Holocaust Memorial Day: The Mayer Bomsztyk Story

The trauma of being separated from his family and losing his mother, who was gassed at Auschwitz, never left Mayer. But the legacy of his life is not only what he suffered as a child, but the strength of human spirit that enabled him and other Holocaust survivors to endure and then build new lives for themselves.

After the Buchenwald camp was liberated in April 1945, Mayer and other orphans were initially taken to Prague, from where they flew to Carlisle in the UK. Britain had agreed to take in 1,000 orphans from Europe, and he and others wound up in Windermere in the Lake District – which he likened to ‘paradise’ – and then London, Glasgow and, in his case, Manchester.

“He was a very chirpy fellow, and he was lucky that he didn’t suffer from nightmares,” explains Jackie, who is a member of the Manchester United Jewish Supporters’ Club. 

“But because he lost all his family and he came over with a group of boys, they became his family. And their kids became our family. Because we didn’t have aunts and uncles and grandparents on his side.

“When they first came over after the war and started to try and live lives, what they wanted to do was live like everybody else. They didn’t want to be treated like damaged goods. So, things like buying tickets for Old Trafford, or joining a golf club, or starting work… they wanted to be like other people. 

“Football was part of my dad feeling normal again, and he was always going to support Manchester United. All of them did. Every week, he and his mates would meet at Manchester Central and go to the match together. They were great memories. Though there later came a point where he couldn’t even watch on the television because he got so excited about it, so we thought it wasn’t that good for him as he got older!”