00:00by the community
00:02or hosts by the community
00:06for decades
00:08we have spoken
00:10to people across the country
00:12sharing our painful memories
00:15we have done this out of deep sense of duty
00:19to
00:20ensure that what happened to our families
00:23and six million
00:25for Jewish men, women and children
00:27is never forgotten
00:30soon there will be no witnesses left
00:35that is why I ask you today
00:37to just listen
00:39not to
00:40just listen
00:41but to become my witnesses
00:44also
00:45I was born in Piotrkow, Trybunowski
00:47in Poland
00:48in 1930
00:50I was the middle child of my parents
00:53Sarah and Mosher Helf
00:55who was an older brother Ben
00:58and a younger sister Lucia
01:00I had a happy childhood
01:03we lived in a country
01:05a comfortable apartment nearby
01:07with extended family
01:10and there was a relatively large Jewish community
01:14life was
01:15very
01:16quiet
01:17ordinary
01:18but very pleasant
01:19and happy
01:21in September 1939
01:23the first
01:24the first
01:25Nazi ghetto was established in my hometown.
01:30Life there was brutal. It was overcrowded. Food was...
01:35...scarce. Disease was everywhere. And even as a 12-year...
01:40...old child, I was forced into her.
01:45Labor.
01:48Like so many families.
01:50This line was torn apart.
01:55My mother and my eight-year-old sister.
02:00They were taken away in December 1942.
02:03What happened to them is...
02:05...indescribable.
02:06They were murdered in the most horrific...
02:10...way.
02:11Shot into open.
02:13So...
02:15...open pits...
02:17...in Krakow Forest.
02:20This was actually taken place all over the country.
02:25The forest killings.
02:28My father and brother were...
02:30...and imported to Buchenwald.
02:32I was sent with my five-year-old cousin...
02:35...first to Ravensbruck...
02:37...and then to Bergen-Belsen.
02:40I later...
02:41...learned that my father was murdered by Trank.
02:45...and escaped a death march...
02:47...just days before the break.
02:50In the camps...
02:52...we were stripped naked...
02:54...shaved...
02:55...and put through...
02:56...trees...
02:57...in cold showers...
02:58...and even the...
02:59...pris...
03:00...and...
03:01...given the prisoner...
03:02...job.
03:03When...
03:04...we...
03:05...looked...
03:06...at each other...
03:07...we...
03:08...baily...
03:09...recognized...
03:10...each...
03:10...other...
03:11...we all...
03:12...looked...
03:13...the same...
03:14...we were...
03:15...not only...
03:16...of our freedom...
03:17...but of our...
03:18...identities...
03:19...our dignity...
03:20...our...
03:21...humanity...
03:22...it was...
03:23...as if they had taken.
03:25...away...
03:26...our...
03:27...very souls...
03:28...when...
03:29...I arrived in...
03:30...and...
03:31...the first thing...
03:32...that hit...
03:33...hit...
03:34...me...
03:35...was this...
03:35...the smog...
03:36...and...
03:37...the stench...
03:38...it was a hell...
03:39...on earth...
03:40...those...
03:41...still alive...
03:42...shuffled...
03:43...about...
03:44...like...
03:45...skill...
03:45...skeleton...
03:46...and just...
03:47...collapsed...
03:48...where they stood.
03:50...disease...
03:51...was everywhere...
03:52...and I became...
03:53...very ill...
03:54...with typhus.
03:55...and I could hardly...
03:56...one day...
03:59...from the...
04:00...window...
04:01...of my barracks...
04:02...I saw...
04:03...people running...
04:04...and...
04:05...all...
04:05...I could sing...
04:06...how...
04:07...have they got...
04:08...the strengths...
04:09...to run...
04:10...I couldn't...
04:10...to move a muscle...
04:11...that was...
04:12...on the 15th...
04:13...of April...
04:14...1940...
04:15...when we were...
04:16...liberated...
04:17...by the...
04:18...British Army.
04:20...and here...
04:21...I want to...
04:22...stress...
04:23...that they were...
04:24...wonderful...
04:25...and I...
04:26...really...
04:27...pay tribute...
04:29...to them.
04:30...of...
04:31...how...
04:32...wonderful...
04:33...we were treated...
04:34...and...
04:35...life just...
04:35...changed...
04:36...instantly...
04:37...when...
04:38...they arrived...
04:39...nearly...
04:40...a...
04:40...after...
04:41...liberation...
04:42...I received...
04:43...a letter...
04:44...from...
04:45...my...
04:46...old...
04:47...brother...
04:48...Ben.
04:49...it was...
04:49...arranged...
04:50...by the...
04:50Central...
04:51...British...
04:51...Fund...
04:52...comity...
04:53...for...
04:53...me...
04:54to England and we were reunited. Ben was a
04:59hero just 11 years after his liberation.
05:04He captained the British weightlifting team at the 1950s.
05:09The 56th Melbourne Olympics. Quite amazing.
05:14He was also the leader of our survivor community and champion.
05:19of Holocaust education. He was knighted in
05:242018 and he passed away unfortunately.
05:29In 2023.
05:34One of them's greatest wishes was
05:39to see the Holocaust Memorial Learning Centre built
05:42beside Parliament.
05:44A permanent place where survivor testimony would be preserved.
05:49And what future generations could understand.
05:54Where antisemitism and hatred could lead.
05:59And what future generations.
06:00And what future generations.
06:04He did not live to see the memorial.
06:08But.
06:09He would have been proud to know that Parliament now passed.
06:14the Holocaust Memorial Day built.
06:16And that work will soon begin.
06:19Having endured the Holocaust.
06:23We survived.
06:24Others never imagined we would witness antisemitism.
06:28At the.
06:29At that level it is today.
06:31What we have seen.
06:32March.
06:33We have cleaned
06:34and cleaned information,
06:35a connection to Christ however we have passed.
06:36And now as a memory ґさ鉄の中の How to tym心は
06:37the one in which we have saved.
06:38In this moment .
06:39Processed the Holocaust must be expected.
06:41We have believed children at the same time.
06:42But it is hidden indeed because the two of us
06:43We are surrounded the Holocaust are some of the Danielle
06:44had 이쪽ות councils.
06:45In that theffects a nation's family.
06:46And the Holocaust has lived in the來作為
06:47and by once they saw children terug
06:48…
06:34Manchester on Yom Kippur and in Sydney on Hanukkah.
06:39It's shaken me to the cold.
06:44About 81 years after the Holocaust can Jewish people once again be targeted.
06:49In this way, remembering the past is no longer...
06:54I speak to you, leaders of the...
06:59in this country.
07:01I proudly call home.
07:04And I plead that you do what you need not...
07:09It needs to be done to tackle this heavy thread.
07:14When I was in Bergen-Benson, I still had hope, because without hope...
07:19there's no survival.
07:21Today I have hope.
07:24I hope in the next generation, the thousands of young people...
07:29who have heard my testimony.
07:32Thank you for...
07:34inviting me to speak to you today.
07:36And thank you for listening.
08:10Okay.
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