Overview
- Born in Nazi-occupied France in 1943, Lever was smuggled out of a La Rochelle jail as a baby after her resistance-member father arranged her rescue.
- Her mother, aunt and grandparents were deported via Drancy in 1944, with her mother dying en route to Auschwitz-Birkenau and the others murdered on arrival.
- Raised by rescuer Andree “Mimi” Castex, Lever later learned her family’s story piecemeal and describes a childhood marked by silence and loss.
- She recalls being attacked at age 11 by boys who called her a “dirty Jew,” a moment she cites in urging students to remember “we are all human beings.”
- Living in south-west London with her husband of 58 years, she speaks in schools and at Parliamentary events, aligning her message with Holocaust Memorial Day’s focus on bridging generations.