Four Irish survivors of the Holocaust spoke yesterday evening of their experiences, and what they described as a "saddening" level of ignorance in Ireland surrounding the genocide.
They were:
• Suzi Diamond, who was taken by cattle truck to the notorious German concentration camp Bergen-Belsen at 18 months old.
Born in Hungary, she said she was "amongst the final Jews rounded up" for extermination in the gas chambers. "All of my family perished except for my brother and me. To prevent other atrocities similar to the Holocaust, the only way forward is through education," she said.
• Tomi Reichental, who also survived what he described as "the horrors" of Bergen-Belsen. His mother and brother "by sheer luck and circumstances" escaped too with their lives. They later moved to Dublin, where he continues to live.
"For over 55 years, I didn't speak about the dark days and months we spent there. I just couldn't," he said. "But in the last couple of years, I realised that, as one of the last witnesses, I must speak out."
• Geoffrey Phillips, who escaped the death camps thanks to the foresight of his mother, who arranged for him to be transported to England in December 1938. She later perished in a concentration camp, along with Mr Phillips's father, and the rest of his extended family.
"I was 13½ years old when I came to England. The memories are not pleasant," said the married father-of-three, who has been living in Dublin since 1951.
"I was one of the lucky ones. We owe it to those who died, as well as to those who come after us, that the horrors of the Holocaust are remembered," Mr Phillips said.
• Zoltan Zinn-Collis, who met Suzi Diamond in Bergen-Belsen in 1944 and was also transported to Ireland after the war.
Now living in Athy, Co Kildare, he said: "As I go around the country speaking to school pupils, I start with a simple question. 'Who knows what the Holocaust was?' More often than not, a blank stare is my reply."
