A Holocaust survivor and her daughter has visited a school to share experiences of what it was like to school children.

On Monday Lady Zahava Kohn and her daughter Hephzibah Rudofsky presented stories about the Holocaust to year 9 at Friern Barnet School.

The pupils had been learning about the Second World War as part of their History curriculum and so had previous knowledge about this period.

But as Zahava was an actual survivor of the systematic extermination of the Jews by Germany during the second world war this was the first time the children got a first-hand account.

Zahava and Hephzibah presented the story of her family who fled from the British Mandate of Palestine to the Holland before the war – only to go into hiding when the Nazi’s invaded and ultimately being captured and sent to Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp in northern Germany.

Hephzibah said: “It is extraordinary that my mother is able to re-live this terrible period of her life time and time again.

“In her calm and gentle manner, she relates the horrendous experiences during the war, in particular whilst she was in Bergen Belsen.

“She is an exceptional woman and what is remarkable is that she is not defined by what she went through – she has lived life without bitterness or regrets.

“The pupils often say how the experience of hearing my mother’s testimony has more impact than any amount of reading text books, or hours spent in the classroom.”

Hephzibah encouraged her mother to break her lifelong silence about her experiences because she felt it was an important story that needed to be told - particularly to the younger generation for whom there is less opportunity to hear first-hand survivor testimonies.