Karen Pollock, at The Blogs

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Jul 4, 2018, 7:00 PM

William the witness: Why Prince’s Israel visit was so profound for Shoah education

“I am well aware that the responsibility falls now to my generation, to keep the memory alive of that great crime, as the Holocaust generation passes on. And I commit myself to doing this.” These powerful words came from the future King of England, His Royal Highness...

Jun 14, 2018, 4:19 PM

An emotional week of sorrow and pride

Last Friday, in the space of just 24 hours, we were sharply reminded of how important Holocaust survivors are to us as we reflected on the lives of two icons, Gena Turgel and Ben Helfgott. Survivors are at the heart of all we do. We...

Jun 7, 2018, 1:51 PM

Stories of Kindertransport refugees are examples of resilience

In 1941, Abraham Jura wrote to his cousin in Palestine. He was writing from Vienna, and it was a letter written in desperation, knowing he would soon be deported. “We are lost… and beg you to look after our precious children.” He wrote these words...

Jan 24, 2018, 1:37 PM

Josef Perl’s story shows how labelling is a form of abuse

In April 1945, aged 14, Josef Perl was liberated from Buchenwald. He had survived unimaginable conditions in ghettos, slave labour camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and a death march. He had witnessed his mother, four sisters and five of their children being shot in a pit and had...

Jul 20, 2017, 11:55 AM

Kate and William showed world survivors matter

I spent the morning with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Holocaust survivors Zigi Shipper and Manfred Goldberg at Stutthof concentration camp. During the Holocaust, with the optimism of a child, Zigi never faltered in his belief that he would survive. Except at Stutthof....

Oct 21, 2016, 4:37 PM

Holocaust education makes us conscious of modern horror

Today, fewer people die as a result of war and violence than in any previous generation, but it certainly does not feel that way. I find myself grimly surprised these days if I open a newspaper to not read of another developing human tragedy abroad....

Jul 6, 2016, 11:39 AM

When Elie Wiesel spoke, everyone listened

On every visit we lead to Auschwitz- Birkenau, we take a moment at the selection ramp, where those who arrived there were marked for life or for immediate death, and we read this extract: “Men to the left! Women to the right!” Eight words were...

Jan 27, 2016, 6:54 PM

Martin shall be hugely missed, but his story will not be forgotten

Last week, as we prepared for Holocaust Memorial Day, we heard the devastating news that Martin Bennett, a survivor of the Holocaust who had spent many years speaking in schools up and down the country, had passed away. For six years, he was imprisoned, starved,...

Jan 27, 2016, 1:43 PM

Martin Bennett shall be hugely missed, but his story will not be forgotten

Last week, as we prepared for Holocaust Memorial Day, we heard the devastating news that Martin Bennett, a survivor of the Holocaust who had spent many years speaking in schools up and down the country, had passed away. For six years, he was imprisoned, starved,...

Jan 25, 2015, 1:30 PM

We pledge to carry the survivors torch

In 1942, 19-year-old David Graber wrote a letter to us, the future citizens of the world, in the last days of his life. He was part of the Oneg Shabbat, an underground movement in the Warsaw ghetto, which worked to document and preserve the life...

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About Me

Karen Pollock is the Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust (H.E.T.)