Marking 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Holocaust survivors and descendants of survivors and those who perished joined together to share testimony and light candles during a special commemorative event on Sunday.

The event, a collaboration between Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre and educational charity Generations 2 Generations (G2G), saw more than 100 guests gather at Jewish Care’s Maurice & Vivienne Wohl Campus in Golders Green, north-west London.

Before survivors took turns to light candles, Renee Salt BEM read from her memoir, A Mother’s Promise, to be published in February, with author Kate Thompson. Sharing reflections on her traumatic experience surviving Auschwitz-Birkenau, Renee said: “I am a witness to history. I am a survivor.”

Born Rywka Ruchla Berkowitz, in 1929 in Zdunska Wola, Poland, Renee endured the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen, and other forced labour camps. She was the only member of her immediate family to survive the Holocaust. Today, she has two children and five grandchildren and was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2016 for her work in Holocaust education.

Renee Salt BEM lighting a memorial candle (Photo: Yakir Zur)

Renee told attendees: “I feel driven to undertake this work so that the world cannot deny that the horrors of the Holocaust actually took place. It is so important that the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre is there for me – it is our support system – a second home where others have an understanding of what we have been through.”

Alongside Renee, other Holocaust survivors were present including Ivor Perl BEM, Miriam Freedman, Barbara Frankiss, Rachel Levy BEM, and Jacques Weisser BEM.

Also reflecting on 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Isa Brysch, born in Germany in 1929 and who survived the war by going into hiding in France, shared a poem she wrote in memory of her husband, Abraham.

Holocaust survivor Barbara Frankiss (Photo: Yakir Zur)

The ceremony provided an opportunity for descendants,Jacqueline Luck from G2G and Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence to share the histories of their grandparents and great-grandparents, with Rabbi Lawrence leading guests in Kaddish (memorial prayer).

Rabbi Lawrence also gave a presentation, accompanied by musicians, Gemma Rosefield, Clare Juan and Kaja Sešek, who together played three pieces of music composed by Lawrence’s great-grandfather, Jewish German composer Heinz Lewin whilst he was interned at the Septfonds internment camp in France. The pieces were performed at a concert in the camp, weeks before he was transported to Auschwitz and murdered.

Speaking after the ceremony, Jewish Care chair Marcus Sperber said he was “enormously proud” of the collaboration between survivors’ centre and G2G for commemorating 80 years since the liberation of the death camp with survivors present and the next generation.

Ivor Perl BEM lighting a memorial candle (Photo: Yakir Zur)

“We have so much respect and admiration for the Holocaust survivors as we witness daily, their remarkable resilience, especially in the face of October 7 and rising antisemitism in the UK.

"Their courage teaches us invaluable lessons and we thank them for sharing their stories to ensure that we continue to learn and that their legacy endures.”