Women’s Reflections on Genocide
This Holocaust Memorial Day themed event focussed on what we as Jewish and Muslim women can learn from past genocides and how we can work together for a safer future.
In a frank and fascinating discussion, Tulip Siddiq MP and Joan Salter MBE discussed the elements of genocide that affect women specifically. Each delved into sensitive and topical themes that will stay with the audience for a while to come.
What people said:
“It was so heartbreaking and yet honest about your relationships with both your mothers, and the impact that had on you. Thank you for sharing such intimate thoughts.” A.R.
“Honestly one of the best survivor led events I have attended. Not just telling a story – so much more!” L.M.
About the speakers
Tulip Siddiq is the Labour Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn and Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury. She is a governor at Emmanuel Primary School, a trustee of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and a patron of the charity Leaders Plus.
Joan Salter MBE and Holocaust Survivor (born Fanny Zimetbaum) was born in February 1940 in Brussels Belgium to Polish Jewish parents. Her father was targeted for deportation in the early roundup after Belgium was occupied in 1940.
Her mother travelled with Fanny and her sister to Paris where several other of her family members had settled. Initially the women and children were not being targeted. In June 1942, a policeman warned her mother that they were on the list to be rounded up during the July Vel d’Hiv roundup. They were smuggled out of Paris and into the unoccupied southern sector of France. When that fell in November 1942, they managed to escape over the Pyrenees into Spain. As it was expected that Spain would soon be occupied, her mother agreed for the two daughters to be given into the care of the Red Cross.
In June 1943, they were evacuated to the USA when Fanny was fostered by an American family and her name was changed to Joan. In June 1947, Joan/Fanny was allowed to join her parents in the UK where they had settled.