My Voice: Chaim Ferster

The My Voice Project is a unique initiative by The Fed, Manchester's leading social care charity serving the Jewish community. The My Voice Project empowers Holocaust survivors and refugees from Nazi persecution who settled in the UK to share their entire life stories including experiences before, during and after the war years. This project involves a bespoke methodological approach, producing books that preserve their unique voices. The My Voice Project ensures firsthand accounts are remembered and valued for future generations, highlighting the critical role of individual perspectives in ensuring a deeper historical understanding.

Chaim Ferster was born in Sosnowiec, Poland. He lived with his parents and three sisters above the brush factory owned by his father. They were religious Jews and only spoke Yiddish. He was 17 when war broke out and German soldiers arrived in his town.

After surviving a harrowing selection process, Chaim was sent to one camp after another and set to work. Then, in September 1944, he was sent to Auschwitz. In April 1945, he was forced onto a death march to Buchenwald.

After liberation, Chaim was reunited with his sister and one of their cousins and they came to Manchester, where he found work as a sewing machine repairer and eventually became a toy manufacturer. He married Nan and they had three sons, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Chaim's book is part of the My Voice book collection.