The Holocaust Educational Trust is coming to Ramsgate Tunnels for thought-provoking talks on Ramsgate’s Home Front and the Holocaust.
The free, ticketed event takes place on Thursday 20th July at 4.45pm.
Those attending will be able to listen to the testimony of a Holocaust survivor, learn about the British response to, and the contemporary relevance of the Holocaust, and explore civilian life during World War Two.
The person giving the testimony is a second generation survivor, the daughter of Martin Bennett.
Martin Bennett was born in Poland on the 25th December 1925.
When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, he was sent to Poznań, a forced Labour camp. He would later be sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was reunited with his brother.
Only Martin and his brother survived out of his family, his parents were murdered at Chełmno extermination camp.
With no family in Poland, in 1947, he would move to Britain where he would make his own family. In 2016, Martin Bennett passed away at the age of 90.
The event has been organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust and is hosted by Ramsgate Tunnels.
Due to the nature of the discussions age restrictions apply:
Strictly no under 14s and 14 – 15-year-olds must be accompanied by an adult
Further information via samuelfarag1@icloud.com
Book your place:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/holocaust-and-the-home-front-at-ramsgate-tunnels-tickets-665649695157?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
Ramsgate Tunnels is also offering to support small craft businesses in Ramsgate by offering a 3mx3m space at the Tunnels during the six weeks school summer holidays. This space would be available Monday through to Friday during this period. No food and drinks stalls.
Call 01843 588123 or email admin@ramsgatetunnels.org for further details and to book a space.
About 50 years ago I learned my father had been a guard at the Belsen concentration camp! He had landed in Normandy on D-Day plus 2, with his regiment the 103rd HAA Royal Artillery. I have a copy of the official Regimental Diary now, and it confirms the regiment fought its way up the French coast, liberating vitally needed ports. It finally settled in Holland at the end of hostilities, and if anyone sees pictures of the liberation of Belson, you will see British soldiers wearing the Royal Artillery “flash” on their shoulders.
I now know some 13,000 prisoners died in the first 6 weeks after liberation, who had to be kept inside the camp for fear of them spreading lethal diseases amongst the German population! My father would have witnessed this, but he seldom talked about the war, probably because what he witnessed was just too auwful to even be able to describe!