Holocaust Survivor-Henry Laurant

           Henry Warner Laurant was born on May 28, 1924 in the city of Koeningsberg, German province of East Prussia. His family consisted of his father Walter Levy, mother Erna Levy Behrened, and older sister Anneliese Levy. They lived in Koeningsberg until Henry turned twelve years old, within those twelve years he encountered his first of many experiences of antisemitism, especially within the school and the German students.

            His father moved the family to Berlin in April of 1936 to start up his new practice of psychological analysis. Henry and his sister were fortunate enough to be placed in a Jewish friendly private school where they learned how to speak and write in English. In November 1938 on the night of broken glass or “Kristallnacht” Henry, his mother, and sister stayed safely hidden with friends in a gated community, whereas his father was hiding somewhere unknown to the family. Shortly after Kristallnacht Henry’s parents decided to send him out of Germany to England and began the process of acquiring needed documentation and a passport for his journey. At this time England permitted ten thousand Jewish children to find shelter within its borders. Henry became one of those ten thousand lucky enough to escape Germany before the war broke out. His parents decided to stay in Germany because of Annelise’s Final exam in a year. Henry mentions “You would have to be German to understand this kind of thinking.”

            Henry would never see his parents or sister again after saying his goodbyes before leaving for England with the other children. From Berlin the train took the children past the border post of Helmstead all the way to a ship port in Holland. The children boarded a ship and ended up in south eastern England. They stayed in a camp there for about three to four months before they were sent to Hostels in different areas of England. Henry was sent to a Hostel in Bradford, Yorkshire. He lived there a little over three years and in 1942 he moved to London and stayed with a contact he had acquired back when he had first arrived in England. Up until the year of 1942 Henry maintained weekly communication via mail with his family. He didn’t find out what happened to his family until after the war ended. His sister was deported to a ghetto Poland, and his parents were sent to Auschwitz.

            Henry now lives in the United States and has two sons, although he is happy the effects of the Holocaust still haunt him. The emotions of survivor guilt and anger towards the Nazis still plague Henry and the disrupted childhood has caused many problems in everyday life situations. Communication is sometimes very difficult, the ability to be open and express his feelings is extremely suppressed, and creating a family has been difficult. Henry has been married three times so far and hopes his third wife will continue put up with all his problems.

Quotes from Henry:

“The interruption of familiar life in the middle of childhood robs one of the interpersonal exchanges of conversation, behavior, feelings, and all the different aspects of community life in this smallish community called a family.”     

“The antisemitism was there but it was activated and made shaper by the fact that people were feeling economically advantaged by the Jews, so anyway this was of course something that the Nazis intended to radically change, and they did.”