 I arrived towards evening at Liverpool Street Station together with
my parents. I was immediately separated from them to spend a few weeks in a
convent before being sent on to Middlesbrough, to stay with the Freemans. Their
daughter, Beryl (Babs), took me under her wing and into her heart. I was desperately
lost and confused. We had survived Vienna and Nazi Austrian persecution and all
the horrible scenes which were enacted against the Jews were very vivid in my mind.
I started school in Ayresome Street but, being unable to speak English, was bullied
and beaten. I instinctively knew that my survival depended upon my learning English
very quickly. Within six weeks I had learned to speak English. Thankfully the
beatings then stopped and I was accepted.
To this day I remember the warmth and kindness of Wolfy and Hindy, Babs parents.
They treated me with equality. On the rare occasions my parents came to visit, I
would go afterwards to find their footprints where they had walked.
The terrible trauma of separation from my parents and being alone so often, has
never quite left me. To this day, I guard my children, old and young, with that special
attention practised only by a Holocaust survivor. Babs Freeman took the place of my
mother. She nursed me when I was sick and spent much time being part of my sad
life.
I found only warmth and caring from the Middlesbrough Kehila, especially Rabbi
Miller and his wonderful children. Rabbi Miller taught me the Aleph Bet with great
patience. Jewish education was non-existent in Vienna at that time, as the Nazis had
closed all Jewish institutions.
In retrospect, it was Rabbi Millers tuition that kept my Jewish identity intact during
those evacuation years after I left Middlesbrough, when I was sent to non-Jewish
schools and church services on Sundays.
Although I view that period of my life as horrendous, there is no doubt that the
Middlesbrough Kehila was instrumental in holding me to my people. The dedication
of Babs Freeman and her parents will remain with me always. I have a fine wife and
five wonderful children, all following the ways of Torah and mitzvot.
A little four year old lost refugee, who was given such love and kindness at a critical
stage of his life, is now by the grace of God a 65 year old man, now feeling safe.
Meir (Martin) Fleisher, London, England- Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives

Victory Booklet 1946The Childrens Hostel

In connection with this noble work we thank all our generous subscribers who have
helped to support during the war years, 25 girls rescued from Nazi oppression, and
brought up under the loving care of the Matron, Mrs. Mahler.
Mention must be made of the good work and organising done by Mrs. L. Miller, the
first chairman, and her loyal band of workers who devoted so much time for their
welfare, our grateful thanks are also due to Dr. J. Niman, and Dr. J. Israel, the
Medical Officers, Mrs. Hood, the Accountant. Mr. H. Walker, Dentist. Mrs. Johnson,
the Language Teacher, who gave all their services free.
To the Benjamin family, for the free use of their house, 5, The Avenue.
Last, but not least, to Mr Lionel Levy whose kindness and great interest will be
remembered by these children for all times.

Kindertransport Girls 1946

Middlesbrough

Lola Gottlieb,Elisabeth Salaman, Meli Maler, Hanna Zucker, Lotte Ohrringer, Ruth
Heller, Maja Bamberger, Rita Ziprkowski, Johanna Frolich,
Minna Strahlberg, Inge Vogel,Hanny Wolowitzki, Hanna Stern, Lore Vogel
Henny Sztrum, Bertha Rotblit, Ilse Auffarber, Minna Sztrum, Sarah Rotblit
Helen Pajem, Helen Sztrum, Vera Lichtenstein, Regina Fischbein, Sally Sztrum,
Margot Neuberger.
-

Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives

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Remember When
The Middlesbrough Evening Gazette publishes a quarterly magazine entitled
Remember When, which aims to chronicle the recent history of the Middlesbrough
area.
-----------------------ONE spin-off for people living in the St Barnabas Road area of Middlesbrough during
war-time rationing was the shop kept by the Saville family.
The family of Orthodox Jews closed on Saturdays, but opened on Sunday, giving
many folk the chance of trading in their food coupons a day before they were due.
"The Food Office was always surprised by the amount of coupons we handed in on
the Monday;" recalls Rose Saville, now living in Jerusalem.
The family were friendly with Canon Wareham, of St Barnabas Church and regularly
offered him matzos (unleavened bread) at Passover time to explain its significance
to the congregation. During war time, says Mrs Saville, the canon would offer her
husband Maurice, a voluntary fireman, a gallon of petrol after air raids to visit
members of the Jewish faith and others.
When Maurice received his call-up papers, the clergyman told his commanding
officer that he was more use in Middlesbrough - but he was still called up.
With two young sons - Michael and David - Mrs Saville ran the business with the
help of good friends and neighbours. Michael later went to Middlesbrough High
School and Leeds University, marrying a girl from Leeds where he still lives. Being
the first member of his family to visit Israel, he advised the rest of his family to move
out there - and although his mother, brother David and sister Ruth live in Jerusalem,
Michael remains in Leeds!

Rose Saville
Remember When, May 16, 1998
- Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives

2014: Memorial in Tel Aviv, Israel, to remember

the gay and lesbian victims of Nazi persecution.
The stone monument, modelled on the pink
triangle Nazis made homosexuals wear in
concentration camps during World War II, which
features inscriptions in German, Hebrew and
English.
With thanks to Matthew Gray

Doris Saville
Doris Saville, (formerly Sabel) came from a
family in Lithuania and was born in
the shtetl of Alshad, near Tels on 31st
December 1905 and was given the Hebrew
name of Pessa Dobbe. This information is
given in my grandfather's diary written in
Alshad a hundred years ago! Her parents
were Yehoshua and Sara Saville and the
story is told that on the eve of the first world
war all their possessions were put on the last
boat at Memel bound for England. Then war
broke out and, in dire poverty, the Savilles
moved from Alshad to the larger town of Siad,
where they suffered the deprivation of the
Russian Revolution. They finally left for
England in 1921.
Two of their children died in infancy, leaving
the parents, Doris and her older brother
Morris (Moshe). They arrived at South Shields
where Yehoshua's parents, brothers and
sister were living, but after nine months they moved to Middlesbrough, where
Yehoshua set up a hardware store in the family home in Newport Road. My father's
cousin Hilda Saville (now Cukier) of Savion, Israel clearly remembers her cousin
Doris as being a very attractive, fair-haired, girl who managed to learn English within
three years of arriving in England.
I have come across various people in the North East who knew her through LIT
meetings in Newcastle and Sunderland, where she often came as part of a singing
group with the Silverston girls. One of the famous family stories is that my father
Morris met a young man at one such a LIT meeting called Solly Cohen from
Sunderland and said that he would make a fine brother-in-law, as he seemed to be
friendly with Doris. In the end Morris married Solly's sister, my mother Rose, a year
after Doris's death and thus became his brother-in-law, after all.
I have been told that Doris was involved in various romances, including our own
Avromka Solomon of Middlesbrough and also with some of the finest families from
Sunderland. Some were terminated because an older sister of the fianc insisted on
getting married first, and others because he felt that she could not leave her sick
mother Sara who had been very ill since she had lost her two daughters in Lithuania.
The circumstances of her death, at the age of 27 seemed to be clouded with some
mystery though all who knew her described her as a very frail person. I had always
been under the impression that she was seriously injured in a car accident and died
shortly thereafter. Hers was one of the first burials in the new cemetery, which was
opened in 1932.
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David Saville- Kehilat Middlesbrough Newletter and Archives

-

Sonia Suznitzki (daughter of

Rebecca and Meyer) .
Wedding day in Leazes Park
Synagogue, Newcastle . (Same
Synagogue as my parents and
her parents).
-Gwen Lamb

Sonia Suznitzki (daughter of

Meyer) qualifying as a G.P at
Newcastle University Medical
School.
-Gwen Lamb

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Uncle Benjamin- his wife and 3 children were all shot against
the wall in Matyampol, Lithuania.
-

Gwen lamb

My Grandad (my Mums Dad) Father of 6

children

-Gwen Lamb

My Aunty Bella with her Husband and 3 children

all shot against the wall in Lithuania about
1939. We were notified of their deaths by Red
Cross telegram.
-Gwen Lamb

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Auschwitz Article
Visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau
In October of last year I and three other Year 13 students visited the Holocaust
memorial site of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. As an A-Level History student I had
always been interested in the social, economic and foreign implications of the
Holocaust on Europe as well as the modern day interpretations of the event.
The first place we visited was the former site of a collection of synagogues in the
town of Owicim, this allowed us to gain a greater understanding of the effect that
the Holocaust had on the Jewish population of Poland. The site visited now existed
with only one synagogue and no Jewish community showing how the alienation of
one race had effects even today some 70 years after the liberation of the camps.
After that we visited Auschwitz I and II and took part in a walk around tour of the
army barracks which had been turned into workhouses and storage facilities during
the Second World War, this was particularly interesting as we were able to see
collections of shoes, suitcases and various other belongings which had belonged to
those imprisoned here this reflected the idea that people were genuinely unaware
of the fate that they had when being transported to Auschwitz, as they would bring
things which, in hindsight, would have been of no use.
After our visit to Auschwitz I and II we travelled to Birkenau, the infamous death
camp. Upon arriving here we were able to see the iconic image of the railway leading
up to a huge stone arch which is often associated with the Holocaust, from this view
point we were able to see just how vast this particular section of land was, and how
nothing really existed around it mostly empty space. Travelling along the railway
we were able to learn about individual stories from people that had survived
Auschwitz and also family members of those that had perished.
At the end of the day a local Rabbi gave a memorial ceremony in which we reflected
on the six million European Jews that had been put to death under the Nazi regime,
not just in Auschwitz but in the intricate network of camps across Europe. This gave
us a chance to think about the modern day implications of genocide and we
discussed a range of genocides which have occurred after the Holocaust. At the end
of the ceremony everyone was able to light a small candle and place it on the railway
track which had transported Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Roma, Sinti, political
prisoners and anyone else deemed an enemy of the state by the Nazi regime, so
that their memory may not be forgotten.
Overall the visit was very worthwhile as it added a human side to what had
previously just been numbers in a textbook; it gave me and the others that visited
with me the opportunity to reflect on the tragedies of the Holocaust and an insight
into the social, economic and foreign implications of this genocide not only on
Europe at the time but even today.
-

Student from Macmillan Academy

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This is the story of my grandmother

Oma was a young girl, living in Blaricum, Holland when the war broke out. She told
me there was never any food, and any food there was used to go straight to her
father or greedy elder sister, Lies. Oma was never bothered about food and today is
not fussed by a big meal but would rather fill herself on biscuits!
Oma has told me many stories of the Holocaust, one of which always sticks in my
memory and one I cannot forget.
Oma and Tante Lies being children lived in a dream world. Yes, there was no food
and you had to be careful what you did / said, but to them it was a dangerous game.
My Great Oma was a powerful and strong woman. The girls often said to her that
they heard noises in the attic but their mother told them never to go up there or the
rats would get you.
One day in the height of summer, Oma remembered a German Officer doing raids
for Jews. Oma likes Jewish people she tells me and she could never understand
why Hitler was so cruel to them. The officer shouted and looked all over the
house. He went to go up to the attic and my great Oma told him it was far too hot up
there. He agreed and left the house.
It was the one time that Oma remembers her mother breaking down and praying.
Years after the war, her mother told her that that day a family of Jews were hiding in
the attic. If that German Officer had found them I would not have been here today.
-

S. Blood, Middlesbrough Council

Extract from Terry Greenberg Memoirs

My name is Terry (Terence/Tuvia) Greenberg. When I was a kid, I was known as
Tuvvy. I am the 10th child of Alf and Fanny Greenberg. There were 11 of us between the youngest and the eldest there was span of 22 years. I am the only
remaining one in the family.
I was born in 1923 in Middlesbrough at 75 Marton Road. My father was a master
tailor, my mother was the daughter of Chaim (Hyman) and Channa Smollan. Chaim
was also a master tailor who had employed my father when he came to
Middlesbrough.
In 1924 we moved to 133 Southfield Road Middlesbrough and I lived in
Middlesbrough until the beginning of World War II, when I went with school
evacuation to Scarborough and Teesdale and then into Army service. The house
was eventually sold in 1945.
Shortly before my 5th birthday, I started school at Marton Road, Middlesbrough. It
was quite near to our home. All our family went to that school before me. On my first
day at school I was taken by my sister Bertha to the headmistress, Miss Gibson, who
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asked my name. I answered Tuvvy; she turned to Bertha and Bertha said my name
was Terence. That is how I learned my registered name. My eldest brother, Sam,
told me that he was sent to register me (my parents had no time for things like that)
and on realizing that he couldn't give Tuvia, chose Terence.
Others who were there at the same time as me were: Naomi (Miller) Davis, who was
a class above me; and Freda Cannon, for some time in my class. We used to sit
together outside the classroom during scripture lessons on the New Testament. As
far as the other scriptures were concerned, I remember being asked by the teacher
as a matter of course knowing that, as I belonged to the people of the Old
Testament, I should recite the 23rd Psalm and the Ten Commandments off by heart.
I couldnt oblige!
I understood from a very early age that anyone who said anything derogatory about
me as a Jew had to get paid with a punch. In those days the boys respected anyone
who respected themselves.
I also set my sights on showing them that I could play and run just as well as any of
the class.
When I started school, the kids were still asking each other how many Germans their
fathers had killed in the war. This was 10 or 11 years after the end of the war in
1918. I was a bit embarrassed because I hadn't heard of any such exploits at home. I
was told in later years that in around 1916/1917 men born in Russia who were not
naturalised Britishers were being called up. My mother wouldn't hear of it and got my
father exempted on the grounds that she had 6 children, with another on the way
(twins in fact), and if anything were to happen to my father, she would be a terrible
burden on the country. If my father had served, he would have been given
naturalisation. As it was, he remained an alien - with interesting results during World
War II.

Terry Greenberg, Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives

THE WEDDING GOWN THAT MADE HISTORY

Lilly Friedman doesnt remember the last name of the women who designed and
sewed the wedding gown she wore when she walked down the aisle over 60 years
ago. But the grandmother of seven does recall that when she first told her fiance,
Ludwig, that she had always dreamed of being married in a white gown, he realised
he had his work cut out for him .
For the tall, lanky 21-year old who survived hunger, disease and torture, this was a
different kind of challenge. How was he ever going to find such a dress in the
Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons camp where they felt grateful for the clothes on
their backs?

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Fate would intervene in the guise of a former German pilot who walked into the food
distribution center where Ludwig worked, eager to make a trade for this worthless
parachute. In exchange for two pounds of coffee beans and a couple of packs of
cigarettes Lilly would have a wedding gown.
For two weeks Miriam the seamstress worked under the curious eyes of her fellow
DPs, carefully fashioning the six parachute panels into a simple, long sleeved gown,
with a rolled collar and a fitted waste that tied in the back with a bow. When the
dress was completed she sewed the left over material into a matching shirt for the
groom.
A white wedding gown may have seemed like a frivolous request in the surreal
environment of the camps, but for Lilly the dress symbolised the innocent, normal life
she and her family had once led before the world descended into madness.
Lilly and her siblings were raised in a Torah observant home in the small town of
Zarica, Czechoslovakia where her father was a teacher, respected and well liked by
the young yeshiva students he taught in nearby Irsheva. He and his two sons were
marked for extermination immediately upon arriving at Auschwitz. For Lilly and her
sisters it was only their first stop on their long journey of persecution, which included
Plashof, Neustadt, Gross Rosen and finally Bergen Belsen.
Four hundred people marched 15 miles in the snow to the town of Celle on January
27, 1946 to attend Lilly and Ludwigs wedding. The town synagogue, damaged and
desecrated, had been lovingly renovated by the DPs with the meager materials
available to them. When Sefer Torah arrived from England they converted an old
kitchen cabinet into a makeshift Aron Kodesh.
My sisters and I lost everthing our parents, our two brothers, our homes. The
most important thing was to build a new home. Six months later Lillys sister Ilona
wore the dress when she married Max Traeger. After that came cousin Rosie. How
many brides wore Lillys dress? I stopped counting after 17. With the camps
experiencing the highest marriage rate in the world, Lillys gown was in great
demand.
In 1948 when President Harry Truman finally permitted the 100,000 Jews who had
been languishing in DP camps since the end of the war to emigrate, the gown
accompanied Lilly across the ocean to America. Unable to part with her dress, it lay
at the bottom of her bedroom closet for the next 50 years, not even good enough for
a garage sale. I was happy when it found such a good home.
Home was the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. When Lillys
niece, a volunteer, told museum officials about her aunts dress, they immediately
recognised its historical significance and displayed the gown in a specially designed
showcase, guaranteed to preserve it for 500 years.
But Lilly Friedmans dress had one more journey to make. Bergen Belsen, the
museum, opened its doors on October 28, 2007. The German government invited
Lilly and her sisters to be their guests for the grand opening. They initially declined,
but finally travelled to Hanover the following year with their grandchildren and
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extended families to view the extraordinary exhibit created for the wedding dress
made from a parachute.
Lillys family, who were all familiar with the stories about the wedding in Celle, were
eager to visit the synagogue. They found the building had been completely
renovated and modernised. But when they pulled aside the handsome curtain they
were astounded to find that the Aron Kodesh, made from a kitchen cabinet, had
remained untouched as a testament to the profound faith of the survivors. As Lilly
stood on the bimah once again she beckoned to her granddaughter, Jackie, to stand
beside her where she was once a kallah. It was an emotional trip. We cried a lot.
Two weeks later, the women who had once stood trembling before the selective
eyes of the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele returned home and witnessed the marriage
of her granddaughter.
The three Lax sisters Lilly, Ilona and Eva, who together survived Auschwitz, a force
labour camp, a death march and Bergen Belsen have remained close and today live
within walking distance of each other in Brooklyn. As mere teenagers, they
managed to outwit and outlive a monstrous killing machine, then went on to marry,
have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and were ultimately honoured
by the country that had earmarked them for extinction.
As young brides, they had stood underneath the chuppah and recited the blessings
that their ancestors had been saying for thousands of years. In doing so, they chose
to honour the legacy of those who had perished by choosing life.

70 Candles for 70 years

Copyright Anish Kapoor

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