Holocaust survivor and British weightlifting hero Sir Ben Helfgott has been honoured with a Pride of Britain award for five decades of tireless work in passing on the lessons of the Nazi era and fighting for those who lived through the horrors.
Poland-born Sir Ben – whose parents and younger sister were killed in the Shoah – survived Buchenwald and was liberated from Theresienstadt before being brought to the UK aged just 15.
Remarkably, just eleven years later, Sir Ben – who turns 91 next month – captained the British weightlifting team at the 1956 Olympics, a feat he repeated four years later. He is recognised alongside footballer Marcus Rashford and other heroes at the Pride of Britain Awards, organised by the newspaper the Daily Mirror, whose format has been revamped this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Sir Ben – who has held positions in almost every major Holocaust remembrance and education organisation – will be seen by a TV audience of millions receiving the famous trophy from Stephen Fry, surrounded by his wife Arza, three sons and five of his grandchildren.
“You shouldn’t have to be Jewish or to have a relatives who perished in the Holocaust yourself to be stunned by characters like Ben Helfgott, though of course it does add an extra element of admiration and appreciation,” said the author and television presenter after making the presentation at the Holocaust memorial in Hyde Park earlier this month.
“His actions speak for all humanity however. His quiet determination to ensure that the unspeakable wickedness and evil of what happened has been inspirational. Against indifference, denial and doubt he has raised a literal and figurative memorial wall that honours the victims and helps push back against the possibility that such horrors might be allowed to happen again.”
