The opening of London's renovated Jewish Museum on Wednesday coincided with a poignant anniversary: it would have been the 70th birthday of Barney Greenman, who was murdered in Auschwitz with his mother Esther.

Barney's father, Leon, survived to become one of Britain's best known speakers about the Holocaust, a tireless campaigner against racism for 60 years until his death two years ago aged 97.

Leon's experiences form the central part of the museum's Holocaust section, with Barney's shoes and the toy truck his father made for him among its most moving exhibits.

A rather happier item on show is the baseball signed by the team of the Washington Senators, which has been loaned by loyal fan Ned Temko, the former editor of the JC. The Senators, he said, enjoyed the distinction of being "the worst team in the history of modern baseball".