Leslie Hardman
Encyclopedia
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and the first Jewish British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
Chaplain
Military chaplain
A military chaplain is a chaplain who ministers to soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and other members of the military. In many countries, chaplains also minister to the family members of military personnel, to civilian noncombatants working for military organizations and to civilians within the...
to enter Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
concentration camp, an experience "that made him a public figure, both within his community and outside it".
Early life
Hardman was born in GlynneathGlynneath
Glynneath , also spelt Glyn Neath, is a small town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in the historic county of Glamorgan...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
to a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
father and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n mother who were both Jewish. The couple lived in the Welsh valleys and worked as small business traders. While he was still young the family moved to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
where he attended the Hope Street Jewish School. Hardman attended a yeshivah and then the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, where he took his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and then an MA. He married his wife Josi (1911 – 2007) on October 14, 1936, two years after becoming minister of the Jewish community at St. Anne's, where he was also the shochet
Shechita
Shechita is the ritual slaughter of mammals and birds according to Jewish dietary laws...
, or ritual slaughterer. From there he took a ministerial appointment in Leeds.
Bergen-Belsen
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in September 1939, Hardman enlisted in the Army Chaplains' Department
Royal Army Chaplains' Department
The Royal Army Chaplains' Department is an all-officer corps that provides ordained clergy to minister to the British Army.As of 2007, there are about 280 serving regular chaplains in the British Army; these can belong to either one of several Christian churches, or to the Jewish faith, although...
, being stationed in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
with the East Central District of the Eastern Command. In the autumn of 1944 Hardman served in the Netherlands, where he learned of the atrocities perpetrated against Jews. There he became involved with members of the remaining Jewish community, and celebrated Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
with them. From the Netherlands he was sent to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, where he remained until the end of the war.
By April 1945 Captain Hardman was the 32-year-old Senior Jewish Chaplain to the British Forces, attached to the 8th Corp of the British 2nd Army. On 17 April, 1945, Hardman entered Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, two days after it had been liberated by British military forces, under the command of fellow Welshman Brigadier Glyn Hughes
Hugh Llewellyn Glyn Hughes
Brigadier Hugh Llewellyn Glyn Hughes CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MC, MRCS was a British military officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and later medical administrator, educationalist and sports administrator...
. Hardman became the first Jewish Chaplain at the site. On arriving at the camp he tried to bring comfort to the survivors and said the Kaddish
Kaddish
Kaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service...
, the Jewish memorial prayer, over the dead. He tried to persuade the army bulldozer
Bulldozer
A bulldozer is a crawler equipped with a substantial metal plate used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device to loosen densely-compacted materials.Bulldozers can be found on a wide range of sites,...
drivers who were pushing the bodies of the dead into a pit to bury them with some kind of dignity. Hardman supervised the burial of about 20,000 victims, "giving them the dignity in death of which they had been robbed in life".
Later he wrote of his experience at the camp,
"Towards me came what seemed to be the remnants of a holocaust – a staggering mass of blackened skin and bones, held together somehow with filthy rags. 'My God, the dead walk', I cried aloud, but I did not recognise my voice... [peering] at the double star, the emblem of Jewry on my tunice - one poor creature touched and then stroked the badge of my faith, and finding that it was real murmured, 'Rabbiner, Rabbiner'."
Years later, Hardman told a correspondent from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
,
"If all the trees in the world turned into pens, all the waters in the oceans turned into ink and the heavens turned into paper, it would still be insufficient material to describe the horrors these people suffered under the SS."
When Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby
Richard Dimbleby CBE was an English journalist and broadcaster widely acknowledged as one of the greatest figures in British broadcasting history.-Early life:...
made a radio report of the Belsen liberation from the camp itself for the BBC, Hardman could be heard singing a hymn with two women in the background, one of whom died almost immediately after the recording was made. He circumcised
Circumcision
Male circumcision is the surgical removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin and ....
Jewish babies who had been born in the camp as well as burying those who died. He conducted the marriage of a survivor and the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sergeant who had liberated her.
He was recorded as having said that he had lost his faith at Belsen. However, he later stated, "I didn't lose my faith, but some of the words of the prayers I said at Belsen stuck in my throat. I couldn't understand how the God I worshipped could permit this."
Later years
After the war Hardman served as the rabbi at Hendon United Synagogue from 1947 to 1982, and was the Hendon Branch Chaplain of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. He also served as chaplain to the psychiatric unit at Edgware Hospital and was a strong supporter of the Holocaust Educational TrustHolocaust Educational Trust
The Holocaust Educational Trust is a British charity, founded by Greville Janner and Merlyn Rees in 1988, whose aim is to "educate young people of every background about the Holocaust and the important lessons to be learned for today." Its chairman is Greville Janner and its president is R....
.
In 1995 Hardman was invited to conduct the service to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
. He was also frequently called on by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
groups to speak at Holocaust conferences. At one such event the rabbis presented him with an American rabbinical certificate, a presentation which had been denied him by Jews College, the leading rabbinical seminary in London, "for political reasons", he claimed.
Hardman was interviewed by Al Murray
Al Murray
Alastair James Hay "Al" Murray , is a British comedian best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord, a stereotypical xenophobic public house licensee. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy...
at Bergen Belsen for the 2004 documentary Al Murray's Road To Berlin
Al Murray's Road To Berlin
Al Murray's Road To Berlin is a British documentary television series about World War II, presented by Al Murray. The ten episode series was produced for the Discovery Channel, and first broadcast in 2004...
. In the 2007 Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
drama The Relief of Belsen
The Relief of Belsen
The Relief of Belsen is a feature-length drama that was first shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 15 October 2007. It depicts events that unfolded at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp following the liberation of the camp by British troops in April 1945...
Hardman was portrayed by actor Paul Hilton. Hardman did not watch the programme, but said of it,
"One member of my congregation complained that I was seen in it without a kipparKippahA kippah or kipa , also known as a yarmulke , kapele , is a hemispherical or platter-shaped head cover, usually made of cloth, often worn by Orthodox Jewish men to fulfill the customary requirement that their head be covered at all times, and sometimes worn by both men and, less frequently, women...
. Can you imagine that? There I was, burying thousands of bodies, and all this man cared about was that I wasn't wearing a hat."
Hardman was appointed MBE in 1998 for his services to the Jewish community, and in 1995 was honoured by the Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal KBE was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter....
Museum of Tolerance
Museum of Tolerance
The Museum of Tolerance , a multimedia museum in Los Angeles, California, USA, with an associated museum and professional development multi-media training facility in New York City, is designed to examine racism and prejudice in the United States and the world with a strong focus on the history of...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. He was also a Freemason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
In January 2008 he gave a speech at the National Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in Liverpool.
Leslie Hardman died on October 7, 2008, aged 95.
Publications
- Hardman, Leslie and Cecily Goodman 'The Survivors: the story of the Belsen Remnant' London: Vallentine, Mitchell, (1958)
- Hardman, Leslie (contributor) Belsen in History and Memory By Jo Reilly, Joanne Reilly Published by Routledge, (1997) ISBN 0714647675
External links
- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4901996.eceObituary in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
] 2008-10-08 Retrieved on 2008-10-08 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3155068/The-Reverend-Leslie-Hardman.htmlObituary in The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
] 2008-10-07 Retrieved on 2008-10-08 - Obituary in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Obituary in Wales Online Retrieved on 2008-10-28
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2005/01/20/holocaust_survivor_reunited_feature.shtmlHardman on the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
website] - Photographs of Hardman at Bergen-Belsen
- Hardman on Totallyjewish.com