Leslie Hardman

The Rev. Leslie H. Hardman MBE, HCF, (February 18, 1913–October 7, 2008), was an Orthodox Rabbi and the first Jewish British Army Chaplain to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, an experience "that made him a public figure, both within his community and outside it". [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4901996.ece] Obituary in 'The Times']

Early life

Hardman was born in Glynneath, South Wales to a Polish father and Russian mother who were both Jewish. The couple went to live in the Welsh valleys and worked as small traders. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3155068/The-Reverend-Leslie-Hardman.html] Obituary in 'The Daily Telegraph'] While he was still young the family moved to Liverpool where he attended the Hope Street Jewish School. Hardman attended a yeshivah and then the University of Leeds, where he took his BA 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, or ritual slaughterer. From there he took a ministerial appointment in Leeds.

Bergen-Belsen

On the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Hardman enlisted in the Army Chaplains' Department, being stationed in Hertfordshire with the East Central District of the Eastern Command. In the autumn of 1944 Hardman served in Holland, where he learned of the atrocities perpetrated against Jews. There he became involved with members of the remaining Jewish community, and celebrated Hanukkah with them. From Holland he was sent to Germany, 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 8 Corp of the British 2nd Army. On April 17, 1945, two days after it had been liberated by British military forces, Hardman entered Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, being the first Jewish Chaplain to do so. [ [http://www.barnet.gov.uk/press_releases.htm?id=961}] London Borough of Barnet press release] On arriving at the camp he tried to bring comfort to the survivors and said the Kaddish, the Jewish memorial prayer, over the dead. He tried to persuade the army bulldozer 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". [The Times: Lives Remembered 2008-10-10 Retrieved on 2008-10-10]

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'." [Hardman, Leslie and Cecily Goodman 'The Survivors: the story of the Belsen Remnant' London: Vallentine, Mitchell,(1958)]

Years later, Hardman told a correspondent from the BBC,

"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 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 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 sergeant who had liberated her. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2005/01/20/holocaust_survivor_reunited_feature.shtml}] BBC News website]

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 Trust.

In 1995 Hardman was invited to conduct the service to commemortae the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Ravensbrück camp. He was also frequently called on by American 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.

In the 2007 Channel 4 drama "The Relief of Belsen" 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 kippar. 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, and in 1995 was honoured by the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California. He was also a Freemason [Freemasonry Today Issue 07 Winter 1998-1999] In January 2008 he made a moving speech at the National Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in Liverpool. [Obituary in the 'Jewish News']

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

References

External links

* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sitesearch.do?query=leslie+hardman&submitStatus=searchFormSubmitted&mode=simple&sectionId=674&queryKeywords=leslie+hardman&x=31&y=17 Obituary in "The Times"] 2008-10-08 Retrieved on 2008-10-08
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3155068/The-Reverend-Leslie-Hardman.html Obituary in "The Daily Telegraph"] 2008-10-07 Retrieved on 2008-10-08
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2005/01/20/holocaust_survivor_reunited_feature.shtml Hardman on the BBC website]
* [http://www.bergenbelsen.co.uk/Pages/Database/ReliefStaffPhotographs.asp?HeroesID=29&=29 Photographs of Hardman at Bergen-Belsen]
* [http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-10227/a-giant-among-men/ Hardman on Totallyjewish.com]