FAH-DENG: Holocaust Survivor – Peter Gaspar – at UM on Wednesday, 17th January

Holocaust Survivor, Peter Gaspar, will speak at UM on Wednesday, 17^th January, 2024 in E4 – 1063 at 3.30pm.  The talk with Q & A will last about 100 minutes.

Peter Gaspar, born in what was then Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) in 1937, was, with his parents, initially hidden by kind Christian neighbours during the German occupation and the persecution of that country’s Jews.  Once this became too dangerous, he and his parents had to hide in a hole in the ground and once this became unbearable and dangerous to the young Peter’s health, his parents had no option but to hand themselves over to the German authorities. His father was then sent to a labour camp and he and his mother were sent to Theresienstadt, the notorious ghetto-concentration camp north of Prague, from where trains daily took Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau to be murdered.  It was from there that he and his mother – painfully thin and diseased – were finally liberated by the Soviet Army on the very last day of the War, 8^th May 1945.

Peter will be telling his story on Wednesday, 17^th January, at 15h30 (3.30pm) in E4 – 1063.  This is your opportunity to hear directly from him and also to ask him questions and talk to him at greater length.

Sadly, Holocaust survivors are now very rare indeed and the majority of those still alive are too old to travel so this is a very rare opportunity to meet someone who was there – among the last who can report directly on what happened during the madness and horror of the Holocaust.  Do not miss this opportunity to engage with living history.

All Are Welcome to join the talk. Thank you and see you on Wednesday.