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From
Hell to Paradise
Holocaust
Memorial Service at Brixham Baptist Church at 7.30pm on
Saturday 28th January 2012 (Holocaust Survivors Berek
and Marie Obuchowski share their miraculous story of survival).
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Berek was born in Osorkow,
Poland in 1928, where he lived with his parents, grandfather,
two sisters and a brother. His parents had two businesses, transport
and confectionery, and the family lived happily until the Germans
entered Poland in 1939. Soon they were stripped of their privileges,
and their businesses were taken away, his parents and one sister
were taken away and he was left alone with one sister. Approximately
six months later they were taken to the Lodz Ghetto, where they
were forced to work for the Germans. |
Life
was extremely hard, they had very little food and people were
dying of starvation. They were transported to Aushwitz-Birkenau
concentration camp, but after getting off the train with his
sister, he never saw her again. After spending three months
in Auschwitz, he was put on a death march to Buchenwald. They
walked and slept in the snow – not many survived. Berek gave
up at one point and didn't want to live any more, but someone
helped him get up and volunteer to go to another camp called
Remsdorf. Where he spent another three months before another
march this time to Theresenstadt in Czechoslovakia. 2,750 people
started off on this march and only 75 survived. Two gas chambers
were waiting for their arrival. However, the Russians arrived
just in time and liberated them . Soon after, they were offered
a chance to come to England, where he and 300 others arrived
on the first transport. Berek says it was like coming out from
hell into paradise.
Marie
Obuchowski was born in Brussels on 5th May 1931, and fled to
France when the war broke out, but was taken into a concentration
camp at Riversalte near the Pyrenees with her parents and brother.
Her parents were taken to Auschwitz and she never saw them again.
She was rescued by the OSE and taken to a hostel in Versailles,
outside Paris. When the Nazis found out about the hostel, and
she was taken to a convent with three other girls. She stayed
at the convent for 2 years until the end of the war, and in
May 1945 was brought to England by her mother's brother, who
lived here, and found her name on a survivor list.
Please
come along to the Holocaust Memorial Service at Brixham Baptist
Church at 7.30pm on Saturday 28th January 2012,
and hear Berek and Marie share their survival experiences first
hand. The service will be followed by refreshments and an opportunity
to meet and talk with Berek and Marie. There will also be a
book stall and exhibition. For more information please phone
01803 857549.
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