Holocaust survivor Joanna Millan has delivered a stark warning about the current state of global affairs, describing it as "terrifying" and drawing alarming parallels with the 1930s. Her poignant comments came after attending a Holocaust Memorial Day service hosted by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) at Belsize Square Synagogue in north London.
A Life Marked by Tragedy
Born Bela Rosenthal, Joanna Millan was deported from Berlin with her mother to the Theresienstadt ghetto in German-occupied northern Bohemia (now Czechia) in 1943. This occurred just months after her father was sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where he was murdered upon arrival. Mrs Millan, now 83, has no memory of the ghetto itself, where her mother died in 1944 when she was just 18 months old. Her earliest recollections are from May 1945, when Theresienstadt was liberated.
The Journey to a New Life
Following liberation, she was among the group of children known as the Windermere Children, flown to the Lake District for recovery. She subsequently moved to the Bulldogs Bank home in West Sussex, and later to a house in Lingfield, Surrey. At the age of five, she was adopted by a couple who renamed her Joanna. Reflecting on this, she noted her adoptive parents "did not know" her history and seemed unwilling to explore it, perhaps fearing she might "go looking" for her past.
A Chilling Assessment of Modern Politics
When asked about violence and conflict around the world, Mrs Millan did not mince words. "I think it's terrifying, I mean, why wouldn't one be terrified?" she stated. "Not just across the pond but everywhere, there doesn't seem to be a decent state person leading any country in the world, and it's a mayhem." Expressing deep concern for future generations, she added, "I'm frightened myself. I've had my life but, you know, I worry for my children and my grandchildren. I think history is repeating itself."
A Call to Action Against Appeasement
The AJR service focused on intergenerational dialogue and remembrance, themes Mrs Millan emphasised as crucial. In response to rising global antisemitism and violence, her message was clear: "My message has always been to stand up to this sort of behaviour, that coercive behaviour." She criticised contemporary governments for "caving, just appeasing," and pointedly asked, "what good did the appeasers do in the 1930s?" She expressed despair that people are not responding more forcefully to current threats.
On what can be done, she advocated for education and vigilance: "I think reminding people about what happened in the 1930s, that appeasement isn't the answer, and that we have to stand up, you know, to bullying and so on."
Echoes from Other Survivors
The service also featured other Holocaust survivors, including Jackie Young and Ivor Perl. Mr Perl, 93, who was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau from Hungary at age 12, underscored the vital importance of continued testimony. "Because unless you do talk about it, the chance of it happening again is very, very high," he warned. "And even talking about it, it's not certain that it won't happen again."
These powerful testimonies from the AJR event serve as a sobering reminder of the horrors of the past and the urgent need for societal courage and moral leadership in the present to prevent history's darkest chapters from recurring.
