| A tea to mark the unveiling of a sculpture of 93-year-old Holocaust survivor, Rachel Levy BEM, took place at Jewish Care’s Selig Court Retirement Living apartments which is part of the care campus at Jewish Care’s Maurice & Vivienne Wohl Centre in Golders Green. Rachel’s family and friends from the apartments were joined by Frances Segelman, also known as Lady Petchey, who created the bust of Rachel after the live sculpting event which took place there last summer.
Rachel moved to Jewish Care’s Selig Court Retirement Living apartments in 2017, where priority is given to Holocaust survivors. She enjoys living independently as part of the retirement living community as well as being a regular member at Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre which is on the same site.
The initial life-size clay bust of Rachel took Frances just two hours to complete and was subsequently cast into bronze at the Bronze Age Foundry in Limehouse. Well known for her busts of royalty and celebrities, the bust is the latest in a series of sculptures created by Frances Segelman (Lady Petchey) of Holocaust survivors living in the UK, including the late Freddie Knoller, the late Sir Ben Helfgott, the late Leslie Kleinman BEM, Ivor Perl BEM and Miriam Freeman.
Frances Segelman said, “I am so pleased that I finally had the chance to sculpt Rachel Levy last summer, having had to delay this project due to Lockdown. Rachel is a truly inspirational person, having not only survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen but going on to dedicate her life to educating people about the Holocaust.
“My work sculpting survivors of the Holocaust is my most important work and I feel privileged and inspired to celebrate the lives of these remarkable people who have managed to keep strong and share their experiences so that we can learn from them.”
Rachel said, “It’s an absolutely wonderful surprise to see it and I would like to thank Frances very much. I will have great pleasure in looking at it and I hope my family will do too. I never thought I’d have a sculpture made of me. Thank you too, to the care staff at Selig Court for all that you do for me and thank you everybody for coming.” |
Rachel was born in Czechoslovakia and arrived at Auschwitz Concentration Camp at the age of 13. Only Rachel and her older brother, Chazkel, survived before going on a death march and being liberated from Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by British Forces in April 1945. Tragically, Rachel’s parents, grandparents, three siblings, aunts, uncles and great-grandfather were all killed in the Holocaust.
After arriving in the UK, Rachel moved to London after staying in Ireland and trained as a dress maker, working in the West End. Rachel was married for 52 years to her husband, Phineas and have two children together. They lived in South London where Rachel was an active member of Catford & Bromley United Shul.
Rachel couldn’t talk about the traumatic experiences of the Holocaust for more than 50 years before she began to speak to schools and groups and share her experiences for Holocaust education. In addition to the sculpture by Frances Segelman, Rachel is proud to be one of the seven Holocaust survivors who had their portraits painted by leading artists as part of an exhibition commissioned by HM King Charles. |
