It is a very special privilege for us as the Cabinet because you
are the first Holocaust survivor ever to address the Cabinet in
this country.
And so it really is quite an incredible occasion.
And I know you've shared your story over many decades with
thousands and thousands of people.
And all of us, myself included, are humbled by your courage and
inspired by your story.
And I think it's really important that we all are loud and clear
that we hear and have heard and we act on yours and all the
stories and experiences of Holocaust survivors.
It is our duty not just to hear and listen but also to act and to
absolutely deal with anybody who tries to deny or distort what
happened in the Holocaust.
I'm really pleased that we just mentioned a moment ago that the
Holocaust Memorial Act was passed last week. So this is very
timely in terms of your visit here to the Cabinet. And the
Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre will be built next to
Parliament.
And I know you and your late brother campaigned so much for that
to happen. So I'm really pleased to be able to welcome you, to
welcome you the week after the Act was passed. And I know that's
something you feel very very strongly about.
So, Mala, thank you and over to you.
Mala Tribich MBE remarks - Cabinet - Holocaust
Memorial Day
Well, thank you, everybody, and hello to everyone. I have a
little speech for you.
So, Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet, my name is Mala
Tribich, you already know that. And, of course, I am a Holocaust
survivor.
I sit before you as one of the last remaining
eyewitnesses to one of the darkest chapters in human history. 81
years after the liberation of the Nazi death and concentration
camps, I am here as a representative of the British Holocaust
survivor community.
For decades, we have spoken to people across this country,
sharing our most painful memories. We have done this out of a
deep sense of duty - to ensure that what happened to our families
and six million Jewish men, women and children is never
forgotten.
Soon, there will be no eyewitnesses left.
That is why I ask you today not just to listen, but to become
my witness.
I was born in Piotrkow Trybunalski in Poland in 1930. I was the
middle child of my parents, Sara and Moshe Helgott, with an older
brother Ben and a younger sister Lucia.
I had a happy childhood. We lived in a comfortable apartment,
nearby to extended family and there was a relatively large Jewish
community. Life was quite ordinary, but very pleasant.
In September 1939, the first Nazi ghetto was established in my
hometown. Life there was brutal. It was overcrowded, food was
scarce, disease was everywhere, and even as a 12 year old child I
was forced into hard labour.
Like so many families, mine was torn apart piece by piece. My
mother and my eight-year-old sister Lucia were taken away in
December 1942. What happened to them is indescribable. They were
murdered in the most horrific way – shot into open pits in the
Rakov forest.
This was actually taking place all over the country.
My father and brother were deported to Buchenwald. I was
sent with my five-year-old cousin Ann, first to Ravensbrück and
then to Bergen-Belsen. I later learnt that my father was murdered
while trying to escape a death march, just days before
liberation.
In the camps, we were stripped naked, shaved, put through
freezing cold showers and given the prisoner garb. When we looked
at each other, we barely recognised each other. We all
looked the same. We were stripped not only of our freedom,
but of our identities, our dignity, our humanity. It was as if
they had taken away our very souls.
When I arrived in Bergen-Belsen, the first thing that hit you was
the smog and the stench.
It was a hell on earth. Those still alive shuffled about like
skeletons and just collapsed where they stood.
Disease was everywhere and I became very ill with typhus. I could
hardly move.
One day, from the window of my barracks, I saw people running and
all I could think of was how did they have the strength
to run?
That was on 15th of April 1945, when we were liberated by the
British Army.
And here I want to stress that they were wonderful and I really
want to pay tribute to them of how wonderful they treated us.
Life just changed instantly.
Nearly a year after liberation, I received a letter from my older
brother Ben. Against all odds, he had survived. It was arranged
by the Central British Fund committee for me to come to England
and we were reunited.
Ben was a hero. Just 11 years after his liberation, he captained
the British Weightlifting Team at the 1956 Melbourne
Olympics. Quite amazing. He was also the leader of our
survivor community and a champion of Holocaust education. He was
knighted in 2018 and he passed away in 2023. I miss him terribly.
One of Ben's greatest wishes was to see the Holocaust
Memorial and Learning Centre built beside Parliament - a
permanent place where survivor testimony would be preserved, and
where future generations could understand where antisemitism and
hatred could lead if left unchallenged.
He did not live to see the Memorial, but he would have been proud
to know that Parliament has now passed the Holocaust Memorial
Bill and that work will soon begin.
Having endured the Holocaust, we survivors never imagined we
would witness antisemitism at the levels it is today.
What we have seen in Manchester on Yom Kippur, and in Sydney on
Chanukah, has shaken me to my core. How, 81 years after the
Holocaust, can Jewish people once again be targeted in this way?
Remembering the past is no longer enough.
I speak to you, leaders of the country I proudly call home and I
plead that you do what needs to be done to tackle this hatred.
When I was in Bergen-Belsen, I still had hope. because without
hope you cannot survive.
Today, I have hope. I have hope in the next generation, the
thousands of young people who have heard my testimony.
Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today and thank you for
listening.
