Zigi Shipper, who survived being imprisoned in two concentration camps during the Second World War before dedicating his life to educating others on the horrors of the Holocaust, has died on his 93rd birthday, it has been announced.
In the House of Commons this afternoon, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak paid tribute to ‘a man with wonderful, wonderful energy and humanity’.
In 1944, Zigi and his grandmother, whom he was brought up by after his parents divorced, were taken to a train station and transported to Auschwitz. He would later, as a teenager, also spend time in Stutthof concentration camp.
In 2017, Zigi accompanied the Prince and Princess of Wales on a royal visit to Stutthof, near Gdansk in Poland, where Zigi had met his lifelong friend and fellow prisoner Manfred Goldberg, and, during lockdown, participated in a lockdown conversation.
Speaking about the camaraderie the pair had with the Princess of Wales, Zigi said she’d treated him ‘like a friend.’
The Princess of Wales and Zigi Shipper, second from left, during the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to Stutthof, the former Nazi German concentration camp near Gdansk, Poland in 2017 (Also pictured: third from left, Manfred Goldberg, far right, Prince William)
In 2022, King Charles commissioned a portrait of Zigi, which hangs in Buckingham Palace.
Born in January 1930, to a Jewish family in Łódź, Poland, Zigi Shipper’s, 91, parents divorced when he was five and he was brought up by his grandmother and father, having been told his mother had died.
In 1939 his father escaped to the Soviet Union, believing that it was only young Jewish men who were at risk, and not children or the elderly, and Zigi never saw him again. His grandmother tragically died the day of the liberation.
Zigi, left, and Manfred Goldberg, met one another at the concentration camp and are pictured at Lensterhoff, Germany in 1945 after surviving Stutthoff in Poland
After meeting in the concentration camps, Manfred and Zigi have remained friends for years and have continued to share their stories to educate younger people about the Holocaust
The then Duchess of Cambridge, joined Zigi, then 91, and his friend Manfred Goldberg, then 90, whom he met as a teenager at the Stutthof concentration camp, for a video call last week
In 1944, Zigi and his grandmother, whom he was brought up by, were taken to a train station and transported to Auschwitz.
The Princess of Wales joined Zigi, then 91, and his friend Manfred Goldberg, then 90, whom he met as a teenager at the Stutthof concentration camp, for a video call in 2021.
He said Kate Middleton was ‘a friend’ and claims she’s just ‘like a normal young lady’.
The Queen Consort pictured with Zigi Shipper, left, and Manfred Goldberg at an exhibition of Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust on January 24, 2022
Shipper pictured standing besides his portrait in an exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace in 2022
Zigi said of his 66 years of marriage: ‘Some are good, some are bad, but the last few years was unbelievable’
The past year has been particularly tough for Zigi, who lost his beloved wife Jeannette in 2021 . The couple had been together for 71 years and married for 66
‘She said, “They are standing in front of you”. I said, “That’s not for us, that’s for animals. It is not for me”. Anyway they opened the doors and they started putting people in.
Karen Pollock CBE, Chief Executive, of the Holocaust Educational Trust paid tribute this afternoon, saying: ‘How do I describe Zigi? He was the most energetic, charismatic, charming and brilliant person to have around. A man full of spirit with a devastating story to tell about his past, yet always sharing a message of hope and love.’
She said that he’d educated schoolchildren about the Holocaust ‘week in and week out, determined to teach the next generation about the difficult lessons of the past, to make a better future.’
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