‘A victory over the silence’: Holocaust survivors honoured at London book launch
Three Holocaust survivor memoirs launched in Hampstead as part of My Voice’s acclaimed national education project
Three Holocaust survivors who endured Nazi persecution, forced family separation and displacement were honoured in London on Monday with the launch of powerful new autobiographical books as part of the The Fed’s My Voice project, in partnership with Yad Vashem UK in London and the south east.
The three titles – Hidden Pieces by Jacques Weisser, I Still Dream in Yiddish by Rachel Levy, and The Boy from Cologne by Kurt Marx – were unveiled at an emotional ceremony hosted by The Fed at the Pears Communal Hall in Hampstead.
Each book tells the survivor’s story in their own words, compiled through hours of in-depth interviews supported by family photos, documents and contributions from My Voice’s dedicated team of volunteers. Since its creation in 2016, the project has published 48 life stories, with a further 12 in production.
“These stories are not just a victory over the silence,” said Juliette Pearce, project manager of My Voice. “They are a beacon of hope for future generations.”
She also announced the launch of pilot lesson plans for schools based on the books, a short film series featuring survivor storytellers, and a forthcoming travelling exhibition to further extend the project’s reach.
Pearce recalled how the project began after 92-year-old Kindertransport survivor Margit Cohen stopped her in a corridor and said: “Juliette, I need to tell you my life story, my whole life story, before I die – in my words.” Her words gave the initiative its name, and her book, I’m Still Here, became the first in the collection.
The event was attended by survivor families, educators and representatives from Holocaust institutions including Yad Vashem UK, the Anne Frank Trust, the Wiener Holocaust Library, AJR and the 45 Aid Society. Other survivors present included Harry Olmer and Mala Tribich, both of whom have published their own testimonies through the project.
Raphi Bloom, Director of Fundraising and Communications at The Fed, said: “The My Voice Project punches well above its weight. It’s globally unique, and it’s helping rewrite Holocaust education in this country.”
He added: “The Metro Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said all those involved in My Voice have done a great service to humanity – and that the books should be in every school in the country.”
The three newly launched titles span vastly different experiences of survival and loss.
In Hidden Pieces, Jacques Weisser recounts being separated from his mother at seven months old and only learning the truth of his early life decades later, through the research of a Dutch law student tracing Jewish children who had survived the war in Belgium. “My drive to educate others about the Holocaust comes from a need to belong,” he writes.
Rachel Levy’s I Still Dream in Yiddish describes her childhood journey from hiding in the mountains of Slovakia to Auschwitz, where she lost her mother and siblings. An extract was read aloud at the event by a family member, who shared her vivid memory of clinging to her mother in the cattle car travelling to the death camp:
“That memory is so sharp, I can feel it. I always wondered why I was chosen to survive … but maybe it was to have a husband and two children, and for that, I thank you.”
Kurt Marx, who turns 100 next month, was sent to Britain via the Kindertransport after Kristallnacht. He later discovered his parents were deported and murdered in Maly Trostenets. In an extract from The Boy from Cologne read by his son Michael, Marx wrote:
“For many decades, I didn’t know what had happened to my parents. Once I did, I wanted to go to the site where they were killed… It was quite an experience.”
Pearce also announced the launch of pilot lesson plans for schools based on the books, a short film series featuring survivor storytellers, and a forthcoming travelling exhibition to further extend the project’s reach.
The books are published by Manchester University Press and distributed to schools, libraries and academic institutions in the UK and internationally. Collections are held at the Wiener Holocaust Library, the John Rylands Library, the National Library of Israel and Yad Vashem.
Bloom closed the event by reaffirming the project’s commitment to education and remembrance: “The promise we made to our survivors – that their stories will be heard – is a promise we will keep. Not just for them, but for all of us.”
For more information, visit www.myvoice.org.uk
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