The German invasion of Poland in 1939 ended the happy childhood of Henia Bryer. Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day she tells BBC One how she was sent to four concentration camps, but survived them all.
"They were wearing these black uniforms with a skull on top and they installed loud speakers all over the town spreading hate propaganda," says Henia Bryer of the German army's arrival in Radom, eight days after they crossed the border on 1 September.
"Hitler's speeches went on for hours and hours... he never made any secret of what he was going to do to the Jews."
At first, Bryer's family - including an older brother and a younger brother and sister - survived on the gold coins saved by her father, a shoe factory owner who continued working, but was not paid. Much worse was to come.
In 1941 they were among the 30,000 people confined to a ghetto, set up in the Jewish area. Conditions were very poor, with 10 people living in a single room.
Violence and shootings were commonplace, yet the family managed to stay together.
It did not last.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21200051
good article
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