The world will mark the Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday, January 27, to remember millions of people, who were killed by the Nazis in several gas chambers across Germany and Austria. Most of those killed were Jews, and other victims included Poles, Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war, and gays.
There are several horror stories told by Holocaust survivors of Auschwitz and Mauthausen death camps. One such survivor is Tomi Komoly, who escaped the Nazis as a child. Komoly was given the British Empire Medal in 2020 for his work with the Holocaust Educational Trust.
Tomi Komoly, now an 89-year-old grandfather, told the Mirror that he saw his father dragged off to his death in Hungary.
Komoly said he and his mother spent World War II in terror and torment trying to hide from the Nazis.
However, he never thought he would have to hide himself again. Komoly, who lives in Wilmslow, Cheshire, revealed that he slides off his Jewish skullcap—Yarmulke—when he is in public and puts it on again once inside the Synagogue, reported Mirror.
“It’s very upsetting. I would walk out of home with my head covering but nowadays, I only put it on when I am inside the synagogue. Another thing that really upsets me is, all these marches not only in London but Manchester, which is very close to where we live…they are shouting against the Jews. I would be very much in favour of something being done to stop that," he told the news publication.
Komoly was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1936. He spent his early childhood hiding from Nazi soldiers. He claimed that during World War 2, the Hungarian government was on Hitler’s side but when they saw the tide turning, they “put out feelers” to the “British to change sides”.
“My father was first taken away in 1943 in a forced labour unit on the Russian front line," he said, adding the deportation of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz began in May 1944.
Komoly, who was seven at that time, said: “A couple of armed guys came round and took him away. It was six days before my eighth birthday. I remember feeling sheer horror. The day before it was still hugging and kissing and the next thing he disappears again.”
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