Gathering The Voices Scotland

Testimonies of Holocaust survivors who settled in Scotland

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David Shapiro

I am a semi-retired clinical biochemist who has worked in in hospital laboratories all my career.

Gretl Shapiro, my mother, came to the UK as part of the Kindertransport. She was brought up by Quakers in England and came to Scotland after the war. She had a successful career as a ceramicist.

She was interviewed about her life at the time of the Glasgow Garden Festival and always said that she did not want to be remembered as a victim but as someone who made a successful life for herself in the country that had taken her in. This was a view that was expressed by many of the interviewees in the Gathering the Voices Project, so I hope that we have represented them truly and according to their wishes.

Claire Singerman

I was born in Glasgow in 1953 and after having my family, I worked for many years as a teacher of history.  My grandparents came to Britain from Poland and Lithuania in the late 19th Century, so for me the Holocaust was something that I studied as a historian rather than something ‘belonging’ to my family. However, once married to Howard and listening to the stories of my mother-in-law, Susan Singerman, about her time in the ‘camps’ the Holocaust became much more immediate for me and our three children.

I knew it was important to ensure that the experiences of those who suffered because of the Nazis should never be forgotten and I have learned much from listening to the words of the many people we have interviewed. It is remarkable that all tell their stories calmly and without bitterness. Still they cannot forget the events that brought them to Scotland and changed their lives forever.

I believe that listening and learning from the testimonies on the Gathering the Voices website is more necessary now than ever before as a reminder of what happens when hatred and suspicion is encouraged and allowed to flourish. However, they are also a tribute to the human spirit and the desire to live a positive and meaningful life.