Visit by Holocaust survivor

We were privileged to receive a visit yesterday by Professor Ladislaus Lob who spoke to our Year 9 students about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor after being sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the age of 11.  The visit was organised by Ms Michica and Ms Jones in the school's Humanities faculty  with the Holocaust Educational Trust.  He described his childhood in Hungary during the German occupation and his deportation to Bergen-Belsen where he spent five months with his father before being sent to Switzerland.  He remained in Zurich and eventually came to the UK in 1963 where he became professor of German at the University of Sussex.  He retired in 1998 and now visits schools and colleges across the country to talk about his experiences during the Holocaust.

His book ‘Rezso Kasztner- The Daring Rescue of Hungarian Jews: A Survivor’s Account’ can be found in the school library.  For more details about Professor Lob, please see his website ladislauslob.co.uk and for information about the Holocaust Educational trust visit www.het.org.uk

His talk was followed by a questions and answers session and here are some comments by our Year 9 students:

Tania Hemsley:  I thought it was very interesting and it was different to what I learned about in primary school about the camps and the war.  He described the concentration camps and what they were like and his personal experience of living in one.  He told us about what happened to all the other members of his family during the war as well as what happened to him.  He then told us about what he did after the war and what he does now.

Abigail Hollingsworth: I thought it was really intriguing and I enjoyed the way he could remember everything and described it in so much detail that I could imagine it.

Sasha Mitchell:  I really enjoyed the talk because I thought it was very factual and interesting.  I especially enjoyed the fact that Professor Lob was extremely positive even though he has been through so much.

Kess Rowe:  He was very factual and spoke more about the events than the feelings, which was surprising because lots of students thought they would cry.  He started by making us laugh when he told us to say “ice cream” if we couldn’t hear him if, by mistake, he lowered the microphone and this lightened the mood.  

Katy Saunders:  I thought it was fascinating because he was very open about such a traumatic subject.  I think that might have been because he has given so many talks and all the little anecdotes put the audience at ease to make him see a lot less intimidating than you would expect.