{"id":476546,"date":"2026-05-31T20:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/476546\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T20:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T20:07:09","slug":"campaigner-and-holocaust-survivor-tomi-reichental-dies-aged-90-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/476546\/","title":{"rendered":"Campaigner and Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental dies aged 90 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Campaigner and Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental<\/a> has died aged 90, leaving behind a \u201clasting legacy of dignity, courage and enlightenment\u201d.<\/p>\n

President Catherine Connolly<\/a> led tributes, saying \u201cTomi made an exceptional contribution to Irish society, bringing his personal experience of Bergen-Belsen and of his family\u2019s suffering in the Holocaust to public attention and, through his experiences, made a very significant contribution to the causes of peace and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reichental was born in what is now Slovakia in 1935. After the Nazi invasion of the then Czechoslovakia in 1938\/1939, he and his family went into hiding. They were taken to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in Germany, in 1944, where he survived until being liberated one year later, though 30 members of his family were killed in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

He moved to Ireland in 1959, but did not speak publicly about his experiences until some 55 years after the Holocaust<\/a> \u2013 not even giving his wife details of his suffering.<\/p>\n

Reichental became known in Ireland and around the world thanks to a 2008 documentary, Till the Tenth Generation, by the Emmy award-winning film director Gerry Gregg. He subsequently wrote an autobiography, I Was a Boy in Belsen.<\/p>\n

Since then he has campaigned in memory of Holocaust victims, speaking at schools, clubs and conferences, including to more than 100,000 students.<\/p>\n

He was the central figure in the Condemned to Remember documentary<\/a> released in 2017, which examined Reichental\u2019s life and the Holocaust\u2019s legacy in eastern Europe.<\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said he was \u201cdeeply saddened to learn of the passing of Tomi Reichental, someone who dedicated his life to teaching new generations about the evil of the Holocaust\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reichental leaves a \u201clasting legacy of dignity, courage and enlightenment of others about the dangers of hatred and anti-Semitism\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Condemned to Remember: The startling humanity of a Holocaust survivorOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He received various awards for his work, including a human rights honour from the Bar of Ireland and an honorary doctorate from Maynooth University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland said it was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by Reichental\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Tomi Reichental: \u2018We, as a human race, have to find ways to reconcile\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cTomi was one of Ireland\u2019s most remarkable voices of remembrance, education and humanity,\u201d the council said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving survived the horrors of Bergen-Belsen as a child, he dedicated much of his later life to ensuring that future generations would learn from the Holocaust and understand the dangers of hatred, prejudice and indifference.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades he shared his testimony with students, communities and audiences across Ireland, touching countless lives with his honesty, dignity, and unwavering belief in the importance of memory and reconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council said Reichental was more than just a survivor of the Holocaust, but also \u201ca teacher, a witness, and a cherished member of Irish society\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis contribution to Holocaust education and to the fight against anti-Semitism and racism leaves a lasting legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A memorial service will be held in his name but a date has yet to be determined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campaigner and Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental has died aged 90, leaving behind a \u201clasting legacy of dignity, courage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1843,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-476546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}