Inspirational mother of Ed and David Miliband, Marion, dies, aged 91

Marion Miliband – the mother of Labour politicians David and Ed, and wife to historian Ralph – has died, aged 91.

Jewish News understands Marion, who survived the Holocaust before going on to become a campaigner for justice, a devoted mother, teacher  and a respected author of studies into childcare, employment and other issues, passed away on May 27 in London.

The Miliband family have spent the days since contacting relatives to alert them to the sad news.

In a statement released on Saturday, David and Ed confirmed they were sad to announce the death of their mother.

They added:”Her life was a remarkable trajectory, from the childhood trauma of the Holocaust in Poland to safety and joy in Britain.

“She became a teacher, campaigner and a passionate advocate for justice.”

The two brothers added:”Marion was a force field of life and a dearly beloved mother, grandmother and sister.

“We will deeply miss her but will carry her spirit and values with us always.”

 

Born Dobra Jenta Kozak in 1934 in Częstochowa, Poland, Marion Kozak exemplified the resilience of a generation of Jews that endured the unimaginable.

To her family and community, she was simply Marion – a Holocaust survivor whose early life was marked by profound loss and extraordinary courage, but who also went on to build a home rooted in the values of justice and learning.

Hailing from a prosperous Jewish family, Marion’s childhood was shattered by the Nazi invasion. Her father, Dawid, stayed behind to care for his elderly parents, while Marion, her mother, Bronislawa, and her sister, Hadassa, went into hiding.

In 1939, when the Germans took control, about 40,000—a quarter of Częstochowa’s population—were Jewish.

The Kozaks’ factory was commandeered and transformed into a munitions plant. In the town, an estimated 2,000 Jews were murdered by Germans on the spot, and another 40,000 were transported to the gas chambers at the Treblinka extermination camp.

Many of Marion’s relatives perished – some sixty members of the extended family on both sides were murdered in the Shoah.

Marion’s survival hinged on acts of extraordinary bravery – a German factory manager who pulled her and other children from a line destined for execution, Polish nuns who sheltered the family, and other righteous individuals who risked everything.

She has always spoken sparingly of those dark years, preferring gratitude to recounting trauma.

In February 1996, Marion attended a ceremony with her sister Hadassah at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in honour of the Sitkowski family, who had saved them from certain death at the hands of the Nazis by taking them into their home in Warsaw.

A year earlier, in 1995, Yad Vashem had recognised Helena Sitkowski and her son, Andrzej Sitkowski, as Righteous Among the Nations.

In 1947, at just twelve years old, Marion arrived in Britain through a Jewish organisation, one of the young survivors given a chance at a new life. Bright and determined, she excelled academically, eventually studying at the London School of Economics.

She also gained a PhD in Economic and Social History from the University of Hull, where she submitted a thesis in 1976 on “Women munition workers during the First World War with special reference to engineering”.

There, she met Ralph Miliband, the influential Marxist scholar and fellow Jewish refugee from Belgium.

They married in 1961 and created a vibrant, intellectually charged household in London where politics, ideas, and debate were daily bread.

Together they raised two sons, David and Ed, who would both rise to lead the Labour Party. Marion instilled in them not only a fierce sense of social justice, but also the immigrant’s drive to contribute and the survivor’s understanding of fairness and human dignity.

Ralph, himself born to Polish Jewish parents who had fled economic depression in Warsaw, died in 1994 after becoming one of the most influential Marxist historians.

Marion was left devastated when a newspaper article published in 2013 attempted to portray her late husband as the “Man who hated Britain” – with her son Ed openly speaking out to dispute the claims.

But Kozak was widely regarded as  a “campaigning mother” who, unlike her late husband Ralph, remained loyal to the Labour Party, while he looked further leftwards.

Friends claimed that the 2010 contest between Ed and David to become Labour leader was difficult for their mother and that she even told people it would have been much easier had they simply become academics rather than politicians.

Her sons did not speak too often about family life in public, but when they did, there was warmth and love for their mother.

In his 2012 Labour conference speech as leader, Ed said: “I believe that we can overcome any odds if we come together as people.

“That’s how my Mum survived the war. The kindness of strangers. Nuns in a convent who took her in and sheltered her from the Nazis, took in a Jewish girl at risk to themselves. It’s what my dad found when he came to these shores and joined the Royal Navy and was part of Britain winning the war.”

When visiting Poland as Foreign Secretary, David said: “My mother was born here, her life was saved by those who risked theirs sheltering her from Nazi oppression.”

As president of the International Rescue Committee, David also regularly spoke about the profound impact of being a child of refugees on his life.
Current Energy Secretary Ed has also spoken warmly about the hope in his mother’s story. He once said: “Our family background taught us everything about hope…

“So it is important to keep memories alive about the horror but also the hope that saved so many members of my family, including my mum.”

In 2017, Marion, Ed and David and an aunt visited the small concentration camp near the southern town of Hailfingen, after a German historical society discovered their grandfather, David, Marion’s father, had perished there, and not Auschwitz as originally believed.

“It was important for both of us that we went on this visit with my mother and our aunt,” said David.  “It was very, very moving.”

Friends and family often note how Marion’s warmth and principles shaped the brothers as much as their father’s formidable intellect.

Beyond motherhood, Marion forged her own path as an academic, earning a PhD in economic and social history, and as a tireless activist.

 

An early member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, she championed human rights and remained a committed Labour voice.

She has long been associated with Jewish groups advocating for peace and Palestinian rights – positions reflecting her deeply held belief that Jewish ethics demand speaking out against injustice wherever it occurs, regardless of who suffers it.

Throughout her life, Marion remained a private woman who never sought the spotlight.

Yet her life story – from the streets of occupied Poland to the heart of British public life – stands as a testament to Jewish endurance and the enduring commitment to justice.

In an age grappling with rampant antisemitism, and where the lessons of the Shoah have been increasingly distorted, Marion’s legacy reminds us that survival is not merely about living through darkness, but about choosing light, principle, and compassion.