Joan Salter MBE commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day

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2025-01-27T06:00+00:00

Joan Salter.

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Albion legend Glenn Murray and young BHAFC Foundation participant Edie Statton met with Holocaust survivor Joan Salter MBE.

Marking Holocaust Memorial Day, Joan shared her story of survival, resilience and the importance of standing against hate during their meeting at Wembley Stadium.

Joan was just three months old when her native Belgium was invaded by the Nazis in 1940. Her family fled to France, where they were forced to report to the local police station every week.

In July 1942, a police officer warned Joan’s mother that authorities were about to start deporting women and children to concentration camps, and that Joan’s family were on the list for the first transport.

Joan’s mother quickly arranged their escape, and they were smuggled out of Paris in a laundry van in the dead of night. After travelling to Spain, Joan and her sister were put on a boat to the USA, before finally being reunited with their parents in London in 1947.

Joan shared her powerful story with Edie, 13, who plays at the BHAFC Foundation’s free Premier League Kicks sessions in Worthing.

“Prejudice is a dangerous thing and it spreads like wildfire,” Joan told Edie and Glenn. “It’s so easy to make outcasts of a whole group of people.

“It’s so important to see everyone as human beings. Whatever their background, whatever their ethnic group, they have a right to be treated with dignity.”

The initiative came about in recognition of the fact that this may be one of the last major anniversaries where survivors can share their stories firsthand and pass them down to young people.

Chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Olivia Marks- Woldman, said, “Football is a universal language of unity and friendship, perfectly reflecting the core message of Holocaust Memorial Day.

“Holocaust Memorial Day is more than a moment of reflection; it is a call to action. Like in football, we are all called to play our part in championing empathy and understanding.”