On 22nd January, we had the privilege of welcoming Melvyn Leach, a Holocaust speaker from the organisation Generation2Generation, to come and speak to year 9 students and above.
Mr Leach spoke about the events of the Holocaust and its impact on Jewish people and communities, but combined this with the personal account of Willy Halpert shared through video recordings of him sharing his story.
Willy grew up in a Jewish family in Belgium, and was still a young boy when Nazi Germany invaded in May 1940. Gradually, the world around him began to change to one that was completely hostile. From 1942, Jews were forced to wear a yellow star in public; this singled them out as targets for abuse and discrimination, emphasising their “otherness”. Jewish shops and businesses were boycotted and harmful anti-Jewish stereotypes were reinforced by all forms of propaganda, even including children’s picture books. An attack on Jewish people, shops, and synagogues in Antwerp by local Belgian people in early 1941 marked a turning point in the treatment of Jews by both Nazis and Belgian citizens. Deportations to concentration camps began in 1942 – by the end of the war, 25,000 Belgian Jews had been deported to and murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.
In August 1942, Willy’s father, who had joined the Belgian resistance, was arrested by Nazi officials, but he helped Willy to escape with a “blond man” who was another member of the resistance network, who took him to Château de Belœil, a castle belonging to the Belgian royal family. This castle had become home to Catholic children orphaned by the war, and hidden amongst them were Jewish children. Willy stayed here until the end of the war, and he never saw either of his parents again.
As an adult, Willy found it incredibly hard to talk about his past, but with the help of Melvyn, who was a relative of his by marriage, he did extensive research into what happened to him as a child, and even managed to track down and meet Andrée Geulen, a woman who had played a part in saving his life. Willy is still alive today and tells his story across the US and Canada.
I organised Melvyn’s visit as a result of my participation in the Lessons From Auschwitz Project, a program organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust which aims to enable young people to gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust and its relevance today. As a history student, I have a particular interest in this part of history and how it has affected today’s world, and it’s been great to have this opportunity to share some of that with my wider school community. I’m so grateful to Melvyn for sharing Willy’s story with us and for keeping his testimony alive.
Y12 History Ambassador
