A Harrogate World War II veteran believed to be among the first servicewomen to enter a Nazi concentration camp is to give a talk about her experiences next week.
Sheila Pantin, who will be 100 next month, will give the talk as part of the Harrogate war memorial centenary commemorations.
The event, which is sold out, will take place at the town’s West Park United Reformed Church.
Sheila joined the army aged 17 and trained as an ambulance and staff car driver with the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the British Army, rising to the rank of sergeant.
She became one of the first British servicewomen to enter Belsen concentration camp in April 1945 after its liberation.
Reflecting on the time, Sheila said:
“I thought they meant ‘barracks’ but it turned out they didn’t mean that at all. There was the camp with this huge entrance and an awful lot of huts surrounded by barbed wire fencing.
“We were entering Belsen. I could see our boys digging out mass graves to give the bodies proper burials.
“The only people left alive were in rags and were in a terrible state. They didn’t even know how to eat.”
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It was Sheila’s job to look after the survivors in the camp, to clean them, dress them, show them how to use a knife and fork, to try to restore a little humanity after the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.
Sheila’s talk will take place on Wednesday, September 27, and forms part of a wider selection of events taking place as part of the commemoration.
More details of the centenary commemorations are available here.
Harrogate woman unveils art with final message from family killed in HolocaustA Harrogate woman has unveiled a giant blanket embroidered with her family’s final message from the Holocaust.
Michelle Green’s grandparents, Gisela and Josef Schwarz, and her uncle Kurt were all killed in a Nazi concentration camp.
With the help of artist Laura Fisher, Michelle has created a piece of artwork to commemorate their communication to their family. She said:
“Holding the blanket felt like hugging the grandma I never met. I really didn’t expect to feel such strong emotions.
“The blanket dominates the room from floor to ceiling and it won’t let you ignore it. It makes you think about a telegram that was once written and had so much love poured into it – a last vestige of hope that a family could one day be together again.”
The Red Cross telegram was sent to Michelle’s aunt Aranka and was the last message they received from her family still in Nazi-occupied Vienna. Translated from German, it read:
“Dearest children,
“(I’m) very worried. Last message in March. Thank God we are well. Hope you are. Message from Papa (received).
“Millions of kisses also from your brother,
“Mama.”
The message was dated November 1943. Shortly afterwards, the family was betrayed by a Nazi informer.
They were held at Camp Malines until the following April before being herd onto a train to Auschwitz.
Michelle’s mother Lili managed to escape to the UK via Belgium and join her sister Aranka in London. They survived the Blitz before relocating to Harrogate after hearing it was “the most beautiful place in England”.
The sisters waited tables at Bettys tea rooms for a number of years, before starting their own business in 1948, the Manor Hotel, which they ran until 1971.
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Michelle, now 70, went on to be head of learning support at Ashville College in Harrogate. This experience taught her that hearing people speak isn’t necessarily enough to embed knowledge.
That understanding inspired her decision to make the blanket.
Artist Laura Fisher created the giant woven blanket as part of an artists’ residency at Holocaust Centre North in Huddersfield. It is on display at the centre until July 27, along with a number of other artworks as part of a free exhibition called Memorial Gestures.
It is open from Monday to Thursday from 10am to 5pm.
Laura said:
“When I first visited Holocaust Centre North, I was initially overwhelmed and the scale of the tragedy felt incomprehensible.
“I remember feeling a pit in my stomach, like nothing I could do would possibly be enough. How could I create art that would make those affected feel seen, cared about, witnessed?
“I hope the work I have created as part of Memorial Gestures helps others to understand the depths of what was lost during the Holocaust-what was stolen from families whose lives were irrevocably changed.”