Burgemeester van Frankfurt herdenkt Anne Frank

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Glasgow Rabbi who buried Anne Frank
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FROM a distance of six decades, Rabbi Ernest Levy believes his survival of the Holocaust puts his life into a place "beyond miracles".

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Rabbi Ernest Levy lost many of his family in Adolph Hitler’s death camps.}

He remains in awe of the combination of fortune and fortitude that saved him, while millions of his race perished.

Now 79, and a lifetime from that dreadful episode in history, he admits faith was not his saviour, but it would later become a rock on which he would build a future - and rationalise the past.

The Glasgow cleric survived seven concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, two of the most heinous of those places where six million died.

Among them was a young girl named Anne Frank. In 1945, her life was ended by disease in Belsen, just yards from Rabbi Levy’s "block".

Part of his daily "duty" would have been to drag her body, one of many thousands, to a mass grave for the nameless.

But the 15-year-old Anne would not remain anonymous.

She left behind a record, wonderful yet tragic words that would one day be translated into 60 languages.

The Diary of Anne Frank was a publishing phenomenon that made her one of the most famous women in the world.

In one of the poignant entries, she confided to the Diary: "It is difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality.

"It is a wonder I have not abandoned all my ideals - they seem so absurd and impractical."

This year is the 75th anniversary of her birth, and she remains as famous now as she was when Diary was published in 1947.

It was years later, through that diary, that Rabbi Levy, a devout Eastern European Jew, who eventually settled in Pollokshields, would establish his personal connection with the girl.

He said: "I read her story, the diary, and the circumstances of her death. I realised then the association.

"She and I were in Belsen, yards from each other, at the same time."

The retired rabbi added: "I was older than she, and my dreadful duty was to drag thousands of dead, which would have included her, to be buried in a mass grave.

"Buried is not a proper description. We dragged them through the dust, barely human now, and put them, nameless, into pits."

Rabbi Levy, who was born in Bratislava, in the former Czechoslovakia, continued: "I had taken so many bodies to the graves, all day, every day.

"Eventually, I, too, almost died. When the camp was liberated, I was among the dead, still aware, but very close to death.

"Faith is not something you think of then. It is a rock you climb on to later and realise that every new day is in itself a miracle.

"Anne Frank’s story was typical, and not dissimilar to my own.

"For a long time, she had refused to despair, but, like so many others, she eventually succumbed. I can relate to that. I, too, would give up only to be saved at the last minute by the British Army."

The rabbi, who is a former cantor of Pollokshields synagogue, on the south side of the city, was living and working in Hungary when he was taken by the Nazis.

Unlike so many of his people, he survived and was repatriated to Hungary.

However, in 1961, he "managed to sneak out" of the communist state to join his brother, Charles, in Scotland. The rabbi, a former engineer and the author of Just One More Dance, the story of his place in the Holocaust, had always been devout.

When he arrived in Scotland, he was already a rabbi.

"Scotland has been my home for 40 years," he said.

"I have had a wonderful life, which is a thing beyond the miraculous. I, and my wife, Kathy, who is also a survivor of the Holocaust, had two wonderful children and we have four grandchildren. It is a joy to look at them. Half of my original family were lost and I count every day as a blessing.

"It is so important that we do not forget that dreadful time.

"Even this long after her death, the words of Anne Frank should remain a lesson.

"Anne Frank was exceptional because she was able to leave behind a record, words that told the world of the tragedy of the Holocaust.

"Those words should remain a lesson to us all."

The Anne Frank Trust UK is honouring the 75th birthday of her birth today.

Her impact on moral consciousness is still discernible in the 21st century, particularly through the works of the trust.

Founded in 1991, the not-for-profit educational charity draws on the power of Anne’s Diary to inspire a new generation to build a world of respect, compassion and justice.

It runs major educational projects, including the Anne Frank Awards for Moral Courage, which recognise acts of moral integrity.

Sir Ben Kingsley, the Oscar-winning actor, who played a Holocaust survivor in Stephen Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, is a supporter.

This year’s awards will be presented on 13 and 14 July at City Hall, London.

Rabbi Levy added: "There were many, many Anne Franks and we should never forget."

LIFE OF TRAGEDY

ANNE Frank was born in Frankfurt in 1929, the daughter of a banker.

The Nazi persecution of the Jews forced the family to flee Germany for the Netherlands.

Anne, her parents and her older sister were apparently safe, and on her 13th birthday, she was given a diary.

She shared her innermost thoughts with "Kitty", the name she gave the diary.

Anne dreamed of becoming a famed writer. Her unutterably tragic words would help her achieve that ambition - albeit posthumously.

When the Germans invaded Netherlands in 1942, the family went into hiding in an attic. Anne hated the confinement. In September, 1942, she wrote: "I can’t tell you how oppressive it is and I am afraid we will be discovered and shot."

Her last entry was written on 1 August 1944, three days before the Nazis located them and sent the family to Bergen-Belsen. In March 1945, she died from typhus.