Stanley Fisher, Jewish soldier who helped liberate Belsen, dies aged 103

British Jewish veteran Stanley Fisher has died at the age of 103 years old.

Alongside fellow veteran Mervyn Kersh, Fisher was among an estimated 60,000 Jews who served in the British Armed Forces during the war.

Both landed in Normandy in 1944 and were later stationed near Bergen-Belsen when it was liberated by British forces in April 1945.

Fisher, who landed at Arromanches, remembered in a 2023 interview how witnessing the camp’s horrors left him traumatised and silent for years.

“If someone fell by your side, you just carried on,” he said. “But the nightmares stayed.”

In 2024 the two men marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of Monte Cassino, and the battles of Kohima and Imphal in Burma.

Writing in tribute, Dan Fox, AJEX Chair Emeritus, said: “Stanley landed at Arromanches in June 1944 and fought across France, into the Netherlands and eventually Germany, ending up stationed one mile from Bergen Belsen, never forgetting what he saw there.

“We wish Helena, Rachel and the rest of his family a long life. And may his memory be as a blessing. Everything we have, sir, we have because of you.”

Fional Palmer, chief executive, AJEX, said: “We have been honoured to consider Stanley Fisher a key part of the AJEX story. Seeing him together with Mervyn Kersh and many members of his family at the National Memorial Arboretum in 2024 was very special. We are also so glad he got to go to the Not Forgotten Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, Number 10 and more.His legacy will live on through AJEX and family members. May his memory be a blessing.”

Fisher and Kersh were both awarded the British Empire Medal in the 2026 New Year’s Honours List.