A ‘Virtual’ Visit

It was a delight and an honour to welcome a Holocaust survivor to our college on Thursday 9th February, albeit virtually. Our Sixth Form students gained so much from the experience and asked some excellent questions.

Jackie Young was born in Vienna, Austria in on 18th December 1941. When Jackie was only 9 months old, he was deported to Terezin, a ghetto-camp in Czechoslovakia. In Terezin, Jackie stayed with other very young children in what was called the Ward for Motherless Children. These children were cared for by successive caretakers, themselves inmates of the camp. There were no toys or comforts and all the children had was a bare yard outside. Jackie remained at Terezin for approximately 2.5 years, until Terezin was liberated on 8th May 1945.

Soon after liberation, Jackie, along with some of the other young children, was brought to the United Kingdom. Initially, he stayed for a few months in Windemere, as part of the group now known as ‘The Boys.’ Later, he was sent to Bulldogs Bank in Sussex, southeast England and stayed there for about a year. After Bulldogs Bank, Jackie and the children were taken to Weir Courtney, a home in Lingfield, Surrey. They were looked after by some leading child specialists who studied their development and helped them to rehabilitate. At Weir Courtney, Jackie met his adoptive parents who took him to live with them. At this point he was 5 years old. Jackie had no memory of his experiences during the Holocaust and his adoptive parents were very reluctant to tell him about his origins for fear of losing his affection.

However, when Jackie was due to marry his wife Lita, in 1963, he began to discover the truth about his past. Up until this point, Jackie had only learned that he was adopted because a schoolmate revealed the truth to him. Prior to his marriage, Jackie needed to produce proof that he was Jewish and in so doing he found out about his place of birth, his incarceration in Terezin and the fate of his mother. Jackie learned that his mother was murdered at an extermination camp called Maly Trostenets, in what is now Belarus. Jackie later learned that other family members including his grandfather, an uncle and an aunt were also murdered in the Holocaust. Jackie has never learned who his father was nor what happened to him, as his name was not on Jackie’s birth certificate.

Jackie has since been to Austria, the Czech Republic and to Israel to try to learn more about his past. In the UK, Jackie and Lita had a family and Jackie was a black cab driver for over 40 years. He is also now a grandfather. Jackie lives in London and spends much of his time sharing his testimony with the next generation.