Hendon MP David Pinto-Duschinskyhas paid tribute in a Commons Holocaust Memorial Day debate to the bravery of a woman named Maria who smuggled his father out of a Hungarian ghetto just days before it was liquidated by the Nazis.
The Labour MP told the Commons:”Many members of my family counted among their number and did not survive, but my father did and so did my grandmother, thanks to the extraordinary bravery of a woman named Maria.
“In a last desperate throw of the dice, my family entrusted my infant father to her care. She risked everything to smuggle him, and a short time later my grandmother, out of the ghetto just days before it was liquidated.
“Maria’s courage was extraordinary. Her willingness to risk her own freedom, and maybe even her own life, for a stranger and her child is a testament to the power of human decency even in the darkest of times.
“I often think of what the last tearful meeting, where my great-grandparents bade farewell to my father, barely 10 months old, knowing that they would never see him again, must have been like.
“I think of my grandmother, forced to live under a false identity for the remainder of the war, not knowing what happened to her family.
“And I think of Maria, whom I never met and who I know little about, but to whom I owe so much. In these moments, the enormity of what happened hits me hardest. ”
Paying tribute to the work of organisations like the Holocaust Educational Trust and the and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook opened Thursday’s debate noting:”Eighty years ago, British forces liberated concentration camps in northern Germany, including Neuengamme and Bergen-Belsen.
“They entered the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, which was about 45 km from Hanover, in mid-April 1945. Some 55,000 prisoners, many in critical condition because of a typhus epidemic, were found alive.
“Within three months of liberation, more than 13,000 of them had died from the effects of malnutrition or disease. BBC journalist Richard Dimbleby famously described the scenes of almost unimaginable horror that greeted him as he toured Belsen concentration camp shortly after its liberation.”
For the Conservatives, Kevin Hollinrake said:”My party will always support the Jewish community, so it was encouraging to see the Leader of the Opposition engaging with the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust to discuss the challenges facing the Jewish community.”
For the Liberal Democrats Vikki Slade said:”I call on the Government to ensure that the police have the resources and, most importantly, the training they need to respond effectively and swiftly to antisemitic hate crimes, and to provide funding for security organisations such as the Community Security Trust.”
Harrow Tory MP Bob Blackman added;”This Holocaust Memorial Day is particularly prominent and poignant, as it marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest concentration camp during the war.
“Time is going quickly, and many of the courageous and inspirational survivors are sadly passing away, so it is important that we preserve their memories and stories, and teach the next generations, so that we do not make the same mistakes again.”
