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  5. Yom Hashoah 2015 – Liberation

The year 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the Liberation from Nazi tyranny throughout Europe;. Auschwitz was liberated in January 1945, followed by the entry of British troops into Bergen-Belsen on 15th April, Mussolini’s execution, Hitler’s suicide and finally the Nazi surrender in Reims on 7th May 1945.

Pinner Synagogue’s annual Yom Hashoah evening,  will focus on the Liberation and remembering the 6 million Jews who were brutally murdered by the Nazis. Doors open 7.15pm on Wednesday 15th April for prompt 8.00pm start.

A significant number of distinguished visitors and diplomatic representatives will be attending. The key-note speakers will be Ms Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, the Chargé d’affaires of the German Embassy in the UK, and Mr Freddie Knoller, author of ‘Living with the Enemy’ and a survivor who was liberated in Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945.

Freddie, the youngest of three sons, was born in Vienna and left in 1938 when the Germans annexed Austria. Freddie will narrate his story explaining how, at the start of his travels whilst dodging the Germans (and even working with them during his sojourn in Paris) he considered it all an adventure. Eventually finding himself in the south of France and working with the Resistance, Freddie was betrayed, arrested and sent to the infamous Drancy transit camp. From there he was deported to Auschwitz and shortly before the liberation of that camp he was forced onto a ‘Death March’ to Bergen-Belsen.

The talk of Freddie’s experiences will be illustrated with slides and the evening promises once again to reach the poignant heights of the previous commemorative evenings at Pinner Shul.

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