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 helped
00:55but
00:56it was an older brother Ben
00:58and a younger sister Lucia
01:00I had a happy childhood
01:03we lived in a country
01:05comfortable apartment nearby
01:07with
01:08extended family
01:10and there was a relatively large Jewish community
01:14life was
01:15very
01:16quiet
01:17ordinary
01:18but
01:19very pleasant
01:20and happy
01:20numerous
01:21in
01:22in
01:24in
01:25in
01:26September
01:271939
01:28the first
01:29the first
01:30the first
01:32of the
01:34the
01:35the
01:41the
01:43the
01:45the
01:47Like so many families, mine was there.
01:52Tone apart.
01:57My mother and my eight-year-old sister were taken away in December 9.
02:02In 1942, what happened to them is indescribable.
02:07They were murdered in the most horrific way.
02:12They were taken into open pits.
02:17In Braco forest.
02:20This was actually taken place.
02:22All over the country.
02:26The forest killing.
02:27My father and brother were deported to Buchenwald.
02:32I was sent with my five-year-old cousin, Anne, first to Ravensburg.
02:37And then to Bergen-Belsen.
02:40I later.
02:42I learned that my father was murdered by trying to escape a death march.
02:47Just days before liberation.
02:52In the camps, we were stripped naked, shaved, put through freezing.
02:57Cold showers.
02:59And given the prisoner.
03:02When we looked at each other.
03:06When we looked at each other.
03:07We barely recognized each other.
03:08We barely recognized each other.
03:11We all...
03:12We all looked the same.
03:13We were stripped not only of our freedom.
03:17but of our identities, our dignity, our humanity.
03:22It was as if they had taken away our very souls.
03:27When I arrived in Bergen-Belsen, the first thing that...
03:32It hit me.
03:33It hit me.
03:34It was the smog and the stench.
03:37It was a hell on earth.
03:39Though still alive...
03:40It was a hell on earth.
03:41Though still alive...
03:42I shuffled about...
03:43Like...
03:44Skeleton.
03:45And just...
03:47Perhaps...
03:48Where they stood.
03:49Disease was everywhere.
03:51Now...
03:52I became very ill with typhus.
03:54I could hardly move.
03:55I could hardly move.
03:57and...
03:58One day
03:59from the window
04:00of my barracks.
04:02I...
04:02I saw people running, and all I could think of was how have you...
04:07They got the strength to run. I couldn't move a muscle.
04:12That was on the 15th of April, 1945, when we were liberated.
04:17By the British Army.
04:21And here...
04:22I want to stress that they were wonderful, and I really...
04:27...paying tribute to them of how one...
04:32...before we were treated.
04:34And life just changed instantly.
04:37When they arrived.
04:39Nearly a year after liberation, I received...
04:42...the letter from my older brother Ben...
04:45...against all odds.
04:47Because he had survived.
04:49It was arranged by the Central British Fund.
04:52Committee for me to come to England, and we were reunited.
04:58Ben was a hero.
04:59Just 11 years after...
05:02...in his liberation.
05:03He captained the British weightlifting team.
05:07At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
05:12was quite amazing.
05:13He was also the leader of our...
05:17...the community and champion of Holocaust education.
05:22He was knighted in 2018.
05:27When he passed away, unfortunately, in 2020.
05:32...in 2023.
05:33The others seemed terribly.
05:36One of them...
05:37...his greatest wishes...
05:38...was to see the Holocaust Memorial Learning Centre.
05:42...was to be built...
05:43...beside parliament.
05:44A permanent place...
05:45...with survival...
05:46with survivor testimony would be preserved and with future generations.
05:51Could understand where anti-Semitism is.
05:56And hatred could lead in that challenge.
06:01Hey!
06:06He did not live to see the memorial, but he would have been proud to know.
06:11The parliament now passed the Holocaust Memorial Bill.
06:16And that work will soon begin.
06:21We endured the Holocaust.
06:23We survivors never imagined we would be...
06:26...witness anti-Semitism at the level it is today.
06:31What we have seen in Manchester on Yom Kippur.
06:36And in Sydney on Hanukkah has shaken me to the...
06:41...the cold.
06:43How 81 years after the Holocaust...
06:46...can Jewish people once again be targeted in this way.
06:51Remembering the past is no longer enough.
06:56I will speak to you, leaders of this country.
07:01I shall be called home.
07:04And I...
07:05...please...
07:06...that you do what you need...
07:08...not needs to be done to tackle this.
07:11And so...
07:14When I was in Bergen-Belsen, I...
07:16...I still had hope.
07:17Because without hope...
07:19...there is no survival.
07:21Today I have hope.
07:23I hope in the next generation...
07:26...the thousands of young people...
07:29...who have heard my testimony...
07:31...thank you for inviting me to speak to you today.
07:36And thank you for listening.
07:42Classroom.
07:43All right.
07:44All right.
07:45Thank you very much.
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