Wolves Academy players ‘inspired’ by Holocaust survivor

20th May 2022

Wolves’ young players have learned first-hand about the horrors of war and conflict as Holocaust survivor Mindu Hornick MBE shared her testimony with the Academy’s under-14 boys’ team.

As part of their Academy studies into the Second World War, the players heard Mindu’s recollections of being ripped from her home in Czechoslovakia at just 12-years-old and taken with her mother, sister and two younger brothers to Auschwitz in Poland.

Mindu believes it was ‘sheer luck’ which saw her and her sister both survive the concentration camp and return to Prague to live with their aunts.

Not wanting to be trapped in her homeland when it was announced borders would close in 1949, she was sent to live with an uncle in Birmingham, while her sister was moved to Australia. It was in the West Midlands where Mindu would make home for the rest of her life.

Speaking to the players at an emotional evening at Molineux, Mindu explained how she struggled to recall the horrors she had seen when she was a prisoner at the Nazi death camp for more than 40 years.

But later in life, she was determined others would learn from what had happened and began a fearless programme of education. Joining the Holocaust Educational Trust, Mindu shares her story in the hope what she endured will never again be allowed to happen.

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She now spreads her testimony to groups as part of a partnership between the trust and the Premier League which sees Holocaust survivors speaking to clubs and academies across the country, to encourage young people to fight for a better world, free of prejudice – something she believes is crucial today, especially in reference to the those currently living in fear in Ukraine.

Several members of the Wolves under-14 squad were present at Molineux to hear the Pride of Birmingham Lifetime Achievement award winner share her story, and goalkeeper Alfie Mitchell described listening to Mindu’s testimony as ‘special’.

“Hearing what she’s been through, the horrific events which happened in her life and what she had to go through as a young child, it is inspiring to see the courage and strength she showed to have gone on to have the life she experienced,” Alfie explained.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in our lessons at the Academy learning about what happened during the Second World War and specifically during the Holocaust, and it’s been terrible to discover what people, especially kids even younger than us, had to go through.

“They were horrific circumstances and something that we should all never want to happen again. Although we still haven’t learned our lesson and listening to Mindu’s story has made us all realise how, as humanity, we are still nowhere near where we need to be.”