Ben Helfgott (M / Poland, 1929), Holocaust survivor
Ben Helfgott (M / Poland, 1929), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Poland> <Piotrkow Ghetto> <Buchenwald> <Death March> <Theresienstadt> / <Liberation of Theresienstadt / <England> <Windermere Children>
Biography
NOTES : Helfgott was born in Piotrków Trybunalski, Łódź, Poland. He was 12 years old when Germany invaded the country in 1939. In 1942, with the help of Andrew Janotta, he convinced the Nazis that he was ethnically Polish and not a Jew. He was eventually sent to a concentration camp. Initially sent to Buchenwald, Helfgott survived the Holocaust and was among around 750 youngsters sent to England after the war after being liberated from Theresienstadt; he formed a part of the initial 300 arrivals and thus of the group known as The Windermere Children who were sent to Troutbeck Bridge on arrival. He and one of his sisters were the only members of his family to survive the war.
Helfgott won the nation's 11 st (70 kg) championship in 1954 and was lightweight champion in 1955, 1956 and 1958. He represented Great Britain at weightlifting in the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. He was the captain of the British weightlifting teams at the Olympics in 1956 (Melbourne) and 1960 (Rome).