HOLOCAUST survivor Uri Winterstein paid a special visit to Trinity High School in a trip organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust.
Uri’s story is a remarkable one as he was only born in 1943, so was a baby and a toddler during the Holocaust.
Nevetheless students heard that the impact the Holocaust had on his family was unimaginable.
Uri’s parents were influential members of in the Jewish community in Czechoslovakia and lived in constant fear of deportation to Auschwitz – where nine of Uri’s family were murdered.
To save him, when Uri was only a month old, his parents took the heartbreaking step of putting him in the care of a non-Jewish woman as they realised it would be impossible to keep a baby quiet in hiding.
In 1944 the inevitable happened – Uri’s mother and father and sister were deported to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp holding centre established by the SS.
Incredibly they survived and Uri was eventually reunited with his family, and together they emigrated to Brazil, where he grew up.
Uri then took part in a question and answer session with the stunned students, being asked ‘do you forgive your parents for abandoning you?’ and ‘do you have any advice for young people today, to stop this ever happening again?’
Students had also produced a sculpture to recognise and remember the Holocaust in the form of a candle with a flame of hands.
Head of History Kate Stocks said: “It was privilege to welcome Uri to our school, and his testimony was a powerful reminder of the horrors so many have experienced.
“I hope that by hearing Uri’s testimony, students will learn from the lessons of the Holocaust, and it will have a positive impact on their own lives.”
