Christmas_Edition_2019

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR
VISIT: MARCEL LADENHEIM
Page-21
On Friday 29th November Marcel Ladenheim visited the John Fisher School to speak to 175 GCSE
& A-Level History students from Years 7-13. Marcel was born in Paris in 1939. He was born to
Austrian parents, who had fled to Paris in 1938 after the Anschluss, Nazi Germany’s annexation of
Austria. The German Army invaded France in May 1940 and entered Paris on the 14th June 1940.
In May 1941 Marcel’s father was arrested by the French police, leaving his mother alone whilst
heavily pregnant and with two year old Marcel. Realising the desperate situation, she decided to
go into hiding with the children. If they had not gone into hiding they would have been arrested
in 1942 and sent to Velodrome D’Hiver. Unfortunately, this stressful situation led to Marcel’s
mother being hospitalised. The family who had been hiding Marcel realised how dangerous it was
for them to harbour Jews and they arranged for Marcel to be hidden by two sisters, Olga and
Esther Masoli. Marcel was hidden by these women for the duration of the war. Being five years old
he was unaware of the dangers that faced him. In fact, Marcel recalls being happy with the sisters
and enjoying glorious Christmas days with toy soldiers and toy cars. Marcel and his brother had
been split up when Marcel went to live with the Masoli sisters. He was reunited with him at the
end of the war. Marcel’s father was killed in Auschwitz, but his mother survived. However, after a
short period together Marcel’s mother was unable to care for her boys and in 1948 Marcel and his
brother moved to Manchester to live with their aunt.
Before the session Marcel had requested that
a member of staff asked the first question, in
case students didn’t have any questions or felt
too shy to ask. In the end we had to end the
session with some questions still unanswered
due the impressive levels of engagement from
each boy in the room. Marcel did stay back at
the end to answer some more questions, and
commented how honoured he was to have
had so many students personally thank him
and shake his hand.
He finished the day with a small group of A-level historians in which he gave a brief speech about
the warnings of extreme political views and the dangers of prejudice in our society. On leaving the
school he commented on how impressed he was with each student he had encountered and said
it was exactly schools like the JFS, and more importantly it’s students, that drives him to continue
to give monthly talks despite turning eighty earlier this year.
It was an extremely powerful, educational and valuable day for all the staff and students involved.
Mr Jackson – History Dept.
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