Harry Olmer
Holocaust survivor and educator
Harry Olmer (born Chaim Olmer; 15 November 1927 – 15 January 2026) was a Polish-born British Holocaust survivor, dentist and educator.
He survived Nazi forced-labour and concentration camps, including Płaszów, Skarżysko-Kamienna, Buchenwald, Schlieben, and Terezín. After the war he was brought to the United Kingdom as one of The Boys, a group of child survivors rehabilitated in the Lake District. In later life he became a prominent speaker on Holocaust education and was appointed MBE for his work.
Early life
Harry Olmer was born in Sosnowiec, Poland on 15 November 1927, the fourth of six children. After the Invasion of Poland in 1939, antisemitic persecution intensified. In 1940 the family fled to the village of Miechów-Charsznica, where Jews were subjected to forced labour.
In 1942, Jews from the region were rounded up. During a selection, women and children were deported to Bełżec and murdered on arrival. Olmer, his brother, and his father were selected for forced labour.
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This entry incorporates text from “Harry Olmer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.