The heart-rending life stories of Holocaust Survivors and Bury residents Ike Alterman BEM and Helen Stein were shared with an audience at Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre on Tuesday 26 February.Ike shared his painful recollections from his My Voice book “Rest Their Souls” of life as a carefree young boy in Poland, who was cruelly separated from his mother, brother and sister prior to being sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp before coming to the UK as a Windermere Boy upon liberation.
Helen Stein was accompanied by Rebecca Weinberg, a My Voice volunteer who read an extract of her life story book, published by The Fed’s My Voice Project entitled, ‘Miracles Do Happen’.
Helen who was born in France, became a refugee as a child, when her parents sent her and her siblings away to supposed safety to escape the Nazis relentless pursuit of Jews during the Second World War. Aided by the French Resistance and in particular, heroine Marianne Cohn, Helen and her siblings managed to flee to Switzerland. However, Marianne paid the ultimate price for her bravery as she was cruelly tortured and murdered for her role in protecting Helen and many other children.
Guests heard these moving real life stories at this special event to mark the accession of the My Voice Collection into Bury Council‘s Council’s five libraries in the presence of other Survivors, Bury councillors and staff, Fed trustees, colleagues, volunteers and educators from across Bury and Greater Manchester.
Special thanks was also given to Dictate2Us for their incredible support of the My Voice project over the past 7 years via their transcribing of the audio of every story.
The My Voice Project works with Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution to produce whole life story books told in their own words.
Thank you to Bury Art Museum for hosting this wonderful event to showcase the My Voice Project and the lives of two incredible Bury residents.
