My grandfather, Martin Bennett, who has died aged 90, was an Auschwitz survivor and exponent of Holocaust education who told many people his story so that the actions of the Nazis would not be forgotten.
He was born Mordechai Izbicki, the fifth child of nine born to Baruch, who worked in a synagogue, and his wife, Crusa, in Izbica Kujawska, central Poland. Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Martin was separated from his family and sent to a forced labour camp in Poznań.
From Poznań, aged 15, Martin was deported with thousands of others to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Here he was reunited with one of his elder brothers, Toyvia. Martin managed to lie about his age and skills as a cabinetmaker, allowing him to survive, using different work roles to his advantage. When mixing concrete for local building projects, he would pack the empty concrete sacks underneath his striped clothing to keep warm. The brothers saw out the remainder of the war together and Martin always credited Toyvia with his survival.
After the war, Martin learned that his family had not survived: his parents and seven other siblings had perished at Chełmno extermination camp. With no family left in Poland, Martin decided to look up distant relatives living in Britain. His brother, meanwhile, had met his future wife and moved to Israel.
Martin settled in London and soon found a tailoring apprenticeship. He changed his name to better integrate, and met his wife due to an unexpected twist of fate. Priscilla, a member of the local Jewish youth club, fell ill and asked her friend to notify a young man named Martin from the club to visit her. To Priscilla’s surprise, her friend notified the wrong Martin, and he arrived at her house with a bunch of flowers.
The couple bought their own clothes shop in Cheam, Surrey, where they ran a successful business until their retirement. They recently celebrated 60 years of marriage.
In mid-life Martin discovered golf. He joined Coombe Hill golf club, Kingston upon Thames, calling it his “heaven on earth”.
Martin never forgot his time in Auschwitz and his family’s fate. He dedicated his life to educating others about the Holocaust, so that it should never happen again. He became a significant figure within the Holocaust Educational Trust, sharing his story in schools and synagogues around London, often receiving touching letters from members of his audiences.
Martin persistently considered himself one of the luckiest people alive, never expressing anger or hatred about his past. Once asked by a schoolchild if he hated the Germans, he replied he had “no understanding of the word”.
He is survived by Priscilla, their daughters, Bernice and Carol, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
