Holocaust survivor Suzanne Ripton, who escaped Nazis, dies at 88

A Holocaust survivor who escaped the Nazis in 1940s France while still a young child and who later moved to the UK to make a new life has died at the age of 88.

Suzanne Rappaport Ripton, was just six years old when her parents were arrested in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of Paris, but she was saved by a neighbour who hid her for several weeks under her kitchen table.

After living with foster families in rural France, Ms Ripton was brought to England after the war by the Red Cross and lived in London and more recently in Leeds.

Simon Phillips, from the Leeds Jewish Housing Association, said Ms Ripton, who was last year awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM), would be “sadly missed”.

Ms Ripton was awarded the BEM for Services to Holocaust Education and Remembrance after being a founder member of the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association, which later became the Holocaust Centre North in Huddersfield.

Her story is told in a permanent exhibition at the centre, as well as being preserved in its archive, and it forms part of learning sessions for both primary and secondary schools, including on the BBC Learning Zone.

According to the Holocaust Centre North, Ms Ripton was at home in Paris in summer 1942 when French police and the SS came to arrest her parents, Millie and Joseph.

However, thanks to the courage of a neighbour, Madame Collomb, she was saved, first by being hidden under a kitchen table covered with a tablecloth for several weeks, before being moved to stay with families in the French countryside.

Ms Ripton never saw her parents again, later learning they had been taken to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and she eventually moved to England, living in both London and Leeds.

In January this year, a message by Ms Ripton was read on her behalf at a Holocaust Memorial Day event at the Leeds Jewish Housing Association (LJHA) where she was a resident for 13 years.

In her message, she said: “The words I want to say are, ‘never forget to remember’.

“LJHA and its staff have made me feel as if I belong. I have come home. Thank you.”

Reacting to news of Ms Ripton’s death, Simon Phillips, LJHA community engagement officer, said she “always had a smile whenever we visited her home”.

“She was so kind to both residents and staff,” he said.

“She was true ‘eyshet chayil’ – ‘woman of worth’ – and will be sadly missed.”

Dr Alessandro Bucci, director of Holocaust Centre North, said: “We will continue to honour Suzanne’s memory and the legacy of her testimony.

“She loved the arts and nature, and we will ensure these remain part of how we speak about her – as a survivor, and as the remarkable, complex, and deeply creative person she was.”

Dr Bucci said Ms Ripton was “a woman of extraordinary courage and quiet strength. May her memory be a blessing.”