The Mosaic Jewish Community (MJC) in Stanmore recently held a special screening of Breathe Deeply, My Son, a film about the life of Holocaust survivor Henry Wermuth.
The screening was followed by a Q and A session with Henry’s daughter Ilana Metzger regarding her father’s life and legacy.
Henry was born in 1923 in Frankfurt, Germany. Together with his sister and parents, he was deported to Poland by the Nazi government in 1938. The Germans invaded the country a year later.
Henry’s mother and sister were taken away by the Nazis in the summer of 1942 and subsequently murdered, while Henry and his father were forced to work. Henry later attempted to kill Hitler by derailing a train that he was travelling on.
Henry’s story includes details of his imprisonment in nine concentration camps. His father passed away in April 1945, just 11 days before the war ended.
In 1995, Henry was awarded the Johanna Kirchner Medal by the City of Frankfurt for his attempt to assassinate Hitler.
A spokesperson for MJC said: “A total of 105 people attended the evening, and the audience was deeply moved. There was pin-drop silence throughout, only interrupted with occasional gasps.
“The film is a masterpiece that portrays Henry Wermuth’s story, and also the wider Holocaust, so graphically and movingly.”
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