The Refugee and the Survivor – a Family Story

This illustrated presentation by Michael Lewis weaves together the story of his parents, of his father, a refugee from Nazi persecution and his mother, a Holocaust survivor. It draws on her memoir, A Time to Speak (1992) and Michael’s own book, Flight from Prague – the Making of a Refugee (2025), which for the first time tells his father’s story.

Harry Lewy and Helene Katz came from Trautenau, today Trutnov, then in Austria Hungary, now in the Czech Republic. They were friends from childhood.

In 1938 Michael’s father fled for his life when, after Munich, his Sudetenland home was incorporated into the Nazi Reich. A refugee, embarked on a life of uncertainty and fear, loneliness and isolation, unwanted and penniless, he eventually found sanctuary and work in Belfast.

In 1938 his mother was married to Paul Herrmann and living in Prague, having successfully completed professional training as a choreographer, teacher and dancer. In 1942 she was deported to Terezin / Theresienstadt, in May 1944 to Auschwitz-Birkenau and in July 1944 to Stutthof. She survived. Widowed and seriously ill, she returned to Prague in June 1945.

Finding her name on a list of survivors, Harry made contact. In 1947 they married in Prague before settling in Belfast. The family changed its name to Lewis in 1949. Helen gradually recovered her health and had a distinguished career as an innovative choreographer and then author, widely recognized and honoured as an inspirational figure. Behind her achievements against all the odds stood Harry’s quiet unstinting love and support.

Michael Lewis was born in Belfast. He taught for 35 years in comprehensive schools, becoming the headteacher of King Edward VII School in Sheffield between 1988 and 2008. After retirement he served for 14 years as a lay Employment Tribunal member, a member of the Teaching Regulation Agency Teacher Conduct panel and of the Independent Ethics Panel of South Yorkshire Police. In 2009 The University of Sheffield awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. He lives in Sheffield, is married to Petra and has two sons and three grandchildren.

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