A Holocaust survivor who escaped to Britain as a teenager has shared his tragic experiences with students at Wallington County Grammar School.
Harry Bibring, 83, escaped Nazi-occupied Vienna on a Kindertransport train after his father’s menswear business was destroyed during Kristallnacht.
His father later died of a heart attack after being robbed while buying travel tickets and his mother was deported to the Sobibor death camp in Poland in 1942.
Last week Mr Bibring, a former manufacturing engineer, gave his testimony to pupils as part of a visit organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET).
Peter McKean, head of history at Wallington County Grammar, said: “It was a privilege for us to welcome Harry Bibring to our school and his testimony will remain a powerful reminder of the horrors so many experienced.
“History can sometimes seem distant from our everyday experiences in 21st-century Britain, so meeting a Holocaust survivor, and a witness to the past, serves as a wonderful opportunity for students to come a little closer to the topics they have been studying.”
Karen Pollock, chief executive of HET, added: “Harry’s story is one of tremendous courage during horrific circumstances and each of us has a responsibility to ensure we honour the memory of those whose lives were lost, and take forward the lessons taught by those who survived.”
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