Harry’s story of the Holocaust

Harry Bibring . . . Holocaust testimony

THE horror of the Holocaust was brought home to teenagers through the experiences of a man whose family was split apart in the Second World War.

North Chadderton School and Sixth Form Centre invited Harry Bibring, from the Holocaust Educational Trust, to speak to pupils.

Mr Bibring, whose family lived in Vienna in the 1930s, described his father’s menswear business, their home and his family’s lifestyle before the union of Austria and Adolf Hitler’s Germany.

The Nazis forced them to leave their flat, Harry and his sister had to leave school, and eventually the children travelled on Kindertransport across Germany and Holland, arriving in London in 1939.

Their father died of a heart attack and their mother and her sister were sent to concentration camps.

After schooling in England, Harry studied and worked to become a chartered engineer and met his sister again. He met his future wife, Muriel, through a friend, and has lived in London ever since.

His testimony was followed by a question and answer session so students could explore the lessons of the Holocaust.

Vincent Ryder, RE teacher at North Chadderton , said: “It was a privilege for us to welcome Harry Bibring to our school and his testimony will remain a powerful reminder to our students of the horrors that so many experienced.”