The lecture series was organized in honor of Sabina Miller BEM, who was an esteemed member of the Hampstead Synagogue for over 50 years.
Sabina Miller was also a Holocaust survivor and dedicated her last 20 years of her life talking to schools, community groups and various institutions about her remarkable experiences during the War. She was passionate about treating people equally and could talk to anybody, and was awarded the Freedom of the City of London, and the British Empire Medal for her work around Community cohesion and educating people about the Holocaust.
Her daughter, Sandra Miller continues sharing her story now in cooperation with Generation2Generation, a wonderful organisation helping children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors to tell their families’ story. “I continue to tell my mother’s story because I feel a deep obligation to the relatives I never knew as a way of acknowledging their existence. I believe it’s a way of respecting my heritage and in some small way it helps to promote my mother’s belief in tolerance, understanding and compassion for people who are different from ourselves.”
Sandra delivered her mother’s story to Hampstead Shul in January of 2020 as part of our Holocaust Memorial Day events, and as a result of that presentation Hampstead Synagogue kindly decided to honour my mother with an annual lecture in her name.
The inaugural lecture was given by Olivia Marks-Woldman the CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, and a great friend of the late Sabina Miller. Her lecture was entitled “Embracing difference – Is it too late?” This year’s (2023) lecture was given by Jonathan Freedland, the journalist and writer. His lecture was entitled “A Different Path: The Extraordinary Life of Rudolf Vrba” based on his latest book “The Escape Artist.”