Resources

Smajo Bešo has seen the worst and best of humanity. After surviving the horrors of the genocide in Bosnia, he found refuge and safety in the UK where he now proudly embraces his Bosnian roots and new-found Geordie identity.

The Sikh Princess who helped Jewish Families escape Nazi Germany.

Sanela Saracevic managed to escape the horrors of the Bosnian war in 1993, yet the memories of its atrocities continue to haunt her. With her family, she was compelled to leave her homeland in pursuit of safety. She has transformed her painful past into a source of inspiration, using it to nurture hope for a better future.

Henriette Mutegwaraba was born in 1972 in the Butare province of Rwanda. Her parents were farmers and owned land. She was the firstborn of the family and had two brothers and three sisters. She says that life was ‘not too bad’ before the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Henriette’s parents sent her to Burundi before the genocide, where she lived when the genocide took place in 1994.

Zahava Kohn was a Holocaust survivor. 60 years after her liberation, she found a mysterious suitcase tucked away at the back of a cupboard with no idea what it would contain. This chance find would reveal a wealth of incredible artefacts from those wartime years, including photographs, documents and letters.

Marcel Hoffmann was one of at least 25 French railway workers from Lille, northern France, who, in 1942, helped more than 40 Jewish children and adults escape deportation.

Antoinette Mutabazi, survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, gives testimony to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue at the UK Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 Ceremony.

Mussa Uwitonze became an orphan after being separated from his family during the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. He was raised in an orphanage, and it was there that he was first handed a camera – a moment that fuelled his lifelong passion for photography.

Despite escaping the genocide in 2003 and seeking asylum in the UK, Sharif Barko was tragically murdered when he returned to Darfur to arrange for his daughter to join him.

The Babi Yar massacre, starting on 29 September 1941, devastated the Jewish community of Kiev and marked one of the deadliest single operations during the Holocaust.