Holocaust survivor meets Walsall students

A HOLOCAUST survivor visited a Walsall school as part of a week of events marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Susi Bechhofer, who escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport to the United Kingdom in 1939, visited Barr Beacon Language College, in Pheasey, on Monday and spoke to over 100 year ten pupils about the atrocities and her journey in finding out her true identity.

For over 50 years Susi did not know her identity, having been sent to an orphanage as a child and brought up as a baptist in Wales.

But in 1987 she began tracing her roots and discovered her father was a German Nazi and that her mother died in Auschwitz in 1943.

The 73-year-old spoke for two hours, ahead of the Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday, January 27, the day the Soviet Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, with this year's theme being The Legacy of Hope.

The visit was a 'valuable experience' said Rhiannon Selby, history teacher at Barr Beacon Language College.

"Susi's visit was received extremely well by all the pupils," she said. "Although talking about what happened was painful and emotional for her, she was keen that her message doesn't get forgotten.

"Susi said we needed to make sure this doesn't happen again."

The pupils also did workshops and held a question and answer sessions regarding Susi's experiences as part of a week of events marking the memorial day.

The youngsters discovered that having lived for half a century not knowing her background, Susi grew up as Grace Mann, marrying in 1964 and having a son ten months later.

After the birth of her son she began to question her real identity, which led her to the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Susi then devoted herself to nursing but after retiring in 1987 became inspired to learn about Judaism and her family, who were orthodox Jews, mainly living in America.

Her story was the basis of two books and a Channel 4 TV film.

"I think one of the things that came out was the children were amazed that you could be a Holocaust survivor and not come from a concentration camp," Mrs Selby said. "We will definitely be doing something similar next year. It was so worthwhile."