Last week, multi-award-winning author Richard K. Lowy visited Barnet Shul to talk about his new book, Kalman & Leopold: Surviving Mengele’s Auschwitz.
Richard is the son of the late Leopold Lowy, one of the so-called “Mengele Twins” – a group of twins selected as test and control subjects for the notorious human biology experiments conducted at Auschwitz during the Second World War by SS physician Dr Josef Mengele.
Richard’s book tells the extraordinary story of Leopold’s relationship with the more naive Kalman, another of Mengele’s twins. Despite their contrasting personalities, their differences helped distract them from the horrors surrounding them and played a part in their survival. The two were eventually reunited by chance many years later.
Drawing on the first-hand testimonies of Leopold and Kalman, and supported by meticulous research, the book recounts a story that is horrifying, moving and inspiring in equal measure.
Richard’s work builds on the success of his 2001 documentary, Leo’s Journey: The story of the Mengele Twins which made national headlines and received critical acclaim both within and beyond the Jewish community. His commitment to preserving this history continues today, as he challenges the Dean of Goethe University in Frankfurt over proposals to relocate records relating to Mengele’s Auschwitz experiments to other locations in Germany. He fears that moving these records could make it harder to confront and understand the full truth of what happened.
Richard’s talk gave Barnet shul members the opportunity to hear the personal story behind this powerful and important work and to reflect on the importance of preserving Holocaust testimony for future generations.