91-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Dies In Fire At Her London Home

NEW YORK (VINnews) — 91-year-old Bertha “Betty” Shane died last week during a fire at her home in the Hampstead suburb of London in the UK. Mrs. Shane died childless and with very little family but dozens of people responded to a social media call and ensured a minyan at her funeral last Friday at the Bushey cemetery.

Shane’s niece Dawn described her to the Jewish Chronicle as “a character, a one-off, a poet and a fiercely independent woman who was still fiercely protective of her independence. She was not a shrinking violet; she wasn’t afraid of anybody.”

Born in Antwerp on June 2, 1931, Ms Shane was the youngest and last survivor of seven children. The family remained in Belgium until May 1940, when they fled to England with her aunt.

At her aunt’s pleading, her father, Moishe Shayngesicht, waited in Antwerp for her husband, Mr Shayngesicht’s brother. Both were found by the Nazis and were sent to their deaths in Auschwitz.

In her later years, Mrs. Shane donated up to £500,000 to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in his name.

Betty’s niece spoke at the funeral and said that: “Betty absolutely adored her father and had a very special bond with him. Throughout her life, she never stopped thinking and talking about how he used to cuddle and take care of her and how close that bond was. In many ways, he was the love of her life.”

Settling in London, Ms Shane was evacuated during the Blitz and placed with a couple who helped her learn English. English language, literature, and poetry became her great love in life.

In 1942, she joined her mother in Market Harborough and later signed up with a Jewish organisation in London to learn shorthand and typing. At the age of 17, she was the family’s breadwinner.

From 1956-61, she lived in Israel with her Sephardic husband. The marriage did not last long but her time there had a profound influence.

In the last decade of her life, she worked on a memoir about that period, working with a friend of more than 40 years, Dudley Miles, who was among the mourners.

Returning to England, Shane became a teacher and “changed the lives of many.”

One of the mourners, Esther, was Mrs. Shane’s social worker for the last 18 months of her life.

“I am devastated,” she told the JC. “She always made me laugh. She was so independent but would usually be complaining about one thing or other, usually technology. I will never forget her and our time shared together.

“Last time I went to visit her, she told me a story from her childhood. In tears, she relayed a memory that upon leaving Antwerp as a child, she told her best friend: ‘I’ll play with you again when this is all over.’

“But that was the last time she ever saw her friend. Her losing her father and best friend, and others at that time in her life, remained a trauma for her for the rest of her life.”