‘Determined’ survivor dies after illness

CHAIM FERSTER, a Holocaust survivor who was sent to seven Nazi concentration camps, has died at the age of 94.

Mr Ferster died after suffering from pneumonia and a kidney infection, according to his rabbi, Arnold Saunders.

Paying tribute, Rabbi Saunders said Mr Ferster “had nine lives and was an inspiration”.

When the Nazis invaded Poland, Mr Ferster was forced from his home in the city of Sosnowiec and sent to camps including Buchenwald and Auschwitz, where he suffered malnutrition and typhus.

He was liberated by American troops, and settled in Manchester with his sister, Manya, in 1946. They started a new life in Cheetham Hill where Mr Ferster set up a manufacturing business.

He dedicate his later years to Holocaust education.

Karen Pollock, Holocaust Educational Trust chief executive, said: “Chaim Ferster survived the worst horrors known to man, losing almost his entire family.

“He reminds us that the eyewitnesses to the Holocaust will not be with us forever and that it is up to all of us to keep their legacies alive.”

Relative Hannah Salomon said Mr Ferster was “a powerful, determined, indefatigable man”.