THE plight of the Kosovo refugees and their struggle for life has brought back chilling memories for a Whitefield man who survived the horrors of the Holocaust.

And this week, Mr Meyer Hersch, spoke about his harrowing ordeal with Prestwich High pupils to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Wednesday.

The 7-year-old was taken from his home in Poland as a boy and survived nine concentration camps before being liberated by the Russians in 1945.

Twice a week for nearly 20 years, the pensioner has visited schools and colleges, telling pupils and students about the trauma of his childhood.

The Jewish Holocaust survivor lost his parents, three younger brothers and a sister who were killed by the Nazis during World War Two.

Later, however, he was eventually reunited with his older brother, Joseph, who lives in Israel.

Mr Hersch, who lives with his wife Judith, said: "My elder brother was taken from home in December, 1939, and in 1940, at the age of 13, they took me on my own from the house," he recalled.

"I was dragged from my bed, told to get dressed in seconds and then taken to a prison overnight.

"The following day they took me to a railway station, put me into a cattle truck and I was sent off to a slave camp."

He was originally transported to Ortoschno where he worked building a railway. By sheer luck and his own determination, he survived many other camps, including the notorious Auschwitz death camp, before he was freed towards to the end of the war. Afterwards, he was taken to a refugee camp in Windermere and later settled in the Manchester area.

To make matters worse, Mr Hersch had no idea what had happened to the rest of his family.

Like millions of other people, Mr Hersch has been watching the situation in Kosovo unfold and admits it does draw parallels with the Second World War.

"But I tell you, there is no comparison with what happened to us," he says. "We were taken to concentration camps, exploited to the last minute and then murdered.

"I used to have terrible nightmares, although not so much now.

"It gives me a shudder to remember the humiliation and the deaths."

Mr Hersch feels there are undoubted benefits to be derived from his speaking engagements, which have taken him all over the country.

"There are two important aspects of telling people about what happened," he stresses.

"Firstly, it is to tell them the truth about what I witnessed, experienced and saw.

"Secondly, it to make sure people aren't given the wrong facts by some so-called revisionist historians who will give them false information and distort the true facts."

He added: "Another positive thing is that by telling people, like teachers and pupils, then possibly they could help prevent any future tragedy like this which might happen as a result of ignorance.

"People will be better informed and can prevent such a thing happening to any minority anywhere. We need to bring this message to as many people as possible." Mr Hersch said Prestwich High School pupils sat "riveted" during his talk on Wednesday. "You could have heard a pin drop. "It takes a lot for people of that age to sit still for almost two hours. But I get the same response from all schools I visit."

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