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Auschwitz survivor to give lecture at University

14/01/2008
One of the few survivors from the Auschwitz concentration camp will give the annual Holocaust Memorial Day Lecture at the University of Wolverhampton.
 
Gabor Hirsch has been invited to talk about his experiences at the public lecture on Wednesday, 23 January 2008, from 5pm-7pm.
 
Lecture organiser Professor Dieter Steinert, Professor of Modern European History and Migration Studies at the University, said: “We are delighted that Gabor has come from Switzerland to the University of Wolverhampton to share his first hand experiences of the Holocaust. We are sure the audience will find his talk enlightening.”
 
Gabor Hirsch was born in 1929 in Bekescsaba in south-east Hungary. In 1944, the fate of Hungarian Jews deteriorated rapidly, first with them being ordered to wear the Yellow Star and then being moved into the Ghetto with harsh living conditions.
 
In June, Gabor was transported to Auschwitz, where he was selected to go to the so-called ‘Gypsy camp’ to work.
 
He says: “I was one of the few inmates who survived in Auschwitz-Birkenau until the liberation by the Soviet army on January 27, 1945. I was just over 15 years old and weighed just 27kg.”
 
After spending several months in German and Soviet camps, Mr Hirsch returned to Hungary, where his father had re-established the family home and business. But in 1956, the Hungarian uprising began, and Gabor escaped to Austria before being accepted as a refugee in Switzerland.
 
Mr Hirsch retired from his career as an electronic engineer in 1995 and has been researching archives to document his family history since then.
 
This year there will be an extra public lecture linked to the Annual Holocaust Memorial Day lecture. Professor Steinert will discuss British humanitarian assistance in Germany after the Second World War on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, from 6-7pm.
 
Both lectures will take place in the Main Lecture Theatre (MC 001) in the Millennium City Building at Wolverhampton City Campus. Entry is free to both events, although tickets have now been allocated for Gabor Hirsch. There is a waiting list for returns, email Holocaust-lecture@wlv.ac.uk 

Gabor remembers Auschwitz

Gabor Hirsch looks back (streaming Windows Media file - opens in a new window) on some of the memories from his time in Auschwitz.

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