Y6 started off by watching a zoom recording by Hedi Argent MBE , then carried out some research of the Holocaust and completed the session by writing some reflection on flame shaped templates and creating a giant lit candle.
Here is a summary of Hedi’s life.
Hedi Argent was born in 1929, and lived in a suburb of Vienna, Austria with her parents, Max and Liza. Max was a lawyer and Liza trained as a chemist before raising Hedi. The family were secular Jews. Though an only child, Hedi had a very large extended family, some of whom she was very close to.
Hedi remembers the presence of anti-Jewish racism long before the Anschluss in Austria in 1938. She has said she was never outwardly bullied but felt a definite sense of ostracisation – never being picked for plays, sports teams or any other activities at school.
The anti-Jewish laws and backlash that accompanied Hitler’s annexation of Austria in 1938 were something Hedi remembers very well. She recalls seeing Viennese Jews being made to scrub the pavements and having stones thrown at them. The day after the Anschluss, Hedi’s father lost his job. Hedi was unable to go to school and the family were thrown out of their home within a month, losing many of their possessions.
Before the night of Kristallnacht, the November Pogrom of 9-10th November 1938, Hedi’s father had been arrested and sent to prison on a six-week sentence. This meant he escaped the Nazis’ round-up of Jewish males. But it also meant that time was running out for the family to escape Austria. Eventually Hedi’s father was released, and the family managed to get out, intending to travel to the USA via England. They were only allowed to bring one suitcase each, with nothing of value, and two pounds seventeen and sixpence in cash for all three of them. Hedi famously brought with her a doll named Little Suzie – a reminder for the rest of her life of her other doll, Big Suzie, for whom there was no room in her suitcase. To Hedi, Little Suzie symbolises the precious life in Vienna she was forced to abandon.
Hedi remembers the train journey through Europe as a very frightening experience. Many of the passengers were terrified that the train would be stopped by officers of the Third Reich and that they would be sent back to an almost certain death.
Hedi’s family arrived in England in 1939 and at first stayed in a safe house in West Hampstead, London with other refugees. When war broke out the family could no longer fulfil the rest of their journey to the United States. War prevented further travel. Hedi’s mother and father found work as domestic servants in Hertfordshire and Hedi attended the village school. She managed to learn English very quickly, even winning a prize for English at the end of her first school year.
After the war, Hedi and her parents wrote to the Red Cross to try and find their extended family. They found out that most had been murdered in what we now know as the Holocaust.
Hedi has a long-standing friendship with the National Holocaust Museum and has given her testimony on many occasions, teaching others about her life experiences as a refugee. Her testimony, along with objects such as Little Suzie which she has entrusted to our care, play a valuable role in our Primary School learning programmes. May Hedi continue to inspire audiences for years to come.
Y6 children responded to three questions on flame shaped templates which have been used to create on giant candle as their representation of a lit candle for the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
- Who are we remembering?
- Why do we need to remember?
- How can we remember?
Hedi Argent MBE