Learning from the Past

An Auschwitz survivor who has devoted much of his life encouraging young people to learn from the ills of the past has been honoured by Edge Hill University.

Eighty-year-old Meyer (pictured), who has requested to have his surname withheld, experienced the horrors of the Holocaust first hand and has lived to tell a truly inspirational tale.

Over the past ten years Meyer has worked closely with Edge Hill's History and Religious Education teacher trainees, regularly fronting discussions on the atrocities of World War Two and other instances of racial prejudice, influencing an estimated 500,000 young people in the process.

To mark his collaboration with Edge Hill, the University presented Meyer with a framed print of Lake Windermere where he spent his first few months of peace after being liberated from Theresienstadt by the Russians in 1945.

"I owe it to my father, mother, brothers and sister and other members of my community who were brutally murdered, to tell their story and give them a voice and identity once again," said Meyer, who has also shared his survivor testimony with schoolchildren, prisoners and members of the emergency services. "I am always humbled by the warm response I receive by young people and their questions and comments are always very sensible which gives me great heart that barbarities on such a scale will never again be repeated.

"And that is the point, to give the past contemporary relevance and instil in people the conviction to live harmoniously with one another as society has not yet learnt sufficiently from its mistakes."

Ian Phillips, PGCE History Course Leader, said: "Meyer is an amazing and courageous man who relives his traumatic teenage years spent in concentration camps, visibly shaken as a result, in order to strike a chord with the audience.

"Our trainees and staff are always truly inspired by Meyer's story and we greatly appreciate his work with us over the past decade."