Harry Olmer, Holocaust survivor and educator, dies at 98 - The Jewish Chronicle

Harry Olmer, a Holocaust survivor who endured years of forced labour as a child in Nazi-occupied Poland before rebuilding his life as a dentist and Shoah educator in the UK, has died at the age of 98.

Born Chaim Olmer on 15 November 1927 in Sosnowiec, a Polish town near the German border, Harry was the fourth of six children. As persecution against the local Jewish community escalated following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Harry’s family fled to his grandmother’s village of Miechów-Charsznica in the spring of 1940. But their hopes for safer conditions were dashed; Jewish residents of the village were subjected to forced labour including street cleaning, repairing roads and working in German homes. In a reflection on the experience to educational programme March of the Living, Harry said: “The work was very hard, but at least we could get home at night.”

The same could not be said just two years later. In 1942, the Jews of Miechów-Charsznica and neighbouring villages were expelled from their homes and forced to gather in a field for four days whilst awaiting German selection. Elderly men, children and women – including Harry’s mother and sisters – were placed onto cattle trucks bound for Bełżec extermination camp, where they were murdered on arrival. Some of the men deemed incapable of working were shot instantly, while the rest – including Harry, his brother and his father – were sent to the Płaszów labour camp in Kraków.

After a year working on a railway line in Płaszów, Harry was sent to a munitions factory in 1943 in a town called Skarżysko-Kamienna. Along with tens of thousands of Polish Jews, Harry was forced into the dangerous work of filling shells and land mines with acid, a job that led many to die of poisoning if not from epidemics, starvation or exhaustion. The SS also periodically shot weakened prisoners. Harry later reflected: “This place can only be described as ‘hell on earth’”.

Harry Olmer with Lady Starmer. (Photo: Holocaust Educational Trust)[Missing Credit]

In July 1944, when the Germans began their retreat, he and approximately 6,000 other prisoners were sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Harry stayed there for just two weeks before being sent to another munitions factory in Schlieben, a Buchenwald sub-camp, where he remained until April 1945. With the Russian Army advancing, surviving prisoners were sent to the Terezín ghetto in Czechoslovakia, where Harry was liberated on 8 May 1945.

He was kept in hospital until the end of June, recovering from various illnesses from his time in the camps.

After his recuperation, Harry, then aged 18, was chosen along with 300 other young survivors to come to England with a group known as “The Boys”. He arrived in July 1945 and was sent to a camp in Windermere before, in September, he moved to Glasgow with 27 of the others and lived in a hostel.

Despite knowing no English when he arrived, Harry completed his Highers exams in 1947 and, in 1948, was accepted at Glasgow University to study dentistry, for which he qualified in 1953.

Harry Olmer MBE speaking at an event at the Home office. (Photo: Holocaust Educational Trust)[Missing Credit]

In 1950 Harry became a British citizen and, four years later, briefly served in the army as a dentist. He practised as a dentist for decades, only retiring in 2013 at the age of 86 – making him the UK's longest-serving dentist.

Harry married his wife Margaret Lunzer in 1954 and the couple settled in Potters Bar, where they had four children and eight grandchildren.

All the while, Harry shared his testimony at schools, synagogues and community groups as an advocate for Holocaust education. In 2023, he was appointed MBE for services to Holocaust education in recognition of his contribution to remembrance and testimony.

Karen Pollack, CEO of Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “Harry was one of the most determined and tenacious men I knew. He believed profoundly in the power of education, sharing his testimony in schools across the country for decades. He never said no to anything and there was nothing he loved more than being with people – he attended every event, arriving first and leaving last, and was always one of the first on the dance floor at the annual ‘45 Aid Society reunion. His stamina was truly unmatched. Harry was devoted to his community, guided throughout his life by a deep commitment to Judaism.”

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