ALL OUR Why we must never forget
ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF THE HOLOCAUST EXHIBITION AND LEARNING CENTRE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD, WE ARE REMINDED BY THOSE WHO LIVED THROUGH THE ATROCITY WHY WE MUST NEVER ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN
MAN’S inhumanity to man was never more evident than during the Holocaust. The unspeakable brutality that took place is well documented; equally, though, stories of incredible courage and an absolute determination to go on also emerged from those who survived.
The stories of 16 children who were rescued from the Nazis and made new lives in Yorkshire are preserved for future generations at the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre – the only facility of its kind in the north of England – within the grounds of the University of Huddersfield.
The centre has just celebrated its first anniversary. Since September 2018, thousands of visitors have experienced an interactive exhibition, Through Our Eyes, that presents the Holocaust narrative through the stories and experiences of its survivors.
Speakers at the anniversary celebration were Barbara Winton, whose late father Sir Nicolas Winton rescued almost 700 child refugees from Czechoslovakia, and Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, one of the children he saved.
The anniversary event was attended by members of the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association (HSFA), which campaigned for 20 years to get the project off the ground. never be allowed to perpetuate in the future.
“Terrible things have happened in history for thousands of years,” said Trude. “But for many, these are now consigned to the history books.
“What happened to us was real, it happened to real people whose families were torn apart; we lost our parents and had to make our own lives without them.
“Tragically, we see similar situations today with refugees who are forced to flee their homelands.
“We are all human, we all have the same needs for food, shelter and a loving family, regardless of colour or creed.”
As a child, Trude and her siblings were sent to stay with their grandmother in the country.
Her sister was the first to leave for England, to be fostered by a family in London. Brother Paul was offered a job at a London furrier’s and left five months later.
As tensions escalated, Trude’s aunt secured work as a domestic servant in England and was able to take her daughter and Trude out of Czechoslovakia.
Desperately homesick, nine-yearold Trude stayed with foster families before being evacuated from the city to Rickmansworth and eventually Cornwall.
Trude’s ambition was to study medicine and she moved schools several times before arriving in Leeds to study medical biochemistry.
She met her husband, Norman, and raised her own family in the city before returning to her studies and eventually tutoring PHD students.
FELLOW survivor Dr Martin Kapel arrived in England in July 1939 after being expelled from his native Germany.
Early one morning, Martin and his family were taken from their home by soldiers and put aboard a train with many other families. Hours later, just before midnight, the train stopped in the middle of the countryside and the passengers forced to walk along the railway line until, unbeknown to them, they crossed the border into Poland and were left there.
They eventually went to stay with family in Krakow before joining other relatives in a small village without running water.
Martin and his sister escaped Germany aboard the Kindertransport and were fostered by a family in Coventry. However, it was impossible for Martin to communicate as he spoke no English and the family had strong regional accents.
In November 1940, the city suffered its biggest air raid and the family were forced to seek shelter in a small pantry under the stairs.
Unsurprisingly, both he and his sister were deeply traumatised by the event, which left the community without water, gas or electricity for weeks.
Their mother eventually managed to escape Poland on a temporary visa but so great were the ordeals they had each been through that they were unable to rebuild their fractured relationships with one another. Tragically, not one of Martin’s Polish relatives survived – his family page in the Leeds Book of Remembrance names 22 people.
FEW of us can contemplate sending a four-year-old girl across Europe on her own with just a treasured teddy bear for company.
Yet that’s how Leisel Carter escaped Nazi Germany to find sanctuary first in Norway and eventually in Leeds.
Leisel never knew her father, who died in 1937. She recalls her mother securing work in Hull as a domestic servant but under rules imposed by the British government, she was unable to take her daughter with her and Leisel was cared for in a children’s home.
Desperate to get Leisel out of Germany, her mother appealed to her employers to help. Leisel escaped on Norwegian papers, travelling alone through Germany and Sweden.
She was taken in by a Norwegian family, the Alfsens, before being fostered by a couple in Leeds.
Leisel was eventually reunited with her mother but never lived with her again, remaining with her foster family until she married her husband Terry.