Tributes to Leon Greenman
Leon Greenman talking to pupils at Marling School
A TRIBUTE TO LEON GREENMAN 1911-2008
He seemed invincible, ageless and indestructible but Leon Greenman has died at the age of 97 and the author of “An Englishman in Auschwitz” has left a legacy.
So many people both in this country and around the world have been inspired, humbled and astounded by this small man's huge contribution to the truth of what happened in Auschwitz. By unfortunate circumstances, he found himself caught up in the atrocities of Hitler’s war. His young wife and baby son did not survive but Leon pledged that if he managed to live he would dedicate his life to telling his story and ensuring the truth would be known. He visited schools and clubs, organisations and agencies talking to all who would listen … and listen they did because he spoke from the heart; he spared no detail and he captivated both old and young.
In Gloucestershire we were privileged to hear Leon speak to our pupils in a number of secondary schools. He kindly came back to us the following year and, although suffering from bronchitis, he talked to students at Beaufort, Balcarras, Archway, Marling and Severn Vale. He also spent an evening at The Prince Albert pub in Stroud where eager listeners were overflowing onto the street.
I was honoured to have had the opportunity of spending some time with Leon during these visits. He was serious, dedicated and totally committed to his mission. But Leon was also witty, charming, sensitive and had a delightful teasing manner.
I once asked him if he had ever found any happiness since the horrors of the war. He looked at me quizzically with his sharp, sincere eyes and said “Never, my life is consumed with my desire for everyone to know the truth and I will continue to do this until the day I die.” I was left feeling deeply saddened that even after 60 years, this wonderful man had found no peace of mind. I truly hope he has it now.
Dee Russell-Thomas
READS
A Life Torn Apart
January 2005
What does it take to impress your average teenager – the latest MP4 player, a Nintendo WII, an X-Box 360 or maybe a giant plasma screen TV mounted on their own bedroom wall? We under-estimate our young people if we believe that only the latest gadgets inspire their feelings and responses.
At Beaufort Community School we were privileged in January 2005 to welcome Leon Greenman to speak to our Year 11 and Sixth Form students. The challenge was, however, how do you bill a 94 year old speaker who has a reputation for precise detail and a passion for needing to tell every part of a story? If I had any concerns about whether Leon Greenman could engage and move an audience whose only knowledge of Nazism and the holocaust had been learned in a series of 50 minute History or RE lessons, reservations were unfounded.
Leon Greenman was physically a diminutive man and as he made his slightly faltering way to the front of our packed theatre studio, no one could have imagined the impact he was to have on this audience. Greenman called upon all his senses to recreate scenes from his past; this was not self indulgence and not about simple reminiscing, this was living history with a purpose. That purpose, that re-living of events before our very eyes, that re-creation of pain and cruelty did exactly what was desired – it alerted a generation of young people to be mindful and allowed Greenman to keep a promise he made to God as a holocaust prisoner. If he lived, he would let the world know what happened during the war.
Leon Greenman survived the camps and I know that he sometimes asked why? Well, on that cold January day in 2005, in a School’s theatre studio his audience grasped instantly why this man had to survive, he had a mission, a painful one but one he made his own. The hardest thing we sometimes try to do is to change another person’s perspective or way of thinking. Greenman told his story as it was and in doing so switched on the thinking of our young students at Beaufort. What a legacy.
Jane Mason
Beaufort School
A Vote of Thanks for Leon Greenman
Mr. Leon Greenman in the eyes of us all is an inspirational man. It is astounding and humbling to see someone who has lost so much in such a horrific manner, campaign tirelessly to tell and educate the world about the atrocities of the Holcaust.
Since his day of liberation from Buchenwald in April, 1945, he has strived to live up to a promise that he made. He had said that if he survived to betray the dead it would have been better not to survive.
We must not forget. Please do not forget.
Despite these words, the world does seem to have forgotten. Since the Holocaust there have been numerous cases of genocide around the world. In Cambodia, Bangladesh and most recently, Rwanda, millions of innocent people have died. Families like Mr. Greenman's were torn apart and the world stood by and did nothing.
As the adults of tomorrow, it is our responsibility to stop such evil ever taking place again. Let it be a teaching of what could happen in the world if we do nothing – and let Leon Greenman be the inspiration to stop it!
Nadia Hussein
Student,
Balcarras School
I got to know Leon in 1995 when he contacted me out of the blue about some work I had been doing. We built up an epistolary relationship that lasted until his death. He also stayed at my house for a couple of days in the new century and was a powerfully charismatic figure, with an equally powerfully anti-fascist outlook that was modern and contemporary as well as historical. A vast number of people spoke to me about Leon's death in the Stroud and Gloucester areas - his talks moved a vast number of people into areas of thought and emotion that stayed with them for ever. To my mind, it was entirely apt that my local pub, The Prince Albert, on Rodborough Hill, should have a blackboard chalked "R.I.P. Leon Greenman." That blackboard is usually reserved for birthday greetings for local notables.
Stuart Butler
Brockworth Enterprise School
Read Obituaries in the National Press:
Leon Greenham is recognised internationaly as a unique person - and obituaries are in the international news - enter his name in Google to read them!
Leon devoted his life to educating the young on the atrocities of the Holocaust. We were priveleged in Gloucestershire to have him speak in person to large audiences of young people in a number of schools. We know this made a great impression on the audiences of young people - from their own comments.
Sadly, he can no longer speak - but we have audio recordings which we sincerely hope schools will use in school - in assemblies and lessons - so that his message lives on to inform future generations, as we are sure would be his wish!