Searching For Lote: A True Holocaust Survivor Story - A Talk with Author and Historian Roger Leivers
This talk tells the true story of a survivor of Theresienstadt, the same Nazi concentration camp and ghetto that features in the play 'Way To Heaven: Himmelweg' performed by Runnymede Drama Group earlier in July at Riverhouse.
Roger Leivers is a historian and author from Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire. His book, 'Stirling to Essen: The Godmanchester Stirling : a Bomber Command Story of Courage and Tragedy', tells the story of a stricken Short Stirling Royal Air Force bomber that crashed into fields to the east of Godmanchester on the 11th April 1942 and the men who flew in her.This talk, 'Searching For Lote' is taken from that book.
Lote was the Czech girlfriend of Sidney 'Jack' Jordan, the Bomb Aimer on the Stirling crew. Pre-war, she was visitng an aunt in Wimbledon when she met him. On her return she was trapped when Hitler occupied the Sudentenland. As a Jewish family they lost everything, and they were all sent to Theresienstadt. Some survived, some didn't.
The talk tells her story of her survival, as well as an in depth dive into Theresienstadt as a camp.
Roger will also be giving a talk about his new book, 'Greenewich is Missing'. It chronicles the remarkable true story of Wadim Greenewich, a passport control officer for the British Legation in Sofia, Bulgaria, who was abducted in February 1941 and survived four years of incarceration in Nazi camps like Dachau and Flossenburg. The book details his incredible journey from fleeing the Russian Revolution to surviving imprisonment and eventually working for the BBC Russian Service.
Roger will have copies of his books for sale on the evening. He will be taking orders for his new book 'Greenewich is Missing' and offering free postage & packing for uk pre-orders on the night.