On Sunday 19 January, Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre, in partnership with Holocaust education charity, Generation 2 Generation (G2G), commemorated the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Holocaust survivors, and descendants of survivors and those who perished in the Holocaust, joined together to give testimony.
More than 100 guests heard from Holocaust survivors, who are members of Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre, which is the only place of its kind in the UK, designed specifically to support Holocaust survivors.
Renee Salt BEM, Ivor Perl BEM, Miriam Freedman, Barbara Frankiss, Rachel Levy BEM and Jacques Weisser, who are members of Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre, lit candles of remembrance. The ceremony gave voice to descendants, Jacqueline Luck from Generation 2 Generation (G2G) and Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, who shared family histories of their grandparents and great-grandparents, continuing their legacy and promoting tolerance and understanding.
This was followed by an emotional Kaddish (memorial prayer) led by Rabbi Lawrence at the ceremony, held at the Michael Sobell Jewish Community Centre, part of Jewish Care’s Maurice & Vivienne Wohl Campus in Golders Green.
The members of the Centre were supported in the ceremony by expert staff and caring volunteers who deliver vital support to the survivor community, ensuring members, who include camp survivors, hidden children, refugees, and those who arrived in the UK on Kindertransport, have a safe place to connect with one another, express their Jewish identity, and celebrate traditions, and receive therapeutic support with a rich programme of events and social gatherings.
Before lighting candles, Renee Salt BEM, read from her memoir, A Mother’s Promise, to be published in February with author Kate Thompson. Renee shared reflections on her traumatic experience of survival at Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp.
“I am a witness to history. I am a survivor,” says Renee. “I feel driven to undertake this work so that the world cannot deny that the horrors of the Holocaust actually took place. It is so important that the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre is there for me – it is our support system – a second home where others have an understanding of what we have been through.”
Born Rywka Ruchla Berkowitz, 1929 in Zdunska Wola, Poland, Renee endured the atrocities of the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Bergen Belsen, and other forced labour camps. The only member of her immediate family to survive the Holocaust and was liberated in Bergen Belson by British soldiers. Renee married in London in 1949 and had 2 children and 5 grandchildren. Later, Renee became a member of Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre, as she began to share her experiences, devoting her time to Holocaust education, for which she was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2016.
At the ceremony, Isa Brysch, who was born in Germany in 1929, and escaped to France going into hiding, shared her reflections on 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz with a poem she has written as part of the commemoration, in memory of her husband, Abraham, who was born in Poland and sent to camps before deportation to Auschwitz.
At the commemoration, G2G speaker Jacqueline Luck shared the story of her late grandmother, Auschwitz survivor, Lela Black, who was born in Greece. Jacqueline says, “I feel a great sense of responsibility to share my Lela’s story with others, and believe it is essential to bring these survivors’ stories to life and to share a message to urge people not to stand by and allow hatred and intolerance to prevail.”
Her late grandmother, Lela Black née Amiel, was born in 1918 in Salonica, the second largest city in Greece. She moved from Salonica to Athens in 1940 with her husband Joseph and young daughter Marcelle, and went into hiding in 1943, when the Germans occupied Athens. After being denounced and incarcerated at the Haidari military camp, they were transported to Auschwitz in cattle trucks, with thousands of other Greek Jews in 1944. The selection process separated Lela from her daughter and husband; this was the last time she saw them. Lela survived freezing temperatures, disease and hunger and was liberated by the Russians on 5th May 1945. Lela returned to Greece to find that her entire family from Salonica had been deported in 1943 and murdered in Auschwitz.
Lela came to London to stay with her only living relatives – an aunt, uncle and two cousins. She later remarried and had another daughter, naming her Marcelle after the child that she had lost. Sadly, her husband died of cancer when Marcelle was only three years old. Ultimately, Lela lived a happy and fulfilled life, doting on her daughter and two granddaughters, and died in August 2008.
Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence also gave a moving presentation accompanied by musicians, Gemma Rosefield, Clare Juan and Kaja Sešek, who played three pieces taken from an original score composed whilst he was at the Septfonds internment camp in France by his late great-grandfather, the famous Jewish German composer Heinz Lewin. The score was performed at a concert there, weeks before he was transported to Auschwitz and perished. Rabbi Lawrence also led a moving Kaddish with all those present.
Speaking after the ceremony, Jewish Care’s Chair, Marcus Sperber, who welcomed guests to the ceremony, said, “We are enormously proud that Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre is working in partnership with Generation 2 Generation to commemorate 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz with Holocaust survivors and with those who are the next generation, in this meaningful way.
“We have so much respect and admiration for the Holocaust survivors as we witness daily, their remarkable resilience, especially in the face of October 7th and rising antisemitism in the UK. Their courage teaches us invaluable lessons and we thank them for sharing their stories to ensure that we continue to learn and that their legacy endures.
“We are proud that the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre is a welcoming haven where survivors can connect, express their Jewish identity, and celebrate traditions. It is an honour for our specialist staff and volunteers to spend time with them and a privilege to care for and support them at this time of their lives.”
Anita Peleg, Chair and Director of Generation 2 Generation, G2G, said. “We believe that descendants of victims of the Holocaust also have an important role to play in Holocaust education. This ceremony, in partnership with Jewish Care, joins together Holocaust survivors and descendants to demonstrate how together we can continue to keep Holocaust stories alive and promote the importance of inclusivity, tolerance and understanding. It is a vital way to engage young audiences and challenge discrimination and racism in all its forms.”
At the close of the ceremony, Anita pledged that G2G speakers and members will safeguard the legacy of the survivors and ensure that their testimony continues to be heard.
For more information about Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre and services for Holocaust survivors, contact Jewish Care Direct helpline on 020 8922 2222 or helpline@jcare.org or visit jewishcare.org/hsc
To find out more about G2G contact, visit generation2generation.org.uk
