Ben

Birthdate: 1 Jan 1935

Place: Budapest, Hungary

Even as a little boy, Ben remembers the increase of intolerance towards Jews in Hungary in the 1930s. In 1944 the Nazis took his father away and his mother sent Ben to what she hoped would be the safety of a catholic boarding school at Estergom. That safety proved to illusive as the Jewish children there were lined up and taken away. Aware of the dangers Ben originally stayed behind but one of the nun teachers identified him, saying "step forward you little Jew boy".

Too young for hard slave labour, Ben was “saved” from the gas chamber when he was chosen as a subject for medical experiments. He had his head shaved and was forced to endure being subjected to experiments, operations, chemicals and drugs. A kindly matron who tried to look after him was shot in front of him as she tried to stop a camp guard from beating him.

Ben was liberated by the Russians. Miraculously his parents had also survived. Ten years later, living in soviet-controlled Budapest, Ben was involved in student protests and had to flee the country, arriving in New Zealand and settling in Auckland.