£150,000 raised to support Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre
Last night, actress and scriptwriter, Tracy-Ann Oberman spoke to 250 guests at Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre fundraising dinner. The evening, compèred by Ivor Baddiel who interviewed Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg BEM and his wife, Shary, raised an incredible £150,000 for the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre at the Michael Sobell Jewish Community Centre, which is the only place of its kind in the UK, designed specifically to support Holocaust survivors all year round.
During the interview with Ivor, Manfred and Shary shared what they love about being members of the Centre. 94-year-old Manfred said, “The friendships that develop at the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre are as precious as family, and the staff and volunteers are so caring, they cannot do enough for us.”
The couple have been happily married for many years but, Manfred added, “Many of us are by now very elderly, less mobile, and living alone as widows and widowers and the therapeutic effect of this quality of support for survivors is truly unique. It has made the Centre into what I can only describe as a haven.”
Manfred arrived in the UK in 1946, having survived three and a half years in five Nazi labour and concentration camps during the Holocaust. After surviving the Riga Ghetto, Manfred, his mother and his nine-year-old brother, Herman, were transported to the first labour camp where Herman was brutally condemned to an immediate death by the SS Officers. Manfred survived the selection at Stutthof Nazi concentration camp, a labour camp and death camp, by pretending to be 17. Consequently he was forced to work as slave labour repairing damaged railway tracks which had been bombed by allied air raids.
Manfred emphasised that each person’s story is different, but that all those who were murdered and those who survived, suffered from the cruelty and inhumanity, inflicted by the Nazis. He and his mother finally found each other again on the forced death march in April 1945. On the seventh day of the march, they were liberated by British soldiers and both survived, later to rejoin his father, who had been able to escape to the UK just before war broke out. Manfred built his life in the UK, married Shary, and together they have a beautiful family, with the joy of children and grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren.
Guests, including fifteen members of the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre who attended the dinner at Finchley United Syngagogue, Kinloss, saw a film highlighting the activities at the Centre. This includes celebrating Jewish life and festivals, visits from celebrities, cultural talks with experts and outings as well as Yiddish classes. Through the community outreach programme, there are challah deliveries to survivors at home as well as supportive community tea parties with volunteers.
Linda Bogod, Chair of Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre dinner committee, spoke at the evening, saying, “As time passes and living memory of the Holocaust fades the importance of firsthand testimony becomes even more crucial. For over 30 years the Centre has been a safe haven for survivors – a place where they are cared for, can connect with others who share similar experiences, receive therapeutic support, and find joy in life. They have formed a close-knit community, commemorate significant dates together, express their Jewish identity, and find companionship with those who truly understand them. Thank you for being here tonight to support and honour these extraordinary individuals.”
At the event, Tracy-Ann Oberman shared with guests how she had always retained her Jewish identity throughout her successful acting career, which includes appearing in Eastenders, Ridley Road and Dr Who. She later began to speak out and campaign against the rise in antisemitism, along with Rachel Riley OBE and Dame Maureen Lipman.
These experiences led to her writing the successful play, The Merchant of Venice 1936, which has been on the West End stage and toured the UK twice. Tracy-Ann developed the character of Shylock, basing it on her great- grandmother, Annie, and the other ‘tough, strong matriarchs – the balaboostas,’ she grew up with.
“They escaped the pogroms of their roots, they lived in the East End, they knew how to haggle a deal, they knew how to keep their family together, they were tough as nails, and their religion, and their identity was so important to them.”
Tracy-Ann went on to talk about how vital the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre is today, saying:
“Antisemitism is a virus, it mutates, we must never, ever forget the lessons of the Holocaust. When people say that it never happened, we know it happened, it happened to our families, and to the people we know and love. Our survivors are some of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met, and tonight we’re here to honour them. Jewish Care is giving them community and social support through the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre and the outreach programme, so that they can feel cherished and to make sure that they are looked after in their last years, and also, importantly so that they have the opportunity to put their stories down.”
During the evening, Ivor Baddiel, shared with guests, “The Centre is an incredible place for incredible people. I’ve been lucky enough to go there many times – and I can say without fail, they are all astonishing. These are people who have been through the most unimaginable hell yet somehow they survived and are now this precious group of amazing people. In my experience they are open-minded, kind, wise, passionate and welcoming. These are qualities that would be incredible in any person, but after what they have been through, we cannot do enough for them. And in a world that today seems to be struggling to know what the right thing to do is, in this case, there can be no doubt.”
After the dinner, Ellisa Estrin, Jewish Care’s Director of Fundraising and Marketing, added, “We would like to thank Tracy-Ann Oberman, Ivor Baddiel, and Manfred and Shary Goldberg for creating a very special evening to celebrate the vital work of the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre.
“Our survivors are a unique group of individuals who have an incredible zest for life, and it is an honour for us to support them all year round at this stage in their life, and also to ensure that they can continue to share their legacy.
“The Holocaust Survivors’ Centre and outreach services receive no government funding. I would like to express my thanks to all of our guests for their generous support, as well as our dedicated Committee and our generous sponsor, for helping us raise an incredible £150,000 to keep this vital service running. Quite simply we couldn’t do what we do without this continued support.”