Sixth Form students at Cheadle Hulme School heard a story of survival when they received an emotional visit from a Holocaust survivor during Holocaust Awareness Week.
94-year-old Chaim Ferster, who survived 7 Nazi concentration camps and in December received a British Empire Medal in The Queen’s New Year Honours list, addressed the students in a special assembly.
They heard about his Jewish upbringing as well as his experiences from the outbreak of the Second World War at age 17, and being forced from his home in 1942.
The students listened intently as Chaim spoke of his time repairing sewing machines in his father’s factory which was later taken over by the German army to make their uniforms, and how his engineering skills helped him on his road to survival, allowing him to leave Auschwitz.
They also learned of his various camp experiences and being separated from his family, before he arrived in Manchester via Sweden in 1946.
Chaim also showed the students his prisoner number tattoo on his left arm, B10924, which he had been marked with during his time held captive at Auschwitz.
