This theme resonated with me as a PhD student here in the School of History researching Holocaust survivor groups, and how they aimed to challenge racism and atrocities wherever they may see it. Through my research, I\u2019ve formed links with the \u201945 Aid Society<\/a>, a group that began with the Windermere children as represented in the BBC drama which aired on the 27th<\/sup> January 2020, who deemed themselves \u2018The Boys\u2019, despite there being some girls.<\/p>\n With the dwindling numbers of survivors, there\u2019s a burning question of \u2018what\u2019s next\u2019? for Holocaust memory, and for me this is where the second generation or the children of survivors come in. This led me to inviting Julia Burton from the \u201945 Aid Society to speak to staff and students here in the School of History about the experiences of her father, David Herman, who arrived in the UK after the Windermere children in 1946.<\/p>\n The School of History and Politics Common Room in Rutherford attracted a mixed crowd of undergraduate students, postgraduates and staff from a variety of different historical interests and backgrounds. Julia began her talk by emphasising her father\u2019s pre-war life in Munkacs in Czechoslovakia, now part of the Ukraine, and his relationship with his family. This was especially important for her as it reminds her of her father\u2019s life before the Holocaust.<\/p>\n Emotively and at a considered pace, Julia moved through her father\u2019s experiences as Munkacs became a ghetto and his experiences at camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald, but also lesser known forced labour camps where he was sent. She showed us her father\u2019s Buchenwald file where this picture was taken and detailed physical descriptions recorded.<\/p>\n (Photograph of David Herman at Buchenwald, courtesy of Julia Burton)<\/em><\/p>\n Miraculously, all three of David Herman\u2019s siblings survived and they were reunited after the war was over. David came to England with a large group of survivors in March 1946 and met his wife Olive at work, going on to have four children together. Unfortunately, Julia\u2019s father died in 2008 but she emphasised the legacy that he had left behind.<\/p>\n Overall, Julia\u2019s talk was poignant and really resonated with the attendees of the talk, many of whom were speechless at the end. The talk ended with Julia introducing the memory quilts, an idea she had to commemorate the 70th<\/sup> anniversary in 2015 of the liberation of \u2018The Boys\u2019 from the camps and the arrival of the first group in England. One of the last images of Julia\u2019s talk was this photograph below of a large portion of the surviving members of the \u201945 Aid Society with the quilts as they were unveiled. Unfortunately, they number even fewer today, and this communicates the importance of speakers such as Julia, who have a connection to the Holocaust through their parents and can pass on these important stories once there are no survivors left.<\/p>\n (Photo: 45aid.org<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history\/files\/2020\/02\/Picture-1.png\")
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