‘I fear for Europe’ – Holocaust survivor
IRELAND-based Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental has told of his fear that ‘history’s darkest chapter’ could repeat itself if a break-up of the EU is sparked by Brexit.
Mr Reichental, 82, was taken from his home in Slovakia at the age of nine and imprisoned in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1944.
He lost 35 members of his extended family in the Holocaust. After moving to Ireland in 1959, Tomi married and raised a family, but it was only just over a decade ago that he first started to talk publicly about the horrific events he witnessed in his childhood.
The grandfather of six, who lives in Dublin, has become a regular speaker at public events worldwide related to the Holocaust, and has lectured at more than 500 schools across Ireland.
He said he is more and more concerned that the rise in popularity of far-right parties in Europe and a possible Brexit-triggered fragmentation of the EU could result in history repeating itself.
He said: ‘I lost 35 members of Nightmare: The Holocaust survivor as a young boy my family and I owe it to them to make sure that they and all the six million Jews who were murdered are never forgotten. But I also fear that this could happen again, and that history could repeat itself.’
He added: ‘I also worry about Syria, and even what’s happening in my native Slovakia and many other countries, where the far right is growing in popularity. I don’t like Brexit and the possible break-up of the EU. The EU was partly created to prevent any future wars in Europe, so the return of borders in Europe is not a good prospect.’
He said he feel he has a ‘duty’ to carry on speaking to young people to ensure the mistakes of the past are not made again. He said: ‘I’m one of the last living survivors of the Holocaust and I will carry on talking about it till the end of my days now. I didn’t speak about it for about 55 years, but now they can’t stop me.
‘When I first started talking about it, I found it extremely hard and I used to break down in tears the whole time. You can’t forgot those memories.
‘There was such cruelty, with people dying around us the whole time, people starving, bodies being piled up. It was just horrific. But talking has been therapeutic and helped me cope. I’ve now learned to live with the memories, as disturbing as they are.’
Mr Reichental will give a talk at 8pm next Wednesday, April 25, at Kinsale Community School, as part of an event organised by the Co. Cork town’s long-established Peace Project. For details, see www. kinsalepeaceproject.com.