Survivor and Champion: Ben Helfgott's Story
Ben Helfgott, born in Lodz, Poland, 1929, is a Holocaust survivor and former champion weightlifter representing Great Britain in the Olympics. This is his personal story of survival and triumph. (Many viewers may find details described to be extremely disturbing. Viewer discretion advised.)
Ben Helfgott, born in Lodz, Poland, 1929, is a Holocaust survivor of Buchenwald and Theresienstadt and former champion weightlifter. He won the UK's 11-stone championship in 1954, and was lightweight champion in 1955, 1956, and 1958. He represented Great Britain at weightlifting in the 1956 Summer Olympics at Melbourne, Australia and was the captain of the British weightlifting teams at the Olympics in 1956
(Melbourne) and 1960 (Rome).
© Copyright, all rights reserved. The content on this page is provided by our content partner, Chabad.org.
If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further, provided that you comply with Chabad.org's copyright policy.
Another Helfgott from Poland My grandmother was Pauline Helfgott. She was born in 1879. She was born or at least lived in Tarnow, Poland. She married Samuel Johannes and they had 3 sons, one of whom was my father. Samuel came to the U.S. in 1920 and Pauline followed with the boys a few years later.They all escaped the Holocaust, as they left Europe earlier. Is there any possibility there is a connection with Mr. Helfgott? I don't know how common is this name. Thank you.