Memory Quilt Exhibition at The London Jewish Museum

Monday 7 December 2015 until Friday 5 February 2016

The London Jewish Museum has put together a special exhibition featuring the Memory Quilt for The Boys.

This exhibition will open to the public on Monday 7 December 2015 and run until 5 February 2016.

The Jewish Museum is located at:

129 Albert Street,

Camden, London

NW1 7NB.

For details of the exhibition, click: www.jewishmuseum.org.uk

A special Private View event will be held on Tuesday 8 December 2015 at 3:30 pm for Survivors and their families.
Entry to the Private View is by invitation only and places are limited.

To request an invitation contact team@45aid.org by 1 December latest

New Years Honours for Survivors

A number of The Boys feature among the 10 x Holocaust Survivors who have been recognised in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list.

The Holocaust Survivors recognised in the New Year’s Honours include: Lily Ebert, Chaim Ferster, Agnes Grunwald-Spier, Jack Kagan, Freddie Knoller, Rudi Oppenheimer, Ivor Perl, Susan Pollack, Renee Salt and Zigi Shipper. They are all included in the New Year’s Honours list for their contributions to support Holocaust commemoration and education.

Congratulations to all of concerned for the most fabulous honour and the most wonderful achievement.

30 December 2015

Four survivors were nominated for awards by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Olivia Marks-Woldman, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said: ‘We are delighted that Her Majesty The Queen is honouring so many survivors of the Holocaust for the work they do to support Holocaust Memorial Day, Holocaust education, and Holocaust commemoration. For many survivors The Queen has embodied the welcome and opportunities they found here in Britain, where they came to rebuild their lives. These awards recognise the individual contributions that they have made; but they also recognise the contributions that all survivors make to the UK, and honour the memory of the millions of people who did not survive the Holocaust.’

Yom HaShoah Commemoration at Bushey

Second Generation member Frances Kahan, daughter of Joe Perl, writes about the Yom HaShoah Commemoration she organised in Bushey, Hertfordshire.

Over 150 people attended a moving Holocaust remembrance service in May 2016 organised by Frances Kahan and the Perl family.

Children from the community opened the service with the lighting of six candles, Joshua Cass recounted his life-changing trip to Poland with JNF and the audience was moved by Hebrew songs beautifully sung by Bension accompanied by Claudio on his accordion.

yomhashoah
“Frances Kahan poses with her family including husband, parents, brother and sister in law. Her father Joe Perl is one of The Boys and has been a frequent speaker in schools”.

A keynote was graphically delivered by survivor Eva Behar. A tiny but hugely courageous 92 year-old survivor, she told of her descent into the clutches of the Nazis and of a journey which saw her rounded up and taken to Sighet Ghetto, transported by cattle wagon to Auschwitz in May 1944 and finally transported again by cattle wagon, followed by a four-day death march in the freezing depths of winter, into the horrors of Bergen-Belsen, where she arrived on January 1st 1945. Though suffering from typhus and dysentery and delirious from lack of food or water, she recounted the moment British forces liberated the camp on April 15th 1945 and went proudly on to tell of her life after her recuperation and of building a wonderful family. Eva’s triumph! When she finished, the silence was deafening!

The second keynote was eloquently delivered by Olivia Marks-Woldman, Chief Executive of the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, who used a camp story of a postcard, a photograph and a bag of beans to remind us all of our individual responsibilities in keeping the memory of those butchered in the Holocaust alive, so they do not suffer a double death.

Local dignitaries including the Mayor of Hertsmere Cllr Martin Worster, Oliver Dowden MP for Hertsmere, The Vice Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire Richard Beazley and several local Councillors attended the service which was closed by Rabbi Salasnik who movingly told of his own family’s loss in the Shoah. It will be the last time his words close this remembrance service as he retires after serving the community for 37 years.

Growing in attendance every year, if you are in the Bushey area, this poignant Yom HaShoah service is a powerful way to keep the memory alive and to honour those whose lives were so cruelly lost.

Frances Kahan