Leon Greenman

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Leon Greenman
Born(1910-12-18)18 December 1910
Whitechapel, London, England[1]United Kingdom
Died7 March 2008(2008-03-07) (aged 97)
OccupationAnti-fascism campaigner

Leon Greenman OBE (18 December 1910 – 7 March 2008) was a British anti-fascism campaigner and survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp. He gave regular talks to school children about his experience at Auschwitz, and also wrote a book, An Englishman in Auschwitz.[2]

The Holocaust gallery of the Jewish Museum London is dedicated to Greenman's story.[3]

Early life

Greenman was born on 18 December 1910

Jewish residents. He had two brothers and three sisters.[2] His mother's family were originally Russian Jews. His mother died when he was two years old,[2] and, aged 5, he went to live in Rotterdam with his father's Dutch parents.[2] He trained as a boxer, and returned to London where he became a barber.[2] He also enjoyed singing, and met his future wife Esther ("Else") van Dam at an amateur operatic society in the 1930s.[2] They married in 1935 at Stepney Green synagogue.[2]

After honeymooning in Rotterdam, where his wife also had family, the couple settled there.

invaded the Netherlands.[2]

Second World War

Greenman held a British passport, and had expected that he and his family would be evacuated, but the staff at the British consulate in Rotterdam disappeared and he could not escape. Even so, he expected to remain safe, as the

Geneva Convention protected enemy civilians. He gave his money and passport to a non-Jewish friend to keep them safe,[2] But, fearing that Germans may find out that he had helped a Jew, the friend destroyed the passport. Greenman and his family were sent to the Westerbork transit camp on 8 October 1942 to be deported.[2] Despite Greenman's protestations that he was British, and should be released, he and his family joined 700 others on a train out of the Netherlands in January 1943. Proof of his nationality arrived soon after they left.[2]

Greenman described travelling for 36 hours across Europe with no food or water, to the

gas chambers[2][5]
almost immediately. Greenman was sent in a different direction, one of 50 men selected to be labourers.

Greenman was tattooed on his arm with prisoner number 98288,

kapos in the evenings.[2]
He was short – 5'2" or 158 cm – and slightly built, but he later attributed his survival to his physical training and useful skills. He made a promise to God that he would survive and tell others of the suffering in the camps.

He was transferred to the

American 3rd Army.[2] Of the 700 on the train from Westerbork, only Greenman and one other man survived.[2]

Later life

Greenman returned to Rotterdam immediately after the war, and he moved back to England in November 1945. He took home uniforms and other mementos of his imprisonment. He lived in Ilford,[8] working on a market stall for 40 years, and also performing as a tenor under the stage name "Leon Maure".[4]

After hearing

London Jewish Museum), where upon reopening in 2010 Greeman's item formed a permanent gallery, the Holocaust Gallery.[3]

He also campaigned against the far right, regularly receiving threats of violence as a result; in 1994, his home in London was attacked.

OBE for services against racism in 1988.[4]

Greenman never remarried.[4][8]

He suffered a heart attack in 2006, and received a

pacemaker. He died in Barnet Hospital, having contracted pneumonia after an operation on a broken bone sustained in a fall. He was buried at East Ham Cemetery, near his father and two siblings.[11] It was then suggested that a memorial should be erected in Valentines Park peace garden in Ilford.[12]

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ England and Wales Births 1837–1983
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Claire Dissington (10 March 2008). "Obituary: Leon Greenman". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d "Obituary: Leon Greenman". The Daily Telegraph. 10 March 2008. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Prince visits college for rabbis". BBC News. 22 June 2006. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  5. ^ a b Julie Waterson (10 March 2008). "Leon Greenman: English survivor of Auschwitz". The Independent. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  6. ^ a b c "'We're British, and we're Jewish – and we're uneasy'". BBC News. 18 April 2002. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  7. ^ a b Stephen Moss (13 January 2005). "Memories of Auschwitz: Leon Greenman". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  8. ^ "People: The only Englishman in Auschwitz". BBC News. 27 January 2005. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Blair is 'right wing' – Haider". BBC News. 28 June 2002. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
  10. ^ Shoah educator Greenman dies at 97, The Jewish Chronicle, 14 March 2008
  11. ^ Leon Greenman – why we must honour him, Ilford Recorder, 20 March 2008

External links

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