A visit from a Holocaust survivor: Iby’s story

In order to further the dancers’ understanding of the impact the Holocaust had on people’s lives, Holocaust survivor Iby Knill was invited to visit the group and share her personal experiences with them.

Iby is an Auschwitz survivor yet kept her story to herself until she was 70. She has since written a book about her experiences. Iby was a Jewish girl living in Slovakia when the Nazis came to power. She told the group how she had fled to Hungary to escape persecution from Einsatzgruppen and stayed with numerous family friends, hiding from the ever-growing Nazi regime. One of these friends was involved in an underground movement of transporting British airmen and Iby was arrested for her involvement in this. She was sent to Auschwitz yet labelled as a political prisoner. Iby stressed how being labelled as a political prisoner saved her life as it took away the attention from her Jewish background. She also noted how she remembers certain aspects of her experience: for example being counted eight times a day. She commented how this could not be a valid count and was most probably used as a way of enforcing control. Iby was moved to Lippstadt a month after arriving in Auschwitz and was rescued by the British on the journey. She eventually returned home in August 1946 where she married and then moved to England a year later.

Iby advised to visit Auschwitz if given the chance and called it a Godforsaken place. She then shared a number of personal photos ranging from her childhood and family to her family grave and memorials from the holocaust. When asked about how she felt during her experience, Iby explained that she was more angry at the injustice than scared. Her key message to the group was that people’s differences should be respected and should not determine how they should be treated.

Iby’s story helped the group to empathise with her experiences and understand to some extent how it would have felt to go through such an ordeal. They will look to build on these feelings and emotions and portray them through their dance piece.