Writes Joshua S. (L6th) JSOC Student Co-Leader,
Last week, the Jewish Society hosted Lesley Urbach, who shared her family’s experiences during the Holocaust and its consequences on her family’s lives. She also gave us some poignant insight into her family’s time before the Second World War. During the talk, she mentioned how her mother grew up in the town of Bublitz, in Northern Germany. They were the only Jewish family in the town and prior to the war, they felt very much a part of the town, fully integrated into the wider community who they felt were extremely warm and friendly to them.
However when the Nazi party rose into power, their lives changed enormously. Lesley’s family were forbidden to go to school and they suffered extreme antisemitism. Lesley’s mother and aunt were very fortunate and managed to escape Germany before deportation to the Concentration Camps, being just 2 of 10,000 people on the Kindertransport, that took them to England. The mother and aunt were aged 12 and 14 when they travelled on the Kindertransport.
Subsequently, Lesley’s grandparents also attempted to flee the country. Devastatingly, they were unsuccessful and were transported to Auschwitz, where they were murdered.
We felt privileged that Lesley was able to share her emotional and personal story, using a presentation that included multiple videos with her late mother, showing her real-life memories.
