Students from St Edward's School in Poole have heard powerful testimony from Holocaust survivor, Uri Winterstein.
More than 100 Sixth Form and Year 10 students at St Edward’s School attended the powerful talk at the school on Wednesday, January 15th, during a visit organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET).
Year 13 student Lucy Gibbs described it as “an emotionally provoking talk”, adding:
“Uri's words really made me rethink my perspective on life, society, and humanity as a whole, and motivated me even further to study History at university. It was an amazing experience to be able to hear these often untold stories, and I am so grateful that Uri took the time to visit St Edward's and speak to us."
Uri Winterstein was born in Bratislava, Slovakia in October 1943. When only a month old, his parents put him in the care of a non-Jewish woman fearing they would need to go into hiding. He was not reunited with his family until after the war. Nine of Uri’s wider family were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where they were killed.
During the war, Uri’s father was a member of an underground movement attempting to halt the deportation of Jews from Slovakia until his deportation in autumn 1944. His mother and sister went into hiding but were eventually caught and sent to Terezin.
When the Russian army was approaching Bratislava, the family Uri was with decided to give him to a local peasant woman. She kept him alive – but with little care. When he was reunited with his family at the end of the war, aged 19 months old, he could not walk or talk and ate only a roll dipped in coffee - the food he had eaten during his time with this woman.
After hearing his story, St Edward's students had the opportunity to ask questions, inquiring about how his experience had shaped Uri’s life and faith, and how he reflected on what had happened.
Joel Tidey, in Year 10, described the event as “really inspiring and educational.”
“It's not every day you get the opportunity to talk to someone who has been so close to such awful experiences. We'll never be able to fathom the true extent of the Holocaust, and it's so important to listen to these stories while we still can and pay close attention to the warning signs so that nothing like this ever happens again."
Uri's visit to St Edward's comes ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th, which this year commemorates the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Uri, who now lives in London with his wife and has three children and five grandchildren, has been speaking in schools for the Holocaust Educational Trust since 2013, motivated by his wish to educate pupils on the danger of allowing “prejudice to harden into hatred and extreme ideologies to flourish.”
He added:
“Most importantly, I talk about the future and the need for tolerance; this is why I so appreciate that St Edward's embraces unity, with the Catholic church and the Church of England coming together as one.
"It's really been a privilege to be at St Edward's. The students have been wonderful and are the reason I do this. They listened so respectfully and asked some really interesting questions. The theme for this month's Holocaust Memorial Day is "For a Better Future" and from speaking with the students here, I'm going home feeling hopeful about how the future might look."
Executive Headteacher at St Edward's School Mr Michael Antram said:
“It was a privilege to welcome Uri and give St Edward’s students the opportunity to hear his powerful testimony. I have no doubt that this experience will have had a lasting impact, deepening their understanding of the Holocaust and the lessons to be learned from the past.”