My father was born on 8th August 1929 in Bodzentin, Poland. In 1942, he and his parents were taken to Starachowice Concentration Camp where his parents were killed. My father survived and was taken to several other camps: first Auschwitz and then its subcamp Monowitz in 1943, then Oranienburg, a subcamp of Sachsenhausen, in 1944, and finally to Flossenbürg in 1945. In April 1945, the US Army liberated my father when he was on a death march from Flossenbürg to Dachau. He was taken to Neunburg, where he stayed for a time with American soldiers. He was then taken eventually to Kloster Indersdorf, a converted convent that became a children’s centre, where his photograph was taken. He arrived in the UK on October 31, 1945. He went to Windermere in the Lake District, where he stayed in a hostel for a while, learnt English and prepared to start a new life. He then, like a lot of The Boys with whom he came to the UK, ended up in London. There he became a tailor and worked with another survivor until his health no longer allowed him to do so. Fischel lived in a hostel in Finsbury Park, an area of North London, and met Sylvia, my mother in 1954. They married in 1956 and lived in South Tottenham until his early death in 1965.

The square represents his route to the UK and I have chosen to highlight his work as a tailor and playing cards, as he enjoyed both.

Laurence Kampel

My father Henry (Heniek) was born in Konin, Poland, perhaps in 1928. In 1941 he was taken to Auschwitz and went through several camps until he was finally liberated in Mauthausen. He was brought to England in 1946 and started a new life as a tailor.My mother Sala was born in Wolonow in Poland, perhaps in 1930. In 1941 she was taken to Auschwitz and then to Theresienstadt until she was finally liberated in 1945. She was brought to England in 1946 to Windermere and started a new life as a seamstress.

The square represents the resurrection of two families coming from hell to meet and marry and to restart what was lost and we have chosen these pictures to illustrate that.

Philip Kaye

Chaim was born on 10th October 1928 in Zmigrod-Nowy near Krakow in Poland. His parents were Simcha and Frieda, he had two brothers, Zvi and Tuvia, and a sister, Zipporah Raisel.

Three weeks after the German invasion, Chaim was taken for forced labour doing road-building and stone breaking. In 1940 he was sent to Fristak labour camp with his brother Zvi. Two years later they were sent back to their families. However, shortly after nearly all the Jews, including Chaim’s parents, younger brother and sister, were taken to the woods and shot. Chaim and Zvi were taken to Plaszow concentration camp where they laid railway lines. When this closed, they were taken to Jerozolimska. They were then taken to Skarysky Kammienne where Chaim contracted T.B. and Zvi passed away from malnutrition and excessive work. In June 1944, the camp closed and Chaim hid for a day and a half under the boards in his barrack. He was taken to Rakov, then to Buchenwald where he worked in a quarry. After a short stay in Colditz making munitions, he forced to march to Theresienstadt.  He was liberated by the Russians on 8 May 1945. After three months he was flown with the other “Boys” courtesy of the CBF from Prague to Carlisle, then to Windermere to start his recuperation. After some time in sanitoria, he went to the Finchley Road Hostel and started at the ORT school studying engineering. He realised it would be impossible to keep his religion if he continued, so went to work firstly making Snowcrest Ice Cream, then going into partnership with fellow survivor Abe Richman, with whom he worked for 50 years, firstly in rags and then in commodities.

Chaim enjoyed his time at the Primrose Club, especially the dancing, table-tennis and football. We met in 1962 and married in December 1964. Our daughter Frimette was born in October 1967. She moved to Israel, married Gabi Abrahams and had two children, Keren and Zac. They later returned to England and had two more children, Maital and Yonni.

Unfortunately, Chaim’s experiences and earlier ill-health caught up with him and he passed away on 5th July 2003. His greatest pleasure was seeing his grand-children and knowing that his family would live on in them.

Valerie Kohn

Kopel Kendall, formerly Kandelcukier, was born on the 7th March 1928 in a little town called Bialobzgi in Poland. Life was very good for him, he had lots of friends and they often went to the forest to play and pick mushrooms, which is why they are on his square. He also thought ladybirds were very lucky for Jewish people.

In 1939 everything changed when Germany invaded Poland. The town was turned into a ghetto, his father was taken away and never seen again. Kopel was only 11 years old and had to look after his mother and two sisters. He was then sent to Skarżysko-Kamienna, a forced labour camp and was told to say that he was 16 years old and a carpenter. In 1941 he was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp where he worked in an armament factory. It was whilst he was there that he met some of The Boys who ended up coming to England with him after liberation. Afterwards he was sent to Schlieben in Germany and then finally to Theresienstadt where he was liberated by the Russians on the 8th May 1945.

He arrived in England on 13th August 1945. He was taken to Windermere with some other child survivors and was given his own room with clean sheets and looked after very well. They all became a new family and even today they are still one big family. They really needed each other to talk to as they all understood each other, having lived through similar experiences.

I met Kopel in London in 1955 and got married in 1956. He had a successful life as a tailor with his own shop which is why the sewing machine is included in his square. We had 3 children and 6 grandchildren. The youngest of them drew the pictures on his quilt square. We were very happy together for 53 years. Kopel died in 2009 and I miss him all the time.

Vivienne Kendal

My father Hendel (Henry) Kohn was born in Geledg, near to Bwedzin, Poland, on 1st December 1921. He was taken to Markstadt concentration camp in 1942. His brother died during this time from starvation and his father died in 1941 in the Celadz ghetto. His mother, Leiba Herzberg (Kohn) died in Auschwitz.
My father was in various camps, Rosen-Buchenwald, Bissingen, Dachau, until liberated in May 1945 by the Americans on his way to Auschwitz. He then lived in various DP camps until being accepted by a relative in Paris where he lived for a couple of years before moving to London in 1946. He first lived in Golders Green with an uncle’s family and then moved alone to Stamford Hill.He met and married his wife in 1951. He was initially an electrician then asked his brother-in-law to open a launderette with him. The first shop opened in 1954 and they went on to open several more until his retirement in his early 60s. My father was a wonderful family man and a true Zionist. He loved to go to Israel and in his latter years purchased an apartment in Netanya where my parents went a few times a year until my mother got sick. Unfortunately shortly before her death, my father was diagnosed with dementia which worsened over the next 10 years until his death on 10th May 2014.

The square represents his place of birth with photos of his father, mother and brother. It gives the dates of their births and deaths and just a short outline of the camps. It shows his latter years with his wife.

Linda El-eini

Alf (Abraham) was born in Magnuszew, Poland, on the 7th May 1928 (according to official documents). The picture in the top right hand corner shows dad preparing food in the kitchens on the Calgarth estate near lake Windermere, where the children were brought after the War for rehabilitation (we spotted this image – part of a larger photo – in a BBC documentary a couple of years ago about The Boys, and my husband was able to freeze the on-screen picture and take a photo for us). Dad always loved cooking (and was very good at it) and told me that he used to help his mother when he was a small child in Poland.

The two pictures of him in uniform were taken in Israel in 1948 when he volunteered for the army. He was extremely proud of the fact he had done this which is why we chose to include these images on the square. The text on the square reads:

‘A young foreign boy came to live in England but couldn’t speak a word of English. To help him settle down, he decided to attend evening classes to learn the language, so he enrolled at a college near London’s Charing Cross. In order to get there, he had to take the Tube from Manor House station but, of course, he had no idea how to use the Underground so he approached a member of staff to ask – in very broken English – which train to take. He was told to take the escalator down to the Piccadilly Line and then change to the Bakerloo. He didn’t know what an escalator was but, as it sounded like “ask me later”, he stood around for half an hour to ask the man again until it finally dawned on him that it meant the moving staircase down to the platform. The young foreigner was our dad, Alf Kirszberg, and in our house an escalator was forever after known as an “ask me later”.

As for the soup – well, he just loved soup!’

Elaine Blatt

My dad was a very charismatic man. He left a great impression on everyone he met. He was a great listener and was able to delve into their deeper selves of everyone he met and people would invariably say ‘He changed my life!’

My square is based on the Love, Ahava sculpture which is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. I took the letters of his name and upon my daughter’s suggestion, chose blue and green as the colour theme. In fact all his cars were the same colours. He was modest and self taught. He liked people and nature very much. He loved the outdoors and our lovely garden. The impression of my quilt square is solid and not fussy, as he was… to the point. In fact I didn’t know his story as, for various reasons, he was unable to pass it on and burden his family with the great pain, loss and hardship of his youth. So it was only when he sadly passed away that mum found his diary enlightening us as to his story. This square with his name is simply what I chose to do. He had to create a new life all on his own. Each great grandchild since has been named after him as he was so special! Perhaps there’s a spark of him in further generations.

I’m his daughter who he was proud of, in the respect that I made Aliya many years ago. His greatest love, after my mum and his family, was certainly Israel where he was laid to rest in Jerusalem.

Sharon Shani

Kurt Klappholz was born in Bielsko, Poland, on 17th June 1927. The only child of Moritz and Sonia Klappholz, he had an idyllic childhood before the Germans occupied Poland.

This photograph was taken a few months after liberation. My Papa had only just recovered form a bout of typhus which had nearly finished the job the Germans had started. This picture captures the very essence of him, his innate curiosity and genuine warmth and love for humanity, despite his horrendous wartime experiences. Almost all of our family were murdered.

Adam Klappholz

David Kutner, survivor, was all about love.

His great love for the sun in both summer and winter, for the full moon, for his favourite Spanish music, for his funny little sayings, for the stories of the Fools of Chelm and for his daily cups of tea.

He also loved his many friends like Sala and Benny, fellow survivors, ”interferers” at his wedding in lieu of his lost parents. Or Joyce and Eddie from the Primrose Club days.

All of these are represented on our Memory Quilt square.
But most of all, David’s love was for us, his family: Valerie, his beautiful, loving and caring wife; Lorraine and Suzanne, his adored daughters, and Emma and Zak, his treasured grandchildren.

Also for Frania, his late sister, who he found after the War but later sadly lost in 1964, and for Frania’s children, Hannah and Eugene, who, although many miles distant, were always in his heart.These photos are a tribute to the love he gave all of us.

Finally, a word about the Lancaster Bomber and Mr. Derek Simmans, who, with Valerie, first met David in October 2007. Derek was so moved by David’s Holocaust experiences that he helped us to get all his testimony to Yad Vashem. It was Derek who suggested the brilliant idea of the Lancaster Bomber to remind us all of The Boys’ new start in life. We thank him here personally in David’s name.

May the sun always shine on the glorious memory of dear David.

Suzanne Kutner

My father, known then as Szmulek or Shmuel Laskier, was born in Warsaw in August 1927. His family home was in the middle of the ghetto on Stavki St, across from the Umschlagplatz. After approximately 18 months in the Warsaw ghetto, his parents managed to smuggle him out and he was sent to stay with his Aunt in Ostrowiecz. From there, he was sent to Blizin concentration camp, and from there, to Auschwitz/ Birkenau. After 7 months, he was then transported to Buchenwald concentration camp. After many months, he was sent with many of The Boys to Theresienstadt. There, he was liberated on 8th May 1945 by the Russians. Dad was then helped by the Central British Fund to come to England in August 1945 and was sent with the first group to Windermere in Cumbria.

My father’s younger sister Rushka also survived the camps, and they were reunited in the UK in 1946. Eventually his sister emigrated to Israel where she still lives, together with her husband, 2 children and 3 grandchildren.Dad eventually settled in North Manchester where he met our mother, Blanche. They married in 1956. Initially dad worked in many factories and industries and eventually built a business in wholesale menswear.

This square represents the Laskier family, from before the Second World War to the present day where my father is surrounded by the love of his 4 children and 5 grandchildren, and is in memory of his mother, father and sister (top picture) together with many of his extensive family who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

Shelley Laskier