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Lydia Tischler was born in Ostrava in what was then Czechoslovakia. Her story takes her from childhood innocence to the horrors of the ghetto-camp of Theresienstadt, where she spent two years before volunteering to go to Auschwitz after learning that her mother and sister were being transported there.
After liberation in 1945, Lydia came to England in a Wellington bomber aircraft as one of The Windermere Boys. Lydia has gone onto to live a fulfilled, meaningful life, working as a child psychotherapist for over 65 years and marrying Salo Tischler in November 1975.
Lydia’s book is part of the My Voice book collection, a stand-alone project of The Fed, the leading Jewish social care charity in Manchester, dedicated to preserving the life stories of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK. The oral history, which is recorded and transcribed, captures their entire lives from before, during and after the war years. The books are written in the words of the survivor so that future generations can always hear their voice. The My Voice book collection is a valuable resource for Holocaust awareness and education.
My father’s family tree
My mother’s family tree
1 A family of opposites
2 Growing up in Ostrava
3 Schnitzels, homemade pasta and gateau
4 Tensions at home
5 Germany marches into Czechoslovakia
6 Our escape to Poland
7 The orphanage that inspired my career
8 Chief packer and delouser at Theresienstadt
9 I volunteered to go to Auschwitz
10 Digging trenches in Oederan
11 A lesson in belief
12 Liberation and my first taste of vodka
13 Finding a home in England
14 Back to school at last
15 Working in a children’s home
16 Friendships, working and studying
17 Training with Anna Freud
18 Processing the loss of my mother
19 Reconnecting with Rutka
20 Spreading my wings
21 Meeting Salo through work
22 Adventures in my Mini
23 Putting down roots
24 A late marriage and more loss
25 New life, next steps
26 Secrets and survivor’s guilt
27 My mother would be proud
28 I feel more Jewish than English
29 We must not hate or denigrate
Glossary
My Voice volunteers
About The Fed