A HOLOCAUST survivor has described how he was ‘reborn’ in South Lakeland following his liberation from a German concentration camp in Poland at the end of the war.

Ben Helfgott was one of 300 Jewish children who came to Windermere directly from the Theresienstadt camp in Eastern Europe after it was liberated in 1945. Ben and one of his sisters were the only members of his family to survive the Holocaust.

Mr Helfgott is now a member of the National Holocaust Commission and is Honorary President of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, which this year is preparing to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

As part of national events to mark the occasion, Kendal has been chosen to host the lighting of one of 70 specially designed candles, in recognition of South Lakeland’s role in helping the young Holocaust survivors.

Mr Helfgott was speaking about his time in Windermere when he visited to personally deliver Kendal’s Holocaust Memorial Day candle to organisers of South Lakeland’s Holocaust Memorial Day events.

Handing over the candle to South Lakeland District Council chairman Cllr Evelyn Westwood and Director of the Lake District Holocaust Project, Trevor Avery, Mr Helfgott said it was always an emotional moment when he returned to South Lakeland.

“This is where I was reborn. It is a great pleasure to be back here and to present the candle," he said. “Being here always brings back nice memories of when my real life began.’’

Before coming to Windermere the young Mr Helfgott had survived the Bugaj and Hortensia labour camps and Buchenwald, Schlieben and Theresienstadt concentration camps.

The 300 children who came to the Lake District spent a period of recuperation at the former Calgarth estate at Troutbeck Bridge before embarking on new lives.

Mr Helfgott went on to have a distinguished sporting career after the war, representing Britain as a weightlifter in the Melbourne and Rome Olympics in 1956 and 1960 respectively, as well as in the Commonwealth Games in 1958.

The candle presented by Mr Helfgott will be lit at Kendal Town Hall on Monday, January 26, as part of a special public concert by international concert pianist Anthony Hewitt, who is artistic director of Ulverston International Music Festival, to mark the 70th anniversary.

Concentration camp survivor Joe Berger will light the candle in Kendal to honour survivors of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides.

The concert, which starts at 2pm, will be preceded by a short memorial ceremony at The Birdcage on Finkle Street, Kendal, at 12 noon when Lakes School student Keelan Hardy will read out a poem he has composed for the event, while a member of the Lancaster and Lakes Jewish community will be saying the Kaddish.