Resources

Forced out of his home by the Khmer Rouge on 17 April 1975, Sokphal endured hard labour in the Killing Fields and eventually survived the Genocide in Cambodia by escaping to Thai refugee camps where he lived for seven years.

Faiza was a lawyer in Sudan, supporting victims of the genocide in Darfur. In 2007 the Sudanese Government targeted Faiza and her children and they were forced to leave their family and community and seek asylum in the UK. Faiza’s name and image have been changed to protect her identity.

Sabit came to the UK from Bosnia in 1992 as part of a group of 68 people who were selected by the International Red Cross, as they needed immediate hospital care. He had been imprisoned for 120 days in two different Bosnian concentration camps, one of which was the notorious Omarska camp.

Immaculée Hedden lived and worked in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, before and during the genocide there. She was protected from danger many times; finding refuge with family, at an orphanage and in the basement of a cathedral in Kigali.

When ‘ethnic cleansing’ began in his neighbourhood, Safet narrowly avoided being sent to concentration camps with his father and older brother. Safet describes the fear he felt for his family, but the comfort that he had in the support and help from others.

Béla Guttmann was a successful Jewish football player who represented Hungary at the Olympics in 1924. He survived the Holocaust by hiding and managed to escape a forced labour camp. After the war he became a famous football coach and manager, leading the Portuguese club Benfica to two successive European Cup wins.

Louisa Gould hid a Russian prisoner of war in her home on the island of Jersey. She was arrested and sent to a concentration camp where she ultimately paid with her life.

During the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Chantal witnessed the worst of human nature as people turned against each other. She also saw the best of humanity in the neighbours who hid her and helped her survive, despite the risk to themselves and their families.

Eric played for Kigali’s top football team. During the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda his fellow players protected him from the killing. Today Eric runs an organisation which uses football to promote tolerance, unity and reconciliation among Rwandan youth.

John Hajdu is a survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary and lived under the subsequent socialist regime in Budapest. Having lived in the UK since 1957, John’s experiences of life after the Holocaust and as a refugee tell of the turmoil of post-World War Two Europe.