“And his death meant my life.”

Eva Clarke, nee Eva Nathan, was born on the 29th of April 1945 in Mauthausen Concentration Camp, five days before the liberation of the camps by the American army. Eva shares a heartbreaking paradox of survival in the camps.

Becoming pregnant in a concentration camp was considered by the Nazis to be a crime punishable by death. Eva’s mother fell pregnant secretly, giving birth to a son, Yishai, who tragically died of pneumonia just two months later. When her mother was later deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, arriving without a living infant saved her from immediate execution in the gas chambers. Though she was already secretly pregnant with Eva, it didn’t yet show, allowing them both to survive one of history’s darkest chapters. ...

“The smell of challah was gorgeous.”

In the latest episode of our cooking series, nutritionist Jodie Brandman joins first generation Holocaust survivor Hedy Gavurin to make challah and share an unforgettable story of resilience.

On 27th August 1939, just days before war was declared, Hedy and her family escaped Germany on the very last train out. Though their journey was fraught with unimaginable danger, they eventually reached safety in the UK, a country Hedy remains deeply grateful to today.

As Jodie and Hedy shape the dough, Hedy reflects on her mother’s weekly Shabbat baking and how sensory memories can instantly transport us back to the warmth of a loved one’s kitchen.

At the AJR, we are dedicated to ensuring these stories and the traditions behind them are remembered and cherished for generations to come. ...

“Testimonies are often called emotional histories because you can understand how somebody responded to something.”

Dr. Bea Lewkowicz OBE reflects on the immense value of listening to survivor testimonies. While textbook history tells us the events, oral histories reveal the human emotion, the choices made, and the personal realities of living through them.

Beyond individual experiences, these accounts highlight the broader rescue efforts, including how the 70,000 German Jewish refugees who arrived in Britain built support systems like the AJR and The Wiener Holocaust Library. ...

“It was forbidden to go to cinemas.”

Eva Clarke, nee Eva Nathan, was born on the 29th of April 1945 in Mauthausen Concentration Camp, five days before the liberation of the camps by the American army.

Eva recounts the terrifying moment her mother risked execution just to experience a brief moment of normalcy. Because Jewish people were strictly forbidden from entering cinemas, hiding her yellow star was a life-or-death gamble. When the Gestapo suddenly raided the theater and began checking ID papers row by row, she was left frozen in terror, surviving only because the officers miraculously stopped and left the building just one row before reaching her. ...

“This is the original passport which got all four of us out of Germany… Four days before the war.”

Holocaust survivor Peter Summerfield BEM shows two original documents that saved his family’s lives during their escape from Nazi Germany in 1939.

He shares his mother’s Kennkarte, the identity card stamped with a prominent ‘J’ that Jewish citizens were forced to carry and the single family passport that allowed them to enter England on 27 August 1939, just days before World War II broke out. ...

At the Wiener Library in London, Kindertransport scholar Amy Williams holds a photograph of refuge children arriving on the first Kindertransport into the UK from Germany. ...