Love is the most powerful weapon in the world. and Were all human beings. Those were the powerful messages of Holocaust survivor Leslie Kleinman BEM who joined us for a lunchtime talk on Thursday 23rd January, ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday 27th.
During his time with us Mr Kleinman recounted his story: how he and his family were taken from their home in Romania to Auschwitz; how he was saved by a Polish Jew who pulled him from the line and told him to claim he was 17 so he would be put to work rather than be sent to the gas chambers; how the rest of his family were sent to those chambers; how he survived; and what he had done after being liberated 75 years ago.
He showed us an image of the number he was branded with, 8203, and explained that when converted to the Hebrew alphabet it had the same value as the word love. While the Nazis had given him this mark, he spoke about how God used this hidden meaning to guide him to denounce hate and promote love because were all human beings. An advocate of peace, when asked what he would say to a Nazi if they were stood in front of him Mr Kleinman answered with one word, Shalom.
He also spoke about how God had guided him to share his story with the young, so that the next generations would know this history and learn from it. We were all deeply moved by this mans message and are truly grateful to have heard it. I hope we will all live up to his expectations by living lives guided by peace and love.
