IN MEMORIAM LEON GREENMAN 1910 – 2008

Nick Ullmann | Tuesday, 11 March 2008 Source: Nick Ullmann

Auschwitz survivor, musician, market trader, author and educator of generations of young people against fascism and racism

This moving obituary was written by an Essex teacher who met Leon several years ago and was inspired as he watched Leon speak to thousands of children over many years.

I have just learnt of Leon Greenman’s death at the age of 97.

It had never occurred to me that Leon would die; it has come as a shock as I had never imagined him being anything other than alive.

He was so strong mentally and physically and I feel honoured to have been so close to him all these years.
His strength and resilience was infectious and will remain with me for ever.

As his tale of the shameful cruelty of the Nazi times would unfold, so would the feeling of beautiful kindness that he imparted to all those who came to listen and hear him.

They would become infected by his warm love for the people around him whoever they were and from whatever background they came.

Since 1945 he has dedicated his life to the lives of others by spreading the message that the atrocities he experienced should never ever happen again.

Tens of thousands have had the honour of hearing him relate his life of hardship, cruelty on the one hand and resilience and kindness on the other; the greater proportion of them young people in schools and colleges around Great Britain, whose memory of Leon will never disappear as long as they live.

Vergesst nie! Never forget!

My father born in the same year and who was also unfortunate enough to be persecuted by the Nazis was a far luckier man: unlike Leon who lost his dear wife, Esther-Else, and his beloved son, Barney, to the Nazi murderers, he managed to escape the fascist scourge and find refuge here.
Since he lost his dear ones Leon has relentlessly given his life over to exposing these past crimes – as if to celebrate their memory.

Vergesst nie! Never forget!

Let us in our turn never forget this great man and his strength and resilience.

Let us now celebrate this great life of his.

Nick Ullmann Teacher and photographer