The My Voice book collection comprises the poignant narratives of Holocaust survivors and refugees living in Greater Manchester, the North West and London. These accounts, written in the first person, intimately capture their experiences before, during, and after the war years. Each book serves as a powerful reminder, ensuring that these stories are preserved and passed on to future generations. The collection offers invaluable insights for students and scholars specialising in contemporary history, Jewish studies, and memory studies, making the books essential reading material in these fields.
My Voice
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Ruth Edwards was born in 1926 in Vienna. She experienced life in Austria as Hitler came to power, with new laws that increasingly restricted everyday life for Jews. In November 1938, in the horror of Kristallnacht, Ruth’s father was taken away to Dachau concentration camp. Even though it meant separation from her mother, Ruth’s family arranged for her to join her great-uncle and his family in England in 1939. Ruth describes her experience of being evacuated during the war and the many letters she wrote to keep in touch with her parents, who unfortunately perished. After the war, she worked in a factory and met her husband Sidney, also a refugee from Vienna. They settled in Manchester, raising their three children and working together in the handbag trade. Ruth’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
Ruth Lachs was born in Hamburg in 1936. Following the devastating impact of Kristallnacht, her family decided that they should move to Holland. At the age of six, she narrowly escaped deportation. To hide her Jewish identity, Ruth assumed a new name. Under the pretence of being an orphan, she was taken to a gathering place and hidden overnight in a sand pit to avoid being listed by the Germans to be taken away. Ruth married Werner Lachs in August 1962. They met in Holland and settled in Manchester, where they had three children, Joanne, Sharon, and Martin. Ruth went on to work in healthcare at The Christie Hospital and Tameside General. Ruth has spoken to many schoolchildren over the years about her experiences of the Holocaust. Ruth’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
Sam Laskier was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1927 into a traditional Jewish family. He recounts the Germans entering Warsaw in September 1939 and the formation of the Warsaw ghetto, where Jewish people were forced to live in appalling conditions. Although Sam was smuggled out of Warsaw to Ostrowiec, he was eventually transported to Bozochoff labour camp and then to Blizyn where he worked in a quarry. He was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Spring 1944 and was finally liberated by the Russian Army on 8 May 1945. Sam was one of around 300 Jewish orphans who were brought to Windermere in England for rehabilitation. He later moved to Manchester and became an entrepreneur. He met and married his wife in 1956, and they had four children and five grandchildren. Sam’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
Sonja Sternberg was born in Berlin in June 1926. Her father was taken away by Germans and deported to Poland in 1938 and after Kristallnacht, Sonja’s family were ordered to leave their apartment. To flee Germany, Sonja’s mother arranged for the family to travel to Cuba on the SS St Louis which set sail from Hamburg in May 1939. However, after crossing the Atlantic, the ship was refused entry to Cuba. After being stranded in Havana Port for seven days and then turned away from Florida, they were forced to return to Europe and were eventually given permission to come to England via Antwerp. Sonja and her family settled in London where Sonja enrolled on a dressmaking course and later had a dressmaking business. Sonja married Ad in 1957 and they had two children. Sonja’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
Suzanne Harris was born in Paris in 1919. When World War II broke out, her father signed up for the Foreign Legion and later became a prisoner of war. Suzanne, her sister and mother stayed in Paris for 2 years during the war, but it became too difficult and risky for Jews there. In 1943, they fled to Argenty in the countryside to join their extended family, only reaching it safely with the help of brave strangers. After liberation, Suzanne and her family returned to Paris, to find that her grandparents’ flat had been given to French collaborators by the Germans. After moving to England in 1947, Suzanne married, settled down and started a family. She was very active in Manchester’s Jewish community and was closely connected with many charities and her local synagogue. Suzanne’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
Tomi Komoly, born in 1936 in Budapest, was the only child of a loving Jewish family. Tomi describes the ordeals endured by Hungarian Jews under the Horthy regime and Nazi occupation. He provides an account of his survival after he was forced to move to a constricted ‘yellow star house’ and eventually found shelter with a Hungarian family with his mother. Tomi’s father was forcefully conscripted into the Hungarian Labour Service and did not survive. Post-war, facing the oppression of the communist regime in Hungary, Tomi fled to Vienna, then moved to England having secured a scholarship to study engineering. He married Gill, built a successful career in engineering and settled in Manchester with his family. Tomi received the British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education. Tomi’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
Ursula Rosenfeld was born in 1925 in Quakenbrück, Germany to a Liberal Jewish family. Following Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, they were ostracised and thrown out of their home. On Kristallnacht, the Quakenbrück synagogue was burned down, and her father was arrested and beaten by the Nazis. He was transported to Buchenwald and died there. Ursula and her sister escaped to England on the Kindertransport in 1938, leaving their mother and infirm grandmother behind. In 1940, Ursula was apprenticed to a dressmaker in London and then trained as a nurse. She married her husband Peter in 1946. After moving to Manchester in 1958, Ursula worked as a theatre nurse, went on to become a health visitor and was appointed a magistrate on the Manchester bench. Ursula’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
Werner Conn, born in 1928, has fond memories of his early childhood in Berlin. Following Kristallnacht in 1938, Werner’s father was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, but his mother managed to get him released after six months. Life became very difficult, and Werner was sent to the UK on the Kindertransport. He spent his first two weeks in England at a Scout camp on the South Downs. He discovered after the war that his parents and younger brother had been deported to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia on his fifteenth birthday. In 1945, Werner obtained a National Certificate in mechanical engineering and began his career at the English Electric Company. He married Elisabeth in 1958, and they settled down in Lytham St Annes with their daughter, Heather. Werner’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
Werner Lachs was born in Cologne, Germany in 1926 and had a happy childhood. However, by 1938, there were many laws restricting Jews, and after Kristallnacht, the family planned to emigrate. In June 1939, Werner escaped to England with his parents and older sister. Unbeknown to the family, they had been helped by a spy, Frank Foley, who had signed and issued their visas without financial guarantees. After arriving in England, Werner was separated from his family at first and placed with different families. He worked in clothing manufacturing for over 50 years. In 1953, he married Claire, and they had a daughter, but Claire died tragically before their daughter turned two. Werner married Ruth in 1962, a fellow Holocaust survivor, and they had two children. Werner’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a series of firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.