Members, staff and volunteers at Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre gave a warm welcome to key cast and creatives from the upcoming Sky series, ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’. Actors, including Jonah Hauer-King (Lali) and Melanie Lynskey (Heather Morris), met survivors, in advance of the release of the six-part series on Sky (2 May). Other key cast members Anna Próchniak, (Gita), Jonas Nay (Officer Stefan Baretzki) as well as Executive Producer, Claire Mundell and Director, Tali Shalom-Ezer, all shared in the moving and uplifting afternoon which included a Q&A and opportunity to talk with the members.
Ivor Weider, 92, shared his traumatic memories from Auschwitz, where he was deported from Romania at the age of just 12 years old. Miram Freedman, 89, who survived the Holocaust by going into hiding as a child, shared with the cast that she also comes from Bratislava in Slovakia, where Lali came from, and felt a strong connection to his story.
Following the visit, Holocaust survivor and centre member, Ivor Perl BEM, 92, who was taken at the age of 12 from Hungary to Auschwitz-Birkenau, said, “After all these years, and with all that’s happening in the world today, regarding acceptance of other people, it’s been an honour to meet some of the actors, the director and producer and I wish them all the best of luck with this project.”
Today, more than 250 Holocaust survivors and refugees are supported by Jewish Care at the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre with a programme of social, cultural and therapeutic activities, in the care homes and Retirement Living apartments. The therapeutic Shalvata service, with its specialist team offering counselling and social work support, is for those dealing with trauma.
Sarah-Jane Burstein, Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre and Outreach Coordinator said, “It was our great privilege to host the cast and key creatives from series. It was an incredibly memorable, moving and unique encounter for everyone involved. Survivors spoke openly about their deeply harrowing experiences in Auschwitz. The conversation and exchange were empowering for everyone involved, as we listened to the group of young actors have taken on their roles in this production with such sensitivity and deep responsibility to ensure these stories are never forgotten.”
