I survived the Holocaust and went on to captain the British Olympic weightlifting team

My sister Mala and I, the only members of our family to survive, will be forever grateful to this great country for giving us a second chance at life

Ben Helfgott
Thursday 27 January 2022 09:29 GMT
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<p>I persevered, trained hard and ended up being captain of the British weightlifting team at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, and again at the 1960 Olympics in Rome</p>

I persevered, trained hard and ended up being captain of the British weightlifting team at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, and again at the 1960 Olympics in Rome

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Seventy-seven years ago, I was liberated from the Terezin concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. At that time, I was alone, without my family. I was offered a chance to come to the UK – my father used to talk about England and so I decided to come.

I was brought to Windermere in the Lake District. I was 15 years old. My childhood had been taken from me, I thought all of my family had been murdered, but I was determined to rebuild my life. I was born in 1929 in the central Polish city of Piotrkow, a city of 55,000 inhabitants, 15,000 of them Jewish like me.

I remember having a happy childhood, living with my parents Moishe and Sara, and my sisters Mala and Luisa. I was like any other child. I liked school, I enjoyed learning, and I loved playing sports. In 1939, that all changed.

Germany invaded Poland and as a Jewish family, our lives were turned upside down. We were forced to leave our home and move into the Piotrkow Ghetto, the first to be established by the Nazis in occupied Poland. The ghetto became more and more overcrowded and unsanitary with every passing week. There was nothing picturesque about this ghetto; multiple large families were made to live in tiny apartments, everything was filthy and there was never enough food.

In 1942, my father was able to secure me a job at a local glass factory outside of the ghetto. I was 12 years old, and the work was tough, but it was better than staying within the ghetto walls. Then, one evening, as I returned from a nightshift, we found that the ghetto had been sealed and the people were being rounded up. In just one week, 22,000 of the 24,000 Jewish inhabitants of the ghetto were deported to the Treblinka death camp, including my grandfather. Only those with work passes were allowed to remain, which meant my mother and two sisters had to remain in hiding. My sister Mala was sent out of the ghetto to hide, while my mother and Luisa remained hidden within its walls.

Then one day, the Nazis offered an amnesty, but only if all of those in hiding revealed themselves. It turned out to be a lie. My mother and Luisa were taken to the local woods along with the other 520 Jewish people who had made themselves known. In the woods, they were shot. My sister was only eight years old.

In 1944, the Nazis liquidated the ghetto and my father and I were sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. I was there for two weeks before being transported to Schlieben, a labour camp and then onto Terezín where I was eventually liberated. When I left Buchenwald, I was separated from my father for the first time. I never saw him again. He was shot and killed a few days before the end of the war as he attempted to escape from a relentless death march.

After the war ended, the British government offered to take in 1,000 orphaned child survivors. Only 732 children answered the call, as so few of us had survived. I was one of those 732 children who was brought to the UK under the auspices of World Jewish Relief, then known as the Central British Fund. We were taught English, fed and given a chance to recover, and we were treated with kindness. Here, I made my first few steps towards rebuilding my life. Despite arriving with no English, I was given the chance to study at the local grammar school just a short time later. To be able to restart my education was the greatest gift.

In 1947, I heard the unbelievable news that my sister, Mala, had also survived. After returning to the ghetto, she was taken and deported to Ravensbruck concentration camp before she was eventually liberated by the British at Bergen-Belsen. We will be forever grateful to this great country for giving us a second chance at life.

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Soon after coming to London, I was walking through the park when I saw men training with weights. I asked if I could have a go – they must have thought I was joking, this small skinny boy asking to lift weights. I surprised them. I persevered, trained hard and ended up being captain of the British weightlifting team at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, and again at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

I am sharing my story today to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. I am telling you because these terrible events happened to me, to my family and to millions more Jewish men, women and children. I have spent more than 70 years living with what we experienced, and trying to make sure that the world never forgets. I am telling you because very soon I and my fellow survivors will not be able to do so ourselves. We now depend on the next generation to pick up the baton and ensure our testimonies are never forgotten.

As we commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day 2022, I now ask you take on my mission. To do all in your power to make sure what happened to me, and my family is never repeated. As Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel said: “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” Let us teach the children of today what can happen if the good stay silent.

Ex-Olympian Sir Ben Helfgott is a Holocaust survivor who shares his testimony through the Holocaust Educational Trust

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