The son of a late Woodside Park Synagogue member who served in the Czech Army during the war addressed an HMD ceremony at the Slovak Embassy in London.

Otto Wasserberg escaped from Slovakia with his mother and two brothers in July 1939. Many of his relatives died in Auschwitz.

He was called up by the Czech Army in 1944 and crossed to France after D-Day. He took part in the siege of Dunkirk from September 1944 to May 1945 and witnessed the surrender of the German garrison. After demob in 1946 he established the Mount Fur company in the City of London.

Honoured by the Slovak government for his wartime service, his life will be remembered in an upcoming edition of the Slovak defence forces journal.

His son Jonathan took up an invitation from the embassy to speak about Mr Wasserberg - who belonged to the Woodside Park congregation for many years - at Wednesday's event.

Otto Wasserberg was called up to the Czech Army

For more on Holocaust Memorial Day 2011 see our dedicated HMD page