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Date:  28 January 2008

Mayor makes first visit to Jewish Care's Holocaust Survivors' Centre and survivor Lily Ebert talks to head office staff

Councillor Maureen Braun, the Mayor of Barnet visited Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre in Hendon for the first time and had tea with the members. The Holocaust Memorial Day gathering included Major Dick Williams, one of the first liberators of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and Neil Taylor, the charity’s director of community services.

HSC director Judith Hassan said: “After our visit to Barnet’s HMD commemoration at Middlesex University, it was a positive and uplifting experience to return to the centre and have tea with so many survivors and our honoured guests.”

The following day, Auschwitz survivor and HSC member Lily Ebert addressed staff at Jewish Care’s head office in Golders Green. She gave a chilling first hand account of the atrocities of the Holocaust and the appalling conditions she endured. Mrs Ebert said the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre was “the best thing that could have happened for survivors”, describing it as “a second home.”

Mrs Ebert also spoke about her work with schools where she gives talks about the Holocaust. She said: “Not only must we teach them about the Holocaust but we must also teach children to be tolerant of each other.”

Staff were also addressed by Judith Hassan, who said: “Those of us who weren’t there can’t imagine what happened in the Holocaust.”

Anthea Jones, registered manager of Jewish Care’s 7b Mapesbury Road, a home for people with mental health needs, said: “My father was Polish but he never spoke about what happened. It was an honour to meet Lily Ebert and hear her speak.”