Remembering the Holocaust

We are approaching a time when Holocaust survivors and other eye witnesses of the largest mass murder in modern history will no longer be alive. On Tuesday 25th January, it will be both an honour and a privilege to have Holocaust survivor Mrs Lily Ebert among us, to tell us her experiences, on the occasion of Holocaust Memorial Day.

From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany, headed by Adolf Hitler led the systematic persecution and murder of Jews, gypsies, the handicapped, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war and political dissidents. People it considered politically, racially or socially “unfit”.

It is the mission of Holocaust Memorial Day and of the dissemination of Lilly Ebert’s story to advance and propagate the knowledge of this genocide. The aim is to preserve the memory of the millions who were murdered and to encourage reflection of the moral and spiritual questions raised by these events, as well as to recognise our responsibilities as students of a renowned university and citizens of democracy.

Remembering the Holocaust and listening to testimonies like Lilly Ebert’s are a call to the conscience of our world. This massacre occurred in the heart of Europe, in what was regarded as a civilised, modern nation. It was the consequence of the silence of people who followed orders without question. Who watched and did nothing. Pastor Martin Niemöller famously said,

“They came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

It is by keeping alive the memory of what happened that we make sure we aren’t the silent ones standing by, contributing to the suffering of others.

In 1945, nobody thought there would be another holocaust. Yet we have been and are witnesses to the persecution of people in Bosnia, Ruanda and Darfur because of their ethnicity.

Join us in order to learn a powerful lesson in the fragility of freedom and the need for vigilance in preserving democratic values.

We are the last generation who will be able to hear from a Holocaust survivor. Come while you can.

Holocaust survivor visits Imperial

Join IC Jewish Society for an increasingly rare opportunity that should not be missed: Holocaust Survivor, Mrs Lily Ebert at Imperial College.

In July 1944 Lilly Ebert was just 14 when she, her three sisters, brother and mother were herded into cattle- trucks and taken from their home in Hungary to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Upon arrival Lily was registered and tattooed with the number A-10572.

She will be talking about her experiences, followed by a Q&A session.

Tuesday 25th January, 6.00pm, Huxley Building LT130

For more info, contact jsoc@imperial.ac.uk