04/12/2014
THE STORY OF HOW I WON INVESTIGATOR OF THE YEAR
Hannah Sara Rigler was born Sara Matuson on 21st November 1928 in Shavel, which is Yiddish for Schaulen, in Lithuania. She was the daughter of Gita and Samuel Matuson and had a sister Hannah.
Gita and Samuel settled in Israel, (then Palestine), in 1925, where Hannah was born but moved back to Lithuania a few years later with the hope of going back to Israel, which they never did.
Her family life was destroyed following the N**i occupation in the summer of 1941. Her father was taken away, never to be seen again.
Together with her mother and older sister, Sara was sent to the Shavli ghetto, where they survived until 1944. From here, they were taken to the Stutthof concentration camp.
With the war coming to an end the camp's women - with no food, dressed in rags and with only wooden clogs on their feet - were driven by SS guards on a death march through the snow towards the Baltic sea.
Sara recalls in her testimony
"We were about 1,000 women and within one month we were about 300. People died, they were killed and we didn't get any food."
"I used to say to myself - If I ever have enough bread to eat, I'll never, never want anything again in my life, just the piece of bread. Maybe, a sliced cold potato on top as a delicacy."
With no hope in sight, Sara's mother, Gita, begged her to try to escape.
Armed with a diamond ring smuggled by her mother, Hannah attempted to buy some bread from a Polish boy, only to be arrested by the police and threatened with public ex*****on.
"I didn't mind being killed but not in front of my mother,"
Finally, though, an opportunity for escape came and she took the heartbreaking decision to leave her mother and sister in a bid for freedom as they reached the village of Gross Golmkau, 30 kilometers south of Gdansk
“I was a filthy, starving bundle of rags, and yet I didn't want to die and so was running for my life, but also for my mother and sister who still needed my help. There were bystanders who observed this drama as if they were watching a play and clearly did not care that a young girl was starving and brutalized and would soon be murdered….I waited for hours for the Germans to find and kill me. Maybe my father was watching over me, I don't know. During those hours I agonized about my mother and sister, who were now without hope…I could not even cry as my tears had dried up long ago, but I felt such a heart wrenching loneliness and being so young, still a strong desire to live, to find a way to help my family.
After a few hours a man entered the barn. I asked him if he was Polish. He told me he was a British Prisoner of War – Stan Wells – and he told me that my captors were no longer looking for me….Stan brought me something to eat – he realized that I was near death from starvation. I was so hungry that I devoured the food and later would be sick because my stomach could not digest even a small amount of food. He then tried to figure out a way to save me….Stan told me he would see what could be done, gave me some more provisions and then he left me in the dark barn alone….
That night, cold and aching in more ways than one, I now almost wished for death. When I was with my mother and sister, huddled together, I had felt the warmth of their bodies and their hearts. Now I had to face this nightmare by myself. My mother's words: 'whatever will happen to all the Jews will happen to us' took on a new meaning for me – because the loneliness was almost unbearable… ”
In Sara’s autobiography “10 British Prisoners-of-War Saved My Life” she details how Stan Wells and his colleagues smuggled her into their camp, - fed her, cleaned her, healed her and hid her until she was finally freed. Sara changed her name to Hannah in honour of her sister.
One of the soldiers when asked why they did it, why did they risk torture and certain death to save the life of a young girl who was so near to death, he simply said “because were British and that’s what we do – we weren’t going to give her back to the Germans”
Five of these POW’s were recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations and it was many years later that the other five were recognised. Unfortunately Yad Vashem had only the men’s names, some of them nicknames, which were W***y Fisher, Bert Hambling, Bill Scruton, John Buckley and Bill Keable and nothing else. The British Government couldn’t help and it would seem that these men would be forgotten.
In March 2013, Anthony Davis a Private Investigator from Hale Barns was driving home one evening when he heard a news article on Radio 4. Chris Hammond, the nephew of George Hammond who was one of the other 5 POW’s who were honoured, was putting out an appeal to try and find the other 5 men, which is something he promised his uncle he would do.
Anthony contacted Mr Hammond telling him he would like to help. Mr Hammond replied thanking Anthony for his interest but after 18 months all funds had been exhausted. Anthony replied that he wasn’t looking for money, that he was very moved by the story and that he just wanted to help. Mr Hammond spoke to Anthony and sent him all the information.
Anthony, along with his colleague Helen, then began the seemingly impossible task of locating the families of these brave men. Each one turned out to be a story in itself with Anthony reporting to Yad Vashem as each family was found. On one occasion, when Anthony had just located the niece of Bill Scruton he emailed Yad Vashem the news, it was Yom HaShoah and Anthony received the following email:-
Dear Anthony,
Thank you for this wonderful news. It's late evening on Holocaust Remembrance Day, after a long day with lots of events at Yad Vashem. Your message is a most fitting and uplifting way to end the day. Thank you,
Irena
On 9th May, Anthony was able to inform Yad Vashem that all five families had now been found.
On 23rd October 2013 at the House of Lords a ceremony took place where these 5 men were rightly recognised as Righteous Among the Nations. The ceremony was hosted by Lord Greville Janner and Daniel Taub the Ambassador of Israel.
Other dignitaries present were the Ambassador for Poland, the Ambassador for Lithuania, the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, Ed Balls, Eric Pickles as well as other MP’s and members of the House of Lords. Anthony and his wife Lisa were also invited to be present at the ceremony.
In his introductory address Daniel Taub said we would not be here today if not for the investigative skills of Anthony Davis.
Each of the family members were then announced and they accepted the Certificate and Medal from Yad Vashem on behalf W***y Fisher, Bert Hambling, Bill Scruton, John Buckley and Bill Keable who risked everything to save the life of Hannah Sara Rigler.
