Ben Helfgott

Biography

Ben Helfgott was born in Pabianice, Łódź, Poland. He was 10 years old when the Nazis invaded the country in 1939. In 1942, with the help of Andrew Janotta, he convinced the Nazis that he was ethnically Polish and not a Jew. He was eventually sent to a concentration camp, but in 1945 he was released, but he was understandably weak. Initially sent to Buchenwald, Helfgott survived the Holocaust and was sent to England after the war with 700 other youngsters after being liberated from Theresienstadt. He and one of his sisters were the only members of his family to survive; his mother and youngest sister were rounded up and shot by the Nazis. When in England, he set up a Jewish youth club. He has 9 grandchildren, of which two attend Oxbridge.

Weightlifting career

Helfgott won the nation's 11-stone championship in 1954, and was lightweight champion in 1955, 1956 and 1958. He represented Great Britain at weightlifting in the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. He was the captain of the British weightlifting teams at the Olympics in 1956 (Melbourne) and 1960 (Rome). In addition, he was a bronze medal winner at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff, south Wales. Helfgott also won the gold medal in the lightweight class at the 1950, 1953, and 1957 Maccabiah Games.

Media appearances

In 2010, Helfgott was one of five British Jews interviewed for an exhibit at the London Jewish Museum exploring "different ways of being Jewish."

As a guest on the BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs programme on 1 April 2007, he chose to be stranded with a copy of Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy and a bar with two discs for weight training.

Awards and recognition

In 2012, at a Limmud convention in Nazareth Illit organized to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre, Helfgott was awarded a prize by the mayor.