This exhibition has been endowed by the children and grandchildren of Maks Etingin in honor of his 85th Birthday The dates displayed for an article provide information on when various publication milestones were reached at the journal that has published the article activities on preceding journals at which the article was previously under consideration are not shown (for instance submission All content on this site: Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. who for decades served as a leader in the World Jewish Congress Holocaust Memorial Council and president of the Federation of Polish Jews Sultanik was a Jewish community and Zionist activist prior to World War II During the war he was part of the underground resistance against the Nazis and spent time in several concentration camps He was sent on the death march to Theresienstadt Sultanik was a delegate to the 22nd World Zionist Congress in Basel in 1946 representing the survivors of the death and concentration camps in Germany he was elected to the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in Munich He was named secretary general of the General Zionist Constructive Fund in 1948 he became secretary general of the World Confederation of General Zionists in Israel and became the director of the organization in 1952 The Polish government in 1988 appointed him to a seat on the International Auschwitz Museum Council As chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Auschwitz Museum he raised some $30 million from European governments for the upkeep of the site He was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Poland Reborn in 1995 Sultanik was a member of the World Zionist Executive for many years representing the World Confederation of United Zionists For four decades he served on the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel and was chairman of the American Section of the World Zionist Organization I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward American Jews need independent news they can trust At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S rising antisemitism and polarized discourse This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up Copyright © 2025 The Forward Association Cookies allow us to understand how you use this site and improve your experience. Our detailed Cookie Policy can be found here By continuing to use this website you accept our use of cookies Mandatory cookies help make this website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website Our website cannot function properly without these cookies Statistic cookies help us understand how visitors interact with this website for example seeing which pages are most popular This information is collected anonymously and helps us improve the site by making the most sought after information easy to find Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites allowing the display of ads that are relevant and engaging for the visitor Whilst we do not display any advertising on the WJC website allowing marketing cooking may allow other sites to see that you have visited our site This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Holocaust survivor Harry Olmer will share his story as Islington Council hosts an online event for Holocaust Memorial Day on Thursday Holocaust Memorial Day is the international day to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust millions of people killed in Nazi persecution of other groups and in genocides that followed in Cambodia The online ceremony will include a presentation from Harry Olmer a Holocaust survivor who was forced to work in Nazi labour camps in Poland before being moved to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany The event will also feature a pre-recorded performance from the World Harmony Orchestra whose musicians include refugees from around the world and contributions from local MPs and councillors The online event is from 10am – 11:30am on 27 January, and can be accessed via Zoom. All are welcome to attend. Anyone interested is invited to register online via Eventbrite The theme for this year is ‘One Day’ - one day in the year for us to come together learn share and remember the holocaust and genocides that followed in Rwanda By talking and learning about the past and showing empathy we can as a collective ensure that one day there will be no more genocides.   Islington Council’s Executive Member for Community Development we stand with our communities to make sure that this is a place where people feel safe and connected to others around them “The past shows us the terrible consequences of intolerance and hatred and it is so important we learn about the Holocaust and genocides that followed to help ensure that they will never be repeated and help us all work together for a better future where we hope there will be no genocide.” Harry was born Chaim Olmer in 1927 in Sosnowiec Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 the Jews of Sosnowiec faced escalating persecution and violence so in the spring of 1940 Harry’s family fled to his grandmother’s village of Miechów-Charsznica in the hope that conditions might be better there this turned out to be a false hope and the Jews of the village were subjected to forced labour including street cleaning repairing roads and working in German homes In 1942 the Jews of Miechów-Charsznica and neighbouring villages were expelled from their homes and assembled in a field where they were held for several days before the Germans carried out a selection Some of the men and those incapable of working were shot immediately and the women and children sent by train to Bełżec extermination camp were sent to the Płaszów labour camp in Kraków Harry was sent to another notorious forced labour camp where he was one of tens of thousands of Polish Jews forced to work in chemical factories owned by the German HASAG company in the most horrific conditions His work – filling shells and land mines with acid – was incredibly dangerous and thousands of prisoners died from poisoning The SS also carried out periodic selections in which weakened prisoners were shot just before the Germans began their retreat and Harry was one of only 6,000 prisoners who survived to be sent on to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany This was a temporary stop before they were moved on to Schlieben a subcamp of Buchenwald attached to another HASAG factory where Harry again had to work in exhausting and dangerous conditions with the Soviet Red Army approaching in April 1945 the surviving prisoners were sent on the Terezín ghetto in Czechoslovakia where they were finally liberated by the Red Army on 8th May 1945 Harry came to the UK with a group of child survivors known as ‘The Boys’ moving to Glasgow where he lived in a hostel Despite knowing no English when he arrived in 1945 Harry completed his Highers exams in 1947 and went on to qualify as a dentist In 1950 Harry became a British citizen and later served in the army as a dentist Harry went on to marry and have four children and eight grandchildren Cookie Settings Powered by Onclusive PR Manager™ Around 100 people gathered at the Town Hall on Monday for the council’s Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony members of the public and schoolchildren attended the event which this year had the theme of ‘Stand Together’ They heard 92-year-old survivor Harry Olmer Following the German invasion of Poland that marked the start of the Second World War his five siblings and the rest of his family fled to his grandmother’s village of Miechów-Charsznica and sent them either to be killed or to work in forced labour camps where tens of thousands of Polish Jews were made to work in a dangerous chemical factory Harry told the crowd: “The conditions were horrible It is hard to find the words to describe the rancid smell “There were many mornings when I would wake up next to a corpse as men tragically died during the night.” and was finally freed by the Russian army in 1945 He said: “I was almost dead – barely breathing and unconscious for long periods – but they found me and I was liberated were systematically murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators Harry came to the UK with 300 young holocaust survivors They were moved to Glasgow and later to Windermere in the Lake District and went on to serve in the army as a dentist He also got married and had four children and eight grandchildren In keeping with the ‘Stand Together’ theme the Memorial Day ceremony included a joint song from pupils at Simon Marks Jewish Primary and The Olive School read out a statement of commitment against all forms of discrimination Hackney Speaker Cllr Kam Adams said: “I feel honoured and humbled to be part of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration service “It is important that we look back and remember all those who have suffered that we learn the lessons from the past and work even harder to make sure that they never happen again prompts us to think about how we can all work together to build a cohesive and kind community where people can respect and love one another despite their differences.” Speaker Adams and schoolchildren placed a floral tribute under Hackney’s Holocaust Memorial tree in the Town Hall square