A World War Two Holocaust survivor visited school pupils to share his traumatic experiences.
Harry Bibring was invited to Hollins Technology College in Accrington as part of a programme organised by the Holocaust Education Trust (HET).
The Austrian-born 84-year-old spoke to students before engaging in a question and answer session to help them better understand the nature of the Holocaust.
The grandfather-of-two, originally from Vienna, was arrested in 1938 and forced along with his family to leave their flat and live in a house with 50 other Jewish women and children.
They had intended to flee to Shanghai but Harry’s father was robbed on his way to buy the tickets.
In November 1940 Harry’s father died of a heart attack and his mother was deported to the Nazi death camp at Sobibor in German occupied Poland in 1942. Harry and his sister managed to flee to England and when they arrived were greeted by a man who Harry’s father had arranged to offer shelter.
However, it turned out there was no room for Harry and he became separated from his sister.
Harry, who married wife Muriel in 1947, went on to work for 20 years as a manufacturing engineer and later became a lecturer at Middlesex University.
Steve Campbell, headteacher at The Hollins Technology College, said: “It is a privilege for us to welcome Harry Bibring to our school and his testimony will remain a powerful reminder of the horrors so many experienced.
“We are grateful to the Holocaust Educational Trust for co-ordinating the visit and we hope that by hearing Harry’s testimony, it will encourage our students to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust and make a positive difference in their own lives.”
