Remembering The Holocaust

Last week we celebrated Winston Churchill’s death of 50 years ago and the Holocaust Liberation 70 years ago. I am very interested in History and I found that watching the various programmes on television was not only a great history lesson, but also a reminder of the extraordinary people we still have and have had in our world.

Iby, after Auschwitz was liberated

One of these people is Iby Knill, who I am extremely proud to call my friend. She is 91 and is an Auschwitz survivor. You must read her book: The Woman Without A Number. Iby was on quite a few programmes in the week and even had her own documentary about her survival. Believe it or not, Iby did not speak of the horrors of the war for 50 years – it was buried deeply within, which again shows how remarkably she coped.

Iby was a guest on the Nicky Campbell debate programme and one of the very important questions she discussed was, in today’s society what would we have done, individually, as a German Officer in a long chain of command who is in charge of the final result? If you are threatened with losing your life, or that of your wife or your childs, what would you have done in similar circumstances? Iby could not answer this as I am sure none of us can. As a mother of two beautiful girls who I love more than life itself, what would I do? I would protect them until death. It is a horrible question with a terrible moral dilemma and one I hope I will never ever have to face.