On the 18 February, Ike Alterman BEM, one of our Fed My Voice Holocaust Survivor Storytellers, shared his life story with 55 staff members from Beaverbrooks’ head office, alongside 35 members of St Anne’s synagogue.
At 96 years old, Ike survived four Nazi concentration and death camps—Auschwitz-Birkenau among them—as well as a brutal death march. His entire family perished at the hands of the Nazis. Ike came to the UK as one of the Windermere Children and later settled in Manchester.
His commitment to sharing his story and conveying powerful messages of hope, tolerance, kindness, and resilience left a lasting impact on the audience.
Feedback from Beaverbrooks attendees included:
“𝐼𝑘𝑒’𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦.“
“I have always found it difficult to process the subject of the Holocaust, but this was a remarkable final chance to hear a first hand account and the lasting memory of when Europe unravelled in the most unfathomable and unspeakable way; then only imagine what Ike went through juxtaposed in the comfort and safety of St Anne’s. It was an incredible experience. Thank you to all those involved in organising and a big thank you to Ike himself. His attitude when asked how do you move on with such positivity will stick with me – by spreading kindness and helping others.”
“𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼𝑘𝑒’𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑀𝑦 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑧 𝑖𝑛 2019 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑦. 𝐵𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦’𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡, 𝑒𝑚𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.”
“One of the most memorable experiences of my career with Beaverbrooks to date. Ike’s work around his determination to do good, be kind to others and to defy the disease that this hate will stay with me forever.”
“𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐼𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒.”
“What an absolute privilege to hear Ike speak and see the incredible support he has from his partner Diane and his extended family at the Fed.”
