Ike Alterman

Source: myvoice.org.uk

Ike Alterman was born in 1928 in Ożarów. The family moved to his father’s hometown of Ostrowiec when he was three.

In April 1941, a Jewish ghetto was established within the area surrounding Ike’s house. In October 1942, there was a selection of all the Jews who remained. Ike and his father were spared, but his mother and siblings were taken away to Treblinka death camp.

At first, Ike continued living in the ghetto and was made to work in a factory. He was then taken to Blyzin concentration camp and later transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In January 1945, he was sent on an horrific death march towards Buchenwald in the freezing cold, missing liberation by one day. He was finally liberated outside Theresienstadt on 8 May 1945.

Ike arrived in England in August 1945 and was one of almost 300 orphaned children sent to Windermere to recuperate.

----Excerpt from (and see more details at:) MyVoice.org.uk

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In Jan 2024, he participated in a march against Antisemitism and spoke below words:

"We cannot ignore the fact that week in, week out, hundreds of thousands of people are taking part in marches across the UK that call for the genocide of the Jews, violence against Jews and compare Jews and others – whether it be here or in Israel – to Hitler and the Nazis. These people are engaging in disgusting Jew hatred that has NO PLACE on our streets.

I HAVE witnessed a genocide of the Jews.

My family WERE murdered in a genocide.

I WAS persecuted by the Nazis and my family were murdered by the Nazis.

Let me tell you this very loudly. We must learn from history. This antisemitism is unacceptable and it must stop NOW.

In my youth we could not stand up to the hatred we faced. Today we CAN and we ARE. Our Jewish community is strong, resilient, and proud. We will not be scared, we will not be intimidated, and we will stand together as Jews, alongside our non-Jewish friends to say, loudly and clearly, NEVER AGAIN.