Michelle Richman, 67, spoke as people in the UK marked Holocaust Memorial Day yesterday by lighting candles across the nation at 8pm.
Meanwhile, key buildings were illuminated in purple to remember the wartime genocide of Jews, along with millions of others considered “sub-human” by Adolf Hitler’s Germany.
Michelle’s father, Zigi Shipper, who died on his 93rd birthday last year, was forced into Poland’s Lodz ghetto in 1940, before being sent to Auschwitz and Stutthof concentration camps.
He survived a “death march” in 1945 when German SS guards abandoned the prisoners during a British air attack and was later liberated.
Zigi moved to the UK in 1946, started a career in stationery, met his wife at a dance for Holocaust survivors and had two children, Michelle and her sister Lu. He lived in Hertfordshire.
Michelle said the memorial day was “incredibly important, because there’s so much Holocaust denial”. She said: “My sister and I always promised my dad that once he wasn’t around, we would take over and give his testimony.
So we have been sharing his story with schools and organisations.
