Stories from the Holocaust

With Holocaust Memorial Day in recent memory, this week Year 7 and 8 were visited by two guest speakers, Jane Curzon and Helen Stone, to give them deeper insight into the Holocaust. Each of their mothers were survivors of the Holocaust, and Jane and Helen were kind enough to share their families' stories, as well as video testimony direct from their mothers. We thank them both for their moving talks.

Jane's mother Stella was born in Vienna in 1928 and came to England as a refugee aged ten. Stella's father, Schulim, was a dentist, and was taken to a concentration camp in Dachau, while Stella and her mother, Mina, had their apartment taken by their neighbours. Mina was a determined wife and masterminded Schulim’s release from Dachau. Schulim then came to England and through a series of fortunate events, he found three women to offer Stella refuge.

Helen's mother Emmy was born in a small village near Cologne in Germany just as World War One was beginning. The insidious rise of the Nazis from 1933 onwards forced Emmy, her parents and her sister to flee Germany in search of a safe haven. She escaped to Britain in May 1939 and succeeded in rescuing her parents, who arrived in London just three days before the start of war in September 1939. She married, had children and eventually made a fulfilling life for herself and her family in England.