BBC Radio Scotland MW

A Life in Limbo

Factual: Life Stories

Clare English talks to people who have placed their futures on hold

Clare English talks to people whose lives are on hold, often because of factors beyond their control.

A Life in Limbo: Series 2

A Life in Limbo: Series 2: Episode 2

Episode 2

Series 2

BBC Radio Scotland - A Life in Limbo, Series 2, Episode 2

Thomas Buergenthal talks to Clare English about surviving the Auschwitz death march.

Thomas Buergenthal talks to Clare English about being the only child to have survived the Auschwitz death march, and about the day to day limbo of the concentration camps.

Clare English talks to people whose lives are on hold because of events in their lives which are often beyond their control.

As a ten year old German speaking Jewish boy, Thomas Buergenthal was sent to the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland with his parents. Once there, the family was broken up and he never saw his father again.

He talks to Clare English about the powerlessness of knowing that each day in the camps could be his last according to the whim of the SS guards. By a combination of great luck and childish cunning, he emerged from his ordeal alive and almost unscathed, and was placed in an orphanage where once again he was in limbo, hoping that his mother would come and find him. 
His is an extraordinary story of survival against he odds. He witnessed the worst aspects of humanity and also the noblest.

BBC Radio Scotland

Clare English talks to people whose futures are on hold due to uncertain events in their lives

Accessibility links

Programme Index

A Life in Limbo

Series 2

Episode 2

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio Scotland MW

About BBC Radio Scotland