Mayer Hersch’s Story

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Mayer Hersh was 13 when World War Two broke out and was forced to be a slave labourer. He ended up in Auschwitz and with no communication with the outside world; he was unaware of VE Day. “We had no access to news, no radio, no newspapers. We had nothing. We had to guess; we could look at the faces of the Nazis and we could see the war is going against them,” Mayer explained. “That gave us hope. We knew it wouldn’t last forever; it was only a question of time. We couldn’t fully enjoy the victories that were taking place.” Mayer was liberated by the Russians from Theresienstadt and came to Windermere with a Jewish refugee group in August 1945. There he had hope that victory in Japan would soon come. He became a high class tailor, carrying on his father’s trade before him and today lives in Prestwich, Manchester. Image: Mayer Hersch