TY students following a wonderful talk.
Desmond College was delighted to host Tomi Reichental on December 8th. Staff and students spent the morning with Tomi who recounted the harrowing and courageous story of his time he spent in Bergen Belsen concentration camp in Nazi Germany as a child and to promoted religious and racial tolerance to all. Tomi is one of the only survivors of the Holocaust living in Ireland and frequently travels around the country visiting secondary schools telling his inspiring story.
Tomi was unable to speak about his traumatic experience for over 50 years but ultimately decided that he owes it to the souls of those 6 million Jewish people who lost their lives during this torturous time in history, including 35 members of Tomi’s own family.
Tomi is an inspirational figure to all those who encounter him and without surprise has been awarded the International Person of the Year award, is an award winning author and more recently earned an Honorary Doctorate from Trinity College.
Natalia is also from Solvakia and he was delighted to meet and share his experience with a fellow Solvakian.
Desmond College Transition Year students have completed projects about the life of Mr. Reichental and will continue to study the holocaust and World War II in detail. Tomi was kind enough to offer signed copies of his book ‘I was a Boy in Belsen’ for our school library. All at Desmond College were honoured and delighted to partake in this unique opportunity.