Jewish Museum London is now delivering our learning programmes and collections displays in the community & around the UK. Come and visit us at Swiss Cottage Library from 7 March to 4 April.

Your Legacy and Me

Solly Irving, 1930—2017

Solly Irving grew up with his parents and four sisters in Ryki, Poland.  When the war started, Solly and his family’s life changed dramatically. They were rounded up and sent to a ghetto. With the help of his father, Solly and his sister, Leah, managed to escape and found work on a farm. The farm was raided and Leah was captured. Solly spent the next few months alone, hiding in the woods until he decided to smuggle himself into a labour camp. He convinced the guards that he was older than he was, joining the adults in the camp. In 1945, Solly was liberated from Buchenwald Camp by the Red Army. He was taken from Buchenwald on a train journey in open cattle trucks across Germany to Theresienstadt. After liberation, Solly joined ‘The Boys’, a group of 732 child survivors who were brought to Britain. Ever since, he devoted much of his time speaking about his experiences to school children, university students and adults throughout the UK.

Solly Irving’s legacy is continued here by Jas Chopra, Isobel King and Fiona Zeka.