Lili Stern-Pohlmann MBE (29 March 1930 – 15 September 2021) was a Holocaust survivor and educator.
Lili Pohlmann | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lili Stern 29 March 1930 Lvov, Poland |
| Died | 15 September 2021 (aged 91) |
| Occupation | Holocaust educator |
| Spouse | Eric Pohlmann |
Early life edit
Lili Stern was born in Lviv and raised in Kraków, the daughter of Filip Stern and Cecylia Bruek Stern. Her father was a bank manager and her mother was a dressmaker. She and her mother were the only members of their large extended family to survive the Holocaust.[1] They were sheltered by a German civil servant, Irmgard Wieth,[2] until Ukrainian Greek Catholic archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky placed them in a Ukrainian convent to protect them. After the war, she was taken to London with other refugee children by Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld in 1946.[3] Her mother joined her in 1947.[4][5]
Career edit
Pohlmann taught and spoke about her experiences during World War II, working with the Association of Jewish Refugees,[3] the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Imperial War Museum,[6] and other British groups. She was honorary president of Learning from the Righteous, and a director of the Centre for Jewish Culture in Kraków. She was awarded the Commander’s Cross of Polonia Restituta, and became a member of the Order of the British Empire in 2020, "for services to Holocaust Education, Awareness and Human Relations".[4] "If we, the last generation, don't talk about it, then that's it," she explained of her work. "I owe it to posterity."[7]
Personal life edit
Lili Stern married Austrian actor Eric Pohlmann. He died in 1979. Her partner from 1985 was Ian Fleming's literary agent, Peter Janson-Smith; he died in 2016.[8][9] She had a daughter, Karen. Stern-Pohlmann died in 2021, aged 91 years.[4][10]
References edit
- ^ Barnes, Tom (22 January 2017). "Imagine if all you had left of your family was one handkerchief". The Sunday Times.
- ^ "'You felt this is the end of the journey, this is where life ends'". Evening Standard. 31 May 2000. pp. 29, 30. Retrieved 14 December 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Lili Pohlmann". AJR Refugee Voices. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ a b c Frot, Mathilde. "Survivor who was sheltered by a Righteous Among the Nations dies aged 91" The Jewish Chronicle (15 September 2021).
- ^ "Tributes to 'remarkable' Lili, one of two Shoah survivors out of family of 300". Jewish News. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ "'It's most important to teach about this'". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ "Survivor Spent Life Teaching of Holocaust; Lost Dad, Brother". National Post. 5 October 2021. pp. AS2. Retrieved 14 December 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Lewis, Jeremy (11 May 2016). "Obituary: Peter Janson-Smith". The Bookseller. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ "Peter Janson-Smith". The Times. 27 April 2016. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ “Lili Stern-Pohlmann; Survivor of the Holocaust Who Was Sheltered by a Kind German Woman and a Greek Catholic Prelate.” Daily Telegraph (London, England), 30 September 2021. via EBSCO Connect
External links edit
- "Holocaust survivor Lili Pohlmann: 'It’s most important to teach about this'" a video of Pohlmann, posted on YouTube by the Imperial War Museums in 2019
- "Lili Pohlmann's memories of Irena Sendler" a video posted on YouTube by the Polish Cultural Institute in London in 2021
- "Lili Pohlmann" Full Disclosure with Jim O'Brien; a podcast interview with Pohlmann