Obituary: Leon Greenman, Auschwitz survivor 98288 (1910 – 2008)
Leon Greenman OBE , survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp and anti fascist campaigner passed away yesterday at the age of 97. He will be sorely missed—and never forgotten.
(Pictures used by kind permission of Angela Stapleford)
Leon survived the horrors of six concentration camps including Auschwitz. Leon, his wife Else and his two and a half year old son Barney were bundled onto cattle trucks and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Leon last glimpsed his wife and child as they entered the camp—both perished there, murdered by the Nazis.
Enduring, along with millions, the death marches, the beatings, the slave labour and the starvation of the death camps, he vowed not to allow it to break him and to survive to tell of the horrors he witnessed. He lived to that promise and following his liberation in 1945 spent the next 60 years speaking to all those he could of his experiences in concentration camps and how we must all learn from the past.
Millions heard Leon’s moving story of struggle and survival and were challenged to “ Never Again” to allow the fascists space to grow, “Never Again” to allow those horrors to be forgotten and “Never Again” to have them repeated on future humanity. All who heard him have been affected by it and many of them became anti-fascist activists because of it. At school after school, anti- fascist demonstrations and rallies, Leon emplored us all to understand where fascism and fascist lead.
“”Young and old alike must learn about the Holocaust as warning against the dangers of racism. There is no difference in colour or religion. If I had survived to betray the dead it would have been better not to survive. We must not forget. Please do not forget.”
Leon was born into a large working class family in the East End of London. His family moved to the Netherlands and he became a bookseller. He married and lived in Rotterdam with his wife and son.
Then the Second World War blew his life apart. The Nazis invaded the Netherlands and persecuted its Jewish population, eventually deporting them to the death camps.
As a British citizen, Leon been thinking of moving back to London with his family, but he changed his mind when prime minister Neville Chamberlain declared in 1938 that there would be “no war with Germany”.
Leon traced his healthy cynicism and distrust of politicians back to that Chamberlain statement. He would tell his audiences never to trust the government, urging them instead to create a movement that could prevent a repetition of the Holocaust.
Leon believed education was a powerful tool in the weaponry against the Nazis and was awarded an OBE for his work with schools. But he was also a firm believer in participating in the struggle against fascism too.
He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Anti Nazi League and Unite Against Fascism and joined in many demonstrations and protests across the country against the fascist National Front and Britist National Party.
He lent his support to countless events and gained immense enjoyment from attending Love Music Hate Racism events, sharing the stage with Pete Doherty & Estelle among others in Trafalgar Square in 2005. He loved young people and sparked off their energy.
Aged 82, Leon led the 60,000-strong Unity demonstration in 1993 that demanded the closure of the British National Party (BNP) headquarters in Welling, south east London.
As the police charged protesters, he was hurtled over a wall, narrowly escaping the truncheons and horses. Months later, he led the victorious procession to a carnival to celebrate the defeat of the BNP’s first councillor in east London.
What a fighter Leon was. Of the shipment of 11,000 Jews from Amsterdam, there were two survivors—Leon and one other. His determination was matched only by his stubbornness.
In 2006 Leon now in his mid 90s embarked on a speaking tour of the Yorkshire Universities in the run up to the trials of fascist BNP leaders Nick Griffin and Mark Collett, helping to mobilise hundreds of students who joined the thousand strong anti fascist protest outside Leeds Crown court.
He spoke twice at the national conferences of Unite Against Fascism alongside others in the movement today, pledging support and urging us all to unite and fight against the fascists wherever they raise their heads.
He will be sorely missed—and we will never forget him.
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out —
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out —
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out —
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me —
and by then there was no one left to speak
out for me.
Poem by German anti Nazi Priest
Pastor Martin Niemöller
