The Holocaust survivor with happy story of hope

Leeds Holocaust survivor Liesel Carter was born in Hildesheim in Germany in 1935. Her father she never knew, because he was arrested in the street in 1937 and later died of his injuries. He became one of the town’s first victims of the Holocaust.

Leisel’s mother travelled to the UK on a domestic service visa, but was not allowed to bring four-year-old Leisel with her.

In her talk, Leisel Carter explains her own miraculous journey to freedom, a journey she didn’t uncover until the 1980s

Liesel escaped the mass genocide that sadly killed most of her family aged just four-years-old. She left Germany in 1939, just before the start of the war, and amazingly travelled most of the journey to England on her own.

She arrived in England in January 1940 after travelling through Germany, Sweden and Norway, where she stayed for a short time with a Norwegian-family, the Alfsens, before making the final voyage to the safety of England.

While Leisel’s story ultimately has a happy ending after being placed in Leeds with foster parents Jack and Mary Wynne, she like so many, lost most of her family to the Holocaust.

In her talk, Leisel will explain how she finally traced her story in the 1980s and was reunited with the Norwegian foster family who helped to save her life. She will reflect on her family’s experiences and their resonance for contemporary Britain.

• Leisel Carter’s Holocaust Survivor Talk takes place at the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre on Sunday 9 June at 2pm. Tickets are £6 (£4 concessions). To find out more about this events please visit the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre’s website.

For more information visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/news/2019/may/stefan-hordler-leisel-carter-holocaust-centre/