The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz (36 page)

Riding Ryedale after a dressage competition, part of a three day event.

Audrey and I enjoying an evening together.

Susanne and Ernst Lobethal as children in pre-war Breslau.

Ernst as a young man. He changed his name to Ernie Lobet on reaching America. I was shocked to learn that, having survived Auschwitz Ernie was drafted to fight in the Korean War.

Meeting Ernie’s sister Susanne again after sixty-four years. When we first met in 1945 I was a deeply traumatised soldier unable to bring her any comfort about the fate of her brother.

Ernie (Ernst) Lobet, taken from his remarkable video testimony for the Shoah Foundation. This was how I first heard his story.

Head to head with prime minister Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street on 22 January 2010 when I was presented with a medal as one of twenty-seven British
Heroes of the Holocaust.
All but two of us received the award posthumously.

September 2010: now I can talk about those terrible times, I feel as if a load is slowly lifting.