A SURVIVOR of the Holocaust spoke to schoolchildren in York about her experiences in one of the Nazi’s most notorious concentration camps.

As a teenager during the Second World War, Iby Knill was a member of the Hungarian Resistance until she was captured in 1942 and sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

Iby spoke to students at Millthorpe School about her experiences in the camp, where she was imprisoned in June 1942 aged only 18, until the camp was liberated in 1945.

Now Iby travels the region as a representative of The Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association, giving talks to help preserve the memory of the Holocaust and use its lessons to work towards a more tolerant society. Iby, now 86, left her home in Czechoslovakia following the German invasion, and fled to Hungary where she was captured as an illegal immigrant and sent to the infamous camp.

After the war, Iby came to England, and found work in civil defence, education and as a translator. She completed an Open University degree in 1973, and began an MA in Theology and Religious studies at York St John University to find a foundation for the mix of beliefs she has found during her lifetime. Now living in Leeds, Iby completed her Master’s degree in 2004, and collected her certificate in a ceremony at York Minster.

Her visit comes just before children from 100 schools across the region will visit Auschwitz, as part of a project to send two pupils from every school in the country to learn about the Holocaust.