On 26th April, 150 students had the privilege to welcome Mindu Hornick, an Auschwitz and Holocaust survivor to Studley High School. This was final part of the Anne Frank exhibition which the school had held over the prior two weeks.
Mindu at the age of just 13, was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau with her mother, sister and two younger brothers. On their arrival, a Polish prisoner bravely told the girls to lie about their age and say they were seamstresses. Taking this advice, Mindu and her sister were sent on ahead, initially to sort prisoners’ confiscated clothing; they would never see their father, mother or brothers again.
Mindu shared her memories of the dangers of daily existence in Auschwitz, eating turnip soup and bread doctored with sawdust and chemicals, the smell of the camp, poor sanitation and the lack of any hope of escape. She told of the hours they had to stand, twice each day, for the selection process, when Josef Mengele would signal who would die, with a wave of his spotless white gloves. Later, Mindu and her sister were moved to a munitions factory, where they managed to survive until the end of the war, along with their cousins, despite constant hunger, brutal treatment and the threat of disease.
“When people ask how I survived, I always tell them the same thing – sheer luck.”
When Allied soldiers were about to arrive, the Germans packed the camp survivors into a goods train, intending to bomb it before they could be rescued. Mindu’s eloquent story faltered, and the room was absolutely silent, as she described how the Allies mistakenly bombed the train and killed half of the 500 surviving women on the day before their liberation.
After the liberation of the camp in 1945, Mindu and her sister returned to Prague, but it was not long before they had to leave their home country due to the Soviet occupation and the regime’s hostility to Jews. Mindu came to the UK to live with a family member in Birmingham, where she later happily married and raised her daughters, while her sister made a new life in Australia.
It was a very special occasion for our pupils to attend and such a privilege to hear Mindu Hornick’s harrowing, yet inspirational account of her experiences under the tyranny of the Nazi regime. Her experiences are a stark reminder of the dangers of extreme prejudice and discrimination and the crimes against humanity which can occur if we stand by and allow them to happen.
Mindu’s spirit and determination in the face of unbearable adversity and her resolve to share her personal story so that future generations can learn from the mistakes of the past will ensure that our students take the lessons of the Holocaust with them for the rest of their lives.
Hi Studley Staff,
Just wanted to say a big thank you for organising the guest speaker, Mindu yesterday. My daughter was so moved and inspired by her story; it truly brought ‘history to life’ and she feels very lucky to have had the opportunity to have been part of this.
Please pass on our thanks and good wishes to Mindu – a truly remarkable woman.
Jenny Dennis
