Holocaust survivor honoured for volunteer work to educate others

A HOLOCAUST survivor who regularly volunteers at the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre, based at the University of Huddersfield, to share her story of how she survived the Holocaust to the hundreds of youngsters, school children and visitors to the centre, has been shortlisted for a coveted award in recognition of her work. 

Trude Silman, who is the Life President of the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association, has been named as one of the finalists in the Yorkshire Women’s Volunteer Awards. The awards recognise volunteers throughout Yorkshire who go above and beyond to help others and causes, providing emotional and social support, inspiring, motivating and who play a key role in supporting or fundraising for a range of projects and activities. 

As a member and former Chair of the Leeds-based, Holocaust Survivors' Friendship Association, Trude has spoken to thousands of people about the dangers of racism and discrimination so that future generations can learn about the dangers of intolerance and the ease with which prejudice can lead to genocide. 

Trude's survivor story

Trude was born in Czechoslovakia in 1929, into a prosperous Jewish family and arrived on England’s shores at the age of just ten years old after her father had had the foresight to send her to relative safety in England. She arrived as a refugee just before the outbreak of World War 2 and sadly, unbeknown to her at the time, was never to see her parents again. 

“I cannot remember saying goodbye to them,” she told the audience at a talk for Holocaust Memorial Day hosted by the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre.  “It is one of those deep memories that I tried to hide because the pain of leaving home was too great,” she said. 

Trude's father perished at Auschwitz in April 1941 and she is still searching for the fate of her mother. She believes her mother was probably held at the only women's concentration camp and died on a death march during the last few days of the war. 

Trude regularly talks warmly of the kindness of strangers - those that offered her sanctuary and helped her to build a new life in England. She studied biochemistry in Leeds, where she met her husband and the city became her home. As well as becoming a mother she has also had a successful career as a biomedical scientist and has been involved in many high-profile studies.

Raising awareness of the Holocaust

Despite now being in her 90s, Trude is still as busy as ever volunteering at the centre and says offering her time to talk about her story has helped her to cope with the devastating loss of her parents and, strengthened by the notion that she is informing and educating, she lives in the hope that such atrocities will never happen again. 

Her efforts to raise awareness of the Holocaust and about the dangers of racism and discrimination have also gained recognition from Her Majesty The Queen after Trude was announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List as being one of this year’s recipients of an MBE. The Royal honour will be officially awarded in April and is conferred upon those who have made distinguished or notable contributions to their own specific areas of activity. 

The overall winners of the Yorkshire Women’s Volunteer Awards will be announced on 15 May at the Marriott Hotel in Leeds. 

• The Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre is based at the University of Huddersfield and features the interactive and multimedia exhibition 'Through Our Eyes' which tells the story of the Holocaust through the first-hand testimony of sixteen survivors who built new lives in the North of England.  Both the centre and the exhibition are free to visit.