Holocaust survivor and weightlifter (1929?2023)
Ben Helfgott
Helfgott in 2021
|
|
Nationality
| British/Polish
|
---|
Born
| (
1929-11-22
)
22 November 1929
Piotrkow Trybunalski
,
Łodz Voivodeship
,
Poland
|
---|
Died
| 16 June 2023
(2023-06-16)
(aged 93)
London, England
|
---|
Height
| 165 cm (5 ft 5 in)
|
---|
Weight
| 67 kg (148 lb)
|
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|
Country
| Great Britain
|
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Sport
| Weightlifting
|
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|
Sir Benjamin "Ben" Helfgott
MBE
(22 November 1929 ? 16 June 2023) was a Polish-born British
Holocaust survivor
, Olympian and champion
weightlifter
.
[1]
He was one of two Jewish athletes known to have competed in the Olympics after surviving
the Holocaust
, along with
Alfred Nakache
, a French champion swimmer and water polo player.
[2]
Helfgott spent his adult life promoting
Holocaust education
, meeting with national leaders in the UK to promote cultural integration and peace.
[3]
Biography
[
edit
]
Helfgott was born in
Piotrkow Trybunalski
,
Łod? Voivodeship
,
Poland
. He was 9 years old when Germany invaded the country in 1939. In 1942, he initially convinced the
Nazis
that he was ethnically Polish, and not a Jew. He was eventually sent to a
concentration camp
. Initially sent to
Buchenwald
, Helfgott survived
the Holocaust
. He was liberated in 1945, but was very weak. He was among 732 orphan refugees under the age of 16 brought to England after the war by CBF World Jewish Relief after being liberated from
Theresienstadt
; he formed a part of the initial 300 arrivals and thus of the group known as
The Windermere Children
who were sent to
Troutbeck Bridge
on arrival. He and one of his sisters (
Mala Tribich
, born Piotrkow 24 September 1930, now living in London
[4]
) were the only members of his family to survive the war; his mother and youngest sister were rounded up and shot by the Nazis.
[5]
[6]
There are descriptions of his experiences both during and after the Holocaust in
Martin Gilbert
's book
The Boys, The Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors
about 732 young concentration camp survivors who were sent to the United Kingdom after the war.
[7]
Weightlifting career
[
edit
]
Helfgott won Great Britain's 11 st (70 kg) championship in 1954, and was
lightweight
champion in 1955, 1956, and 1958. He represented Great Britain in weightlifting in the
1956 Summer Olympics
at
Melbourne, Australia
.
Helfgott was the captain of the British weightlifting teams at the
1956 Olympics
in Melbourne and the
1960 Olympics
in Rome. In addition, he was a
bronze medal
winner at the
1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
held in
Cardiff
, South
Wales
. Helfgott also won the
gold medal
in the lightweight class at the
1950
,
1953
and
1957 Maccabiah Games
.
[8]
Media appearances
[
edit
]
As a guest on the
BBC Radio 4
Desert Island Discs
programme on 1 April 2007, he chose to be stranded with a copy of
Bertrand Russell
's
A History of Western Philosophy
and a bar with two discs for weight training.
[5]
In 2010, Helfgott was one of five
British Jews
interviewed for an exhibit at the
London Jewish Museum
exploring "different ways of being Jewish."
[9]
In 2018, Helfgott appeared in an edition of the BBC series
Who Do You Think You Are?
featuring
Robert Rinder
. In the programme, Helfgott recalled how he had encountered Rinder's maternal grandfather, Moszek (Moses, Morris), in the
Schlieben
concentration camp.
[10]
Personal life and death
[
edit
]
Helfgott married Arza in 1966, with whom he then had three sons and nine grandchildren. He had begun a course at the
University of Southampton
in 1948 but dropped out after a year and thereafter was partner in a business manufacturing dresses.
[6]
Helfgott died on 16 June 2023, at the age of 93.
[11]
[12]
Awards, honours and recognition
[
edit
]
Poland
[
edit
]
United Kingdom
[
edit
]
Helfgott was appointed a
Member of the Order of the British Empire
(MBE) in the
2000 Birthday Honours
, for services to community relations.
[13]
In 2012, at a
Limmud
convention in
Nazareth Illit
organized to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the
Munich massacre
, Helfgott was awarded a prize by the mayor.
[1]
In the
2018 Birthday Honours
, Helfgott was appointed a
Knight Bachelor
in recognition of his contribution to services to Holocaust remembrance and education.
[14]
In October 2020, Helfgott was awarded the
Pride of Britain
award by
Stephen Fry
; the 2020 event was held at the
Holocaust Memorial in Hyde Park
because of the
coronavirus pandemic
.
[15]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Remembering the living dead: 40 years since the Munich murder
- ^
Steve Lipman (13 August 2004).
"The Olympics and The Holocaust"
. Jewish Federations of North America. Archived from
the original
on 16 April 2013.
- ^
Pollock, Karen.
"Ben Helfgott knighted in Queen's Birthday Honours"
.
Holocaust Educational Trust
. Retrieved
2 October
2020
.
- ^
Holocaust Educational Trust web page about Ben Helfgott's surviving sister Mala Tribich|
https://www.het.org.uk/survivors-mala-tribich
- ^
a
b
"Ben Helfgott"
.
Desert Island Discs
.
BBC Radio 4
. 1 April 2007.
- ^
a
b
Freedland, Michael (8 May 2018).
"
'I had to get on with living': how Ben Helfgott went from a concentration camp to Olympic weightlifting"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
31 January
2020
.
- ^
M Gilbert.
The Boys, The Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors
. Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1996.
- ^
"Ben profile"
.
- ^
Aaronovitch, David
.
"Jewish Museum: history with chicken soup: The all-new Jewish Museum in North London has the sights and even the smells of an ancient British way of life"
,
The Times
, 2 March 2010. Accessed 2 February 2011.
- ^
Rinder, Robert.
"OPINION ? Rob Rinder: We must tell our children and our children's children"
.
jewishnews.timesofisrael.com
. Retrieved
2 February
2020
.
- ^
Cohen, Justin; Frazer, Jenni.
"Sir Ben Helfgott, one of Britain's greatest Jews, passes away aged 93"
.
jewishnews.co.uk
. Retrieved
16 June
2023
.
- ^
Phillips, Jacob (16 June 2023).
"Tributes paid as Holocaust survivor and Olympic weightlifter Ben Helfgott dies"
.
The Irish News
. Retrieved
16 June
2023
.
- ^
United Kingdom:
"No. 55879"
.
The London Gazette
(1st supplement). 19 June 2000. p. 17.
- ^
"Birthday Honours 2018"
(PDF)
.
Gov.uk
. 8 June 2018
. Retrieved
3 November
2020
.
- ^
"Holocaust survivor Sir Ben Helfgott wins Pride of Britain award"
.
www.thejc.com
. Retrieved
3 November
2020
.
External links
[
edit
]