House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has led a event in Westminister ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day during which a 96-old survivor recalled the moment his parents were taken by the Nazis.
Yisrael Abelesz was just 14 when he and his family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where his parents and younger brother were sent to the gas chambers upon arrival.
Speaking at the well-attended event in Portcullis House, he recalled:”I didn’t realise when my parents and brother were separated from me that I’d never see them again.”
Holocaust survivor Yisrael Abelesz
Alfred Garwood, imprisoned in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, and later put on a train destined for Terezin Concentration Camp, when he and his family were liberated by the Red Army, also gave a moving testimony.
During the ceremony candles were lit ahead of Monday’s memorial day, which takes place 80 years after the Shoah.
The Speaker also stressed his own commitment to ensuring the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten by generations to come.
MPs from all parties were in attendance, along with staff working in parliament.
HMD recalls the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust and subsequent genocides, and has been observed since the horrors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides and has been observed in the UK since 2001.
