Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich honoured by leading interfaith charity

The Council of Christians and Jews has presented 93-year-old educator and Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich with an award for her work to build bridges between faith communities.

She received the  Bridge Award at a ceremony at the House of the Lords on 18 July attended by Jewish and Christian leaders, representatives from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, peers, and Tribich’s friends and family.

Introduced in 2017 for CCJ’s 75th anniversary, the Bridge Award is an annual honour for someone who has made an exceptional and leading contribution to building bridges between peoples, in a Christian-Jewish or wider setting.

Recent winners include King Charles; the late former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright; and Lord Rothschild. Previous winners also include scholar Prof Amy-Jill Levine, Rabbi Lord (Jonathan) Sacks and the Smith family for their work on Holocaust education.

Tribich was born in Piotrkow, Poland. When she was nearly nine, the Nazis invaded her country and over the next five and a half years she lost her parents, sister, and most of her extended family.

At the age of 12, she became a slave labourer when the Piotrkow ghetto was finally liquidated. After 18 months, Tribich and her cousin Ann were deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was then deported to Bergen Belsen concentration camp in cattle cars where she was infected with typhus.

On 15 April 1945, Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the British and Tribich was sent to Sweden to recuperate. Here, she found out that her brother Ben Helfgott was the only other member of her family to survive, and he was in England.

Tribich and Ben reunited in 1947 in England, where she rebuilt her life. She married Maurice in 1950 and they had two children. While their children were growing up, she gained a degree in sociology from the University of London.

Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: ‘I am delighted to send my warmest congratulations to Mala Tribich MBE on receiving CCJ’s Bridge Award. Mala has made it her life’s mission to educate others, especially young people, about the horrors of the Shoah so that the world never forgets the depths to which humanity can sink when the politics of hatred are allowed to flourish unchecked. I count myself among the many people who have been inspired by Mala and she is a most worthy winner of this award.”

Bishop Sarah Bullock, the chair of CCJ, said: “The CCJ Board is deeply honoured to recognize a leader and educator like Mala Tribich with the Bridge Award. It is testimony to the resilience of the human spirit that someone who endured so much at such a young age has been able to educate so many through her teaching as well as through her work with her local CCJ branch.

“Her teaching and example are needed now more than ever at a time of high rates of antisemitism and friction between faiths in the UK.’

On receiving the award, Tribich said she was “deeply honoured”, adding that it was “particularly meaningful to me as I meet young people and adults from every faith group, ethnic and other community groups across the country. Talking about my experiences during the Holocaust I aim to help create more understanding, tolerance and humanity.”

Tribich has shared her story with tens of thousands of people across the country. Her work in educating others was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 when she received an MBE.

The Council of Christians and Jews was confirmed in May as a royal patronage.