While growing up in Czechoslovakia during the 1920s and 30s, Iby Knill was not aware that she and her fully-assimilated family were Jews, and did not even know what it meant to be Jewish.
But its significance became all too apparent when Nazi racial laws were imposed, leading to inconveniences, indignities, dispossession, deportation and finally a journey to Auschwitz. Iby’s survival – after immense hardship and against many odds – led to further journeys, including marriage to a British army officer, a new life in England, adoption of Christianity and eventually, after 60 years, the decision to tell the story of her wartime experiences, which had been locked away in her mind.
Now aged 91, Iby Knill – who lives in Leeds – is the author of a vivid Holocaust-survival memoir, ‘The Woman Without a Number’ that also deals with her pre- and post-war life.
She also gives public talks, and will be speaking at Hillside, Beeston Road, LS11 8ND on Monday 15 February 2016 at 12pm.
If you would like any more info please have a look at her website: www.ibyknill.co.uk
The meeting has been organised by Touchstone, the Beeston-based mental health charity as part of their Leadership Masterclass series.
For more information about the event please email: office@touchstonesupport.org.uk
