HOLOCAUST Memorial Day has always had special meaning for the Deputy Mayor of Redditch, Councillor Jenny Wheeler, and this year she is hoping the people of the town will join her in marking it.
Her father, Lazslo Goldberger, was just 16 years old when he was put on one of the last trains to freedom from Vienna. He fully expected his sister and parents to follow but they, like millions of others, were rounded up by the Nazis and sent to their deaths in the concentration camps of the Third Reich.
Originally from Hungary the family, who were Jewish, had already been persecuted because of their religion and transported to the Austrian capital.
“It was the 27th of July 1939 and he was not supposed to go but another child was too ill to travel, so he took that child’s place. Only a couple of other trains managed to get through after that,” said Coun Wheeler.
“He made a life for himself here in England and married an English woman and they had three daughters. He was one of the first people in Redditch along with Coun Betty Passingham to help set up Holocaust Memorial Day.”
As the years go by this year’s event, instead of having someone with direct experiences of the Nazi death camps as guest speaker, will feature Mirsad Solaković from Bosnia.
Mirsad was a boy during the Bosnian Wars of the 1990s, his school being turned into what is now known as Trnopolje concentration camp, where he was tortured.
“It’s important that we do not forget our history and remember the problems of the 1920s and 1930s that led to the rise of nationalism and its consequences,” said Coun Wheeler.
“This year we are looking at other holocausts, this time in the Bosnian War and at Srebrenica (where 8,000 people were murdered in 1995) because it’s important for young people to know that not that long ago similar events were happening, and MP Karen Lumley has helped to get someone who managed to survive that time.”
Holocaust Memorial Day is on January 27 with the official Redditch event on Saturday, July 28, starting at 10.30am at the town hall, before pausing at the Holocaust memorial on Church Green and then proceeding to the Ecumenical Centre for readings by local dignatories.
At 12noon Mr Solakovic will give a talk between refreshments and performances by Redditch Community Gospel Choir. All welcome.
