Yom Hashoah 2020

YOM HASHOAH MANCHESTER

"Searching - 75 years"

2020 POSTPONED

SON OF BELSEN LIBERATOR TO SPEAK AT YOM HASHOAH MANCHESTER 2020

Major Leonard Berney, a 25-year-old British Army officer, was among the very first from the outside world to enter through the gates of Bergen-Belsen.

And at this year's Yom Hashoah commemoration, his son, John Wood, will talk of his late father's experiences as one of the British troops who liberated the notorious Nazi concentration camp.

Greater Manchester Jewry’s annual memorial presentation for victims , refugees and survivors of the Holocaust will take place this year on Tuesday, April 21st.

Since this year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation , the event will take place for the first time at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall.

British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen on 15 April, 1945

On arrival they were met by SS guards, led by the camp commandant Joseph Kramer, who would be later executed for his role in the Holocaust following testimony at the Nuremberg trials from witnesses including Major Berney himself.

Kramer and his SS comrades had continued to murder their prisoners until the last moments before the British arrived. As they surrendered, Major Berney accompanied a lorry equipped with a loudspeaker made its way through the camp, announcing that it was now under the control of the British Army and its inhabitants. He remained at the camp for four months helping to supervise its emptying and then burning it to the ground after survivors were moved out.

Such was the impact of that day in April 1945 – that Major Berney only produced his first full written account of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen in 2016 , shortly before his death at the age of 95.

His son John Wood, told the Jewish Telegraph that he felt deeply honoured to be asked to speak at this year`s commemoration:

He said: "Ever since my father first told me about his involvement in the liberation of Belsen, I have felt compelled to tell as many people as I can about this gruesome chapter of the Holocaust in the hope that it might help prevent future atrocities. Being invited to speak at this year's Yom HaShoah in Manchester is an immense honour which will help me further my aim immeasurably and would have made my father very proud."

Chairman of Yom Hashoah Manchester, Mrs Jackie Field, added:
“Our annual presentation once again aims to honour our treasured survivors and memorialise the six million. It is an enormous privilege for us to welcome John Wood to speak. The compelling story of his father's role reminds us of the gratitude we owe to the armed forces who liberated the camps and defeated Hitler.”