Children in Northern Ireland will be learning about the adventures and trials of Holocaust survivors in a book written especially for them.

Enemy Alien

Enemy Alien, by renowned historian Csilla Toldy, tells of the journey through adversity of a ten-year-old Jewish boy who eventually settles with his family in Kilkeel, Co Down.

It is the true story of Walter Sekules whose family left detention camps in Russia and Kazakhstan before arriving in Northern Ireland in 1950 after a 3,000-mile trek through war-torn Europe.

The illustrated book and accompanying educational resources is being promoted for use in schools and was launched last month by the Light Theatre Company, backed by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Csilla, from Rostrevor, near the border with the South, has been working on projects relating to the Holocaust since 2017, when she visited Auschwitz with her 85-year-old mother, who was a child witness of the deportations in Hungary.

Speaking about her book, Csilla said: “Walter is a young Jewish boy, growing up in a camp for ‘enemy aliens’. In the autumn, when the fields turn into swamps, he contracts malaria. When the war is over, he and his family embark on their long search for a new home.”

The book is targeted at children aged eight to 12. Sadly, Walter himself passed away last July, aged 83.

Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon; Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com; To the Jew First, A Nation Reborn, and King of the Jews, all available from Christian Publications International.