A Detail of History

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I was sent to those to be spared, my mother was sent to those to be murdered. And she resourcefully managed - it was miraculous. Arek then moved to Liverpool with some other rescued teens to learn a trade. He became an electrician, later married, and had three children. Hersh met his wife Jean at a dance in Leeds at the age of 32. They have three children and several grandchildren. [9] [10] He currently lives near Leeds, England. In 1995, as part of his first public discussion of his Holocaust experiences, Hersh published his book, A Detail of History. [11] All the proceeds go to the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre, where he often gives presentations about his experience. [12] Awards and honors [ edit ] British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gives a Points of Light Award to Hersh in January 2023 He told how his older brother, who had escaped the nazis’ clutches, offered to surrender himself to save Arek. But the nazis were going to take them all anyway. On 12 August 1945, Arek was transferred to Prague and flown to Britain as part of a broader initiative to help Europe’s child survivors. A group of 300 boys and girls were taken to Windermere in the Lake District to recuperate and learn English. Remembered today as the “Windermere Boys,” Arek recalls the overwhelming surprise at Britain’s quiet landscape and hospitality.

They were marched through freezing conditions, with no food or rest. Those who lagged behind were shot. When they reached a Katowice, Poland, they were put into goods wagons and began the journey to Buchenwald concentration camp. The journey lasted several days, and they were given no food. Arek and his friend had managed to steal a bag of semolina from Auschwitz, which staved off some of the hunger.Mr Hersh says: "I was taken out of Auschwitz on the death march. Outside it was minus 23 degrees and we were just in our striped suits. While in the camp, she kept a golden pendant safe from the SS guards by hiding it first in her shoe and then in her daily bread ration. He was made to leave all his clothes and possessions, had his head and body shaved and was made to shower. He was given a striped suit to wear and was tattooed with the number B7608. From that day onward Arek lost his name and was only referred to by his number. Mysterious 'witch bottles' appear along the Gulf of Mexico - and researchers are avoiding opening them She was among those child survivors who were awarded an British Empire Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2018.

He remembers having to deal with the death that surrounded him: “You could see the bodies on each train. We just threw them off and buried them.” Brought up in a musical family in the then-German town of Breslau but now Wroclaw in Poland, Mrs Lasker-Wallfisch survived both the notorious extermination camp and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The 88-year-old was talking of his experiences of the Holocaust to school pupils at St David’s College, in Llandudno, yesterday.

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But his mother Bluma, father Szmuel, sisters Itka and Dvora and brother Tovia all perished in Chelmno extermination camp in 1942. Only his older sister Mania survived, escaping to Russia. Arek was sent to a ghetto in the Polish city of Lodz.He says: “I only survived because I said I was a tailor. I thought they’d need people to sew their uniforms. I couldn’t do anything but they took my word for it. After liberation, she worked as an interpreter for the British army before settling in the UK in 1946. And by that time we knew that left meant death today, right meant survive until the next selection at least,’ he recalled.