Page 4 - HGS Suburb News 149 - March 2022

S U B U R B
PEOPLE

A Holocaust Survivorʼs story

SHELLEY-ANNE SALISBURY Ultimately, Lela lived a happy MARCELLE BLACK
and fulfilled life, doting on her (LELA’S DAUGHTER)
ela Black, nee Amiel, was born in daughter and two granddaughters.
1918 in Salonica, the second She died in August 2008, following I moved to Hampstead Garden
L largest city in Greece with a a major stroke. Suburb in 1977 a few months
thriving Jewish population, where after I got married. My husband
she lived happily alongside other JACQUELINE LUCK Jeff had already been living there
Jews, Christians and Muslims. (LELA’S GRANDDAUGHTER) since 1961 with his parents.
In 1940, she left Salonica with her We bought a house in
husband Joseph and young I discovered the photo of my Cornwood Close where we still
daughter Marcelle to move to grandmother Lela with her first live to this day: we never moved, Lela with the ‘first’ Marcelle, November 1939
Athens, leaving the rest of her daughter, Marcelle (top, right), even after 45 years! This is where
family behind. whilst sorting through family I have spent most of my life and I
When the Germans occupied photos at my mother’s home in would not contemplate living
Athens in 1943, Lela, Joseph and the Suburb where I grew up. As anywhere else.
little Marcelle went into hiding. you can imagine, I was shocked to Our two daughters, Jacqueline
A year later, after being denounced discover my grandmother Lela and Danielle, both attended
and incarcerated at the Haidari had had another daughter (also Meadway Nursery School in Central
military camp, they were named Marcelle) and even more Square and then Jacqueline went
transported to Auschwitz in cattle shocked to discover what had to Annemount in Holne Chase
trucks, with thousands of other happened to my grandmother, her before going on to Brookland
Greek Jews. first husband and little Marcelle. School where Danielle later joined
On arrival at Auschwitz, a This discovery inspired me to tell her, before eventually going on to
selection process separated Lela my grandmother’s extraordinary the Henrietta Barnett School.
from her daughter and husband; and heart-breaking story. Both my girls have gained so
this was the last time she saw them. With the help of G2G (www. many happy memories and lasting
Somehow, Lela survived Auschwitz, generation2generation.org.uk) the friendships from living here in
enduring freezing temperatures, wonderful charitable organisation the Suburb. Jacqueline and Lela (Photo: Richard Luck)
disease and hunger. helping the children and grand- Therefore, I find it both
When Lela was finally liberated children of Holocaust survivors to appropriate and heart-warming
by the Russians on May 5th 1945 tell their family stories, I gave the that Jacqueline was able to give My trip to Rome
and returned to Greece, she first presentation of my grand- the first presentation of her
discovered her entire family from mother’s story on 25th January, Grandma Lela’s story from Garden
Salonica had been deported in just ahead of Holocaust Memorial Suburb Community Library via without leaving home
1943 and had all been murdered Day, via Zoom in association with Zoom, which enabled so many of
in Auschwitz. Garden Suburb Community Library our friends from all over the world
Eventually, Lela came to (see page 3). to attend and hear my mother’s
London to stay with her only living As a passionate advocate of amazing story – told through her for Kidasha
relatives: an aunt, uncle and two Holocaust, education, I have told granddaughter’s words.
cousins. She later remarried and and continue to tell Lela’s story and
MICHAEL JACOBS
had another daughter, naming always end with a message urging If you would like to watch Jacqueline’s
her Marcelle after the child that people not to stand by and allow presentation, here is the link: https:// uring the last month I walked 86 miles and so, after 306 days,
GAD_Enfranchisement_SuburbNews_137mm x 120mm_Layout 1 08/02/2021 09:46 Page 1
she had lost. hatred and intolerance to prevail. vimeo.com/671233418/7bc7c260ec.
I arrived in the ancient city of Lucca in Tuscany. I have walked
D912 miles, virtually, across England, France and northern Italy
and have now covered 81% of my trip from London to Rome (equivalent
to 10,032 laps of the field) – over 2.14 million steps. Donors have very
kindly contributed £12,198.77 (with Gift Aid) to Kidasha towards my
Introducing Graham Jaffe target of raising £18,000 – more donations are always welcome.
During the last month, I left Gavi in the municipality of Turin in
Leasehold Piedmont, crossed the River Po, traversed the mountain village country
of Liguria and arrived in Tuscany at the great walled city of Lucca.
The teams at Kidasha (www.kidasha.org) and their local Nepali
partners have been working very hard through the winter to help their
Enfranchisement young beneficiaries get through the pandemic and deal with their long-
standing poverty and other challenges. In the foothills of the
Himalayas, where most of the children live, it gets extremely cold in
Expert the heating is often just an open wood fire, which is also used for
winter, and the hills are often covered in snow. It is cold and harsh and
cooking, even in people’s homes. From distributing vital food supplies
and offering emergency shelter, to providing access to education and
life skills learning, donations allow Kidasha to provide aid to those hit
Buying your freehold or extending your hardest by the pandemic. There was a surge of
Omicron cases in January, which resulted in the
lease contact Graham for experienced schools being shut again for three weeks. This is
specialist advice. on top of them already being shut for 70 weeks
since the start of the Pandemic. Only a tiny
Call on 0208 209 2653 fraction of the people are vaccinated against
Covid 19 so the dangers of the pandemic
Email gjaffe@gadlegal.co.uk are all too real, and the country is still
often in lockdown– although, for people
who live from hand to mouth nearly all
of the time, ‘lockdown’ is a very
www.gadlegal.co.uk ethereal concept, as they have no
746 Finchley Road NW11 7TH choice but to go out and work anyway.
If you wish to donate to help
Gregory Abrams Davidson Solicitors is a trading Kidasha, please go to worldwalking.org/
name of National Law Partners Limited.
fundraising/n82bh where you can also
see my progress.
4 SUBURB NEWS IS PRODUCED AND DELIVERED TO YOU BY RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEERS