Stephen Fry Finds out Family Members Perished in the Holocaust - Who Do You Think You Are?

Martin's sister, Reska, married a man called Tobias Lamm. The couple had children, but during World War Two the whole family was sent to Auschwitz. Some disappeared en route. Martin wants to know what happened to them.
Had fate not intervened, in the form of a humble sugar beet factory in Bury St Edmonds, that awful destiny may also have befallen Martin Neumann and his family.
Stephen Fry seems as English as tweed, silver toast racks and the London black cab he can be seen driving around the streets of the capital. However, Stephens ancestry is in fact of Jewish European descent.
The story that pricked Stephen's interest the most when researching his family was that of his beloved maternal grandfather, Martin Newman. Martin's actual name was Neumann. By the time of his death, when Stephen was just eleven years old, his flamboyance had made an indelible mark on his grandson.
Stephen hopes to discover more about Martin's life and what happened to the other branches of the Neumann family?
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[@labradormcgraw]

Stephen Fry is a truly wonderful man. So sad to see him mourning his long-lost family.

[@kateoneill7226]

If you haven't seen the entire show, do find and watch it. Stephen's mother is an absolute delight, bless her.

[@elisa7881]

May their memory be a blessing.

[@UnopinionatedBystander2393]

Amein.

[@tm502010]

This shouldn't have been censored. Some things - including reactions - are appropriate to let stand as the genuine response. Profanity is sometimes not the Obscenity...

[@citizenguy]

(edited)

[@DarkeningSkies1]

Don't feed the troll.

[@ScabbyCrab]

tm502010 Very well said!

[@notdaveschannel9843]

+tm502010 I felt the same thing but this was probably edited for repeats at an earlier timeslot. It originally aired at 21:00 on BBC2 without the word censored. This loses so much by removing it.

[@benjaminsidneykidd-bentley3966]

Absolutely is well said mate. Xx

[@bengreen6980]

My heart broke for Stephen when he saw the name of that terrible place on the screen.

[@sharona1981]

Stephen Fry crying...my heart broke. That poor family.

[@Metoobie]

I wish I could hug him. He has such a big heart, and a history of pain.

[@Xrisus94]

A memory for us all. Easily forgotten. We must remember it, for their lives where stolen. Never again.

[@saiqhai9968]

Never again????? It's happening again in Palestine for the last 70 years by the very people who say never again!!!!

[@NiePieerdol]

@@saiqhai9968 Things may not be well in Israel, but comparing it to Holocaust is preposterous. You're not too bright, are you?

[@saiqhai9968]

@@NiePieerdol 70 years of oppression and land theft v 4 years of persecution, no contest "Einstine"!!

[@NiePieerdol]

@@saiqhai9968 Oh so genocide is now just a "persecution"? You can't even write Einstein properly, go back to books.

[@saiqhai9968]

@@NiePieerdol you go back to the books and read about the palstinian h0locaust. Can't can't stop what happend to people in the war 70 years ago but you can stop the oppression of the palstinians today.

[@kirschrot77]

This is very moving, Stephen Fry is a wonderful man and it is sad that that happened to some of his family, I live in Vienna and I have a similar story, thank you for this show

[@littleripper312]

Much of my family met a similar fate in the war. I try not to think about it because there's nothing we can do, life is this way. We live in a safe bubble but this is what life and the world really is outside our little safe haven.

[@josephbrennan370]

I am sorry for the crimes committed against you.

[@Tawadeb]

That’s tragic

[@BillCameronWC]

When I first saw this episode my reaction was one of cold fury at what had been done to these people & grief for Fry. Of corse I had known intellectually what the Nazis had done (their crimes against humanity) for many years and had seen other documentaries about it, including some other episodes of Who Do You Think You Are, but seeing personal testimony from someone whose own family was so tragically and brutally affected by these crimes makes it so much more tangible and awful. It’s important to remember the evils committed by humans against other humans, which didn’t end at the conclusion of WWII - I personally have visited sites of equally inhumane atrocities in Cambodia a few decades later. No one must ever be allowed to say such things never happened as a way of minimising contemporary inhumanity and must be challenged relentlessly if they try to do so.

[@skontheroad2666]

If you have never seen any if the testimonials from survivors, there are many on YT that are incredibly moving. The Wiesental Center (with the help of Steven Spielberg) has tried to capture as many as they can as there are now less and less around to tell their stories. Having been raised sitting at my grandparents feet listening to them in shock and horror, I have tried to recreate that experience for my children so the next generation will never forget. What the Wiesental Center has done (along with other organizations), will be, unfortunately, the next closest thing to hearing the experiences of survival from the actual individuals.

[@picklesthewise]

I still remember this episode five years on after seeing it. This part was incredibly heartbreaking - the news itself as well as Stephen's reaction. So many promising and bright lives lost due to hatred.

[@kingofrivia1248]

I can 100% understand his reaction - just horrible

[@feralcat07]

Your not stupid. You have empathy and love for your family.

[@SuzanneU]

I'm so sorry for this unspeakable atrocity. My maternal grandmother was born in a British concentration camp in South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer war. Two of her siblings died there. My great-grandmother, pregnant at the time, and her children, were placed on starvation rations as punishment because my great-grandfather broke out of the camp and rejoined his commando. Half of all the children of the Boer population died in these camps.

[@technoshaman001]

I got chills and tears in my eyes looking at these photos and hearing him describe his Ancestors

[@harleyquinn5774]

There is a man who died during the Holocaust who had the same surname as my paternal grandmother's maiden name (the correct German spelling before her family generations before immigrated to the U.S.) and my family and I have been trying to determine if he was a distant relation or not. The closest we've gotten to finding his family are his two ex wives. It gets under one's skin to see a family name of someone you knew as a child listed among the murder victims of Nazis and be unable to determine if that person was family.

[@boriforro5356]

I live in Slovakia and to know that his or anybody's ancestors lived here and had been taken away during those times is horrible.

[@terrystephens1102]

A very moving segment, the finality of death is difficult to comprehend until you experience li first hand. May they Rest In Peace and never be forgotten.

[@yildizkilic305]

I cried along with him.

[@kingrichardiii6280]

this is why I love genealogy. research well enough and you not only find your roots but your family's place in history.

[@magnetsoldiercephas331]

This is heavy. That’s a lot of family. So sorry for the way they went out. Have peace knowing the truth.

[@yaelrosenberger1176]

May you find comfort by adding light to the world to and continuing the legacy of your family

[@ahesperidean]

Dear Stephen, I am so sorry

[@production749]

Oh, it's utterly heartbreaking, knowing that if those kids did survive, they probably not only would have met Stephen, but also saw him become The Stephen Fry. They would have been so proud💔

[@cmarq817]

Poor Stephen. Such a shock and so kind of the lady in the building to bring these names and their stories to NOW. "Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it”

[@miarrem]

Can you please upload all of this show or atleast put in order? I don't live in the uk

[@pfeifferpack]

Love him and so sad at this find. *hugs* Also love this show.

[@pfeifferpack]

deborah cutler Your homophobic and fat hating remarks say nothing about me or Mr. Fry but MUCH about you.

[@debcutler2013]

No, not really, Ms Pfeiffer

[@soeffingwhat]

Misanthrope Extraordinaire Homophobe hiding behind its Computer. Don't get too excited or you'll wet yourself and your Mum will have to clean you up.

[@johndarcangelo6893]

All i can think about is the role he played in V for Vendetta and how he was dragged off in the night. Now knowing his ancestors experienced the real thing.

[@waynejones750]

This is so awful, God bless them x

[@lancer525]

This hurts to watch... No wonder there is so much desire to stamp out fascism and this evil all over the world.. And totally dumbfounding how anyone can even promote that kind of hatred in this day and age.

[@silverkitty2503]

poor stephen ..poor family

[@david_g_barron]

When in 2007 they celebrated Stephen Fry's 50th Birthday on BBC4 UK, and before showed him speaking about the appalling things, had Alan Davies praising the inflexible honesty of Stephen Fry. in his/production crew finding what happened to his family

[@flannerymonaghan-morris4825]

This is so haunting. To think that he realized that he had relatives who perished as a result of a horrible man driven mass extinction event…all because of political persecution. I just wanna give him a big hug, this must be harrowing for him to discover.

[@heidinein645]

Can you imagine when they still lived.....so many losses....

[@veddfer38]

Bless you and your family xxxxx

[@carolineg1872]

It has to be talked about.

[@EBUNNY2012]

Dedicated to all who do not think history is important to know for some reason. It is.

[@mikele5756]

What a wonderful sensitive man.

[@louhoggard4508]

Maybe we need to see this so we want forget. Touching.

[@parker6739]

So sad 🖤

[@Amphibiot]

Doing a bit about the holocaust. Censors out swearing. By that logic, swearing is worse than the holocaust. You REALLY in a MASSIVE way have your priorities backwards.

[@innovationsystem2959]

I remember watching this on the BBC when it was broadcast, and they didn't censor it. He clearly said "that f*cking word, Auschwitz". In context right to broadcast and clearly not gratuitous. I assume this is censored because of KZbin.

[@zargmatt]

it's just an ****ing expletive.

[@jazibee8269]

We hope this will not happen to the people of Hong Kong

[@chase_h.01]

If it did you wouldn't hear about it until long after it happened. Same as Auschwitz.

[@Luckiestof13]

If that is the case, why haven't a lot more secrets gotten out over the years? For whatever government.

[@darrylweathers7361]

@muhammad wafri only ever heard of wikileaks. Thanks for the info.

[@Tawadeb]

I hope not.

[@kiacheckan7329]

I feel bad for stephen fry and his family

[@SunnyIlha]

0:58 1:15 1:38 1:56 2:18 😢 🙏

[@fl3162]

In 1998 I left the UK for Germany, and have lived in Fallingbostel for over 20 years . STALAG X1B was located nearby and was the first British POW camp to be liberated. 1000s died there from disease or were killed by sub human Germans. Mostly Russians.

[@Tawadeb]

Dreadful. Vile Nazis

[@specialjellies3072]

Check out Ryan Dawson's work on the "spinning squirrel" here: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/kILLoqumZrSSjrc

[@rachelgarber1423]

The subtitle is misleading, there were and are English Jews. Very sad.

[@36nikkijane]

😔

[@whydoyouactlikethat]

Who exactly is Stephen Fry?

[@donaldclapper4699]

dacia

[@K1nan]

I'm just wondering how is his last name : Fry ? Im not making an anti-sematic joke.

[@rizandro]

His dad is named Fry. His mom is named Neuman.

[@kateoneill7226]

Yeah the Frys were English. The Neumanns, his mother's family, were Jews. The entire show is amazing. The Frys have an interesting history.

[@seancoulombe6795]

LOL!

[@emmasa9974]

It’s ok, Jews aren’t semites.

[@K1nan]

@@emmasa9974 How? You know that experts say that Jews, Arabs and Assyrians are semites and speakers of semetic languages?

[@peterlombard2292]

Heartbreaking stories such as this must surely challenge anyone's atheism. While the problem of evil is a recognised philosophical challenge to theistic belief, when faced with examples of wanton evil such as those highlighted in the show, it must call in to question how anyone might view this as little more than a difference of values. May his deceased family RIP.

[@KitagumaIgen]

So your spectacular solution to the teodice-problem is that it is resolved by the largest-scale display of concentrated evil? Can you please expand a little bit?

[@peterlombard2292]

@@KitagumaIgen Could you expand on what you mean by "the teodice-problem"? My point is clear. The problem of evil is, philosophically speaking, certainly challenging for theists. How can an all-powerful god allow evil to exist? We can't answer that question but then we are human; we are not all-powerful. However, this is every bit as challenging for those who assume an atheistic, materialistic worldview. By what standard are they judging this or any behaviour to be evil? If there is no objective marker by which any such claims can be judged, how can their validity be established? Lions which bring down wildebeest in Africa may be ferocious and savage but they're not considered evil for doing so? Why? What makes the savage and brutal behaviours of human any different? Theists have their philosophical rebuttal that evil, or at least the potential for evil, is necessary for freedom to exist. Without it, humans would (theists argue) be no different than preprogrammed robots. Atheists have no such rebuttal. Without resorting to fallacious appeals to force or number, how do they account for anything be right or wrong?

[@roaringviking5693]

It's mind-boggling how people can be this naive, or perhaps ignorant is the best word. For starters, it's a myth that the nazis were athiests. Far from it, in fact. But even if they were, it still would be inconsequential. How many people throughout history have been murdered in the name of god? Also, by suggesting that religious people somehow have better morals than athests, you're actually saying that people only do good because they are afraid of god and I find that extremely offensive. Fairy tales have no bearing on my, or anyone I knows, capacity for caring about others. Quite the opposite. And think about this: Your god is omnipotent, omniscient and he has his divine plan. In other words, if you believe in the abrahamic god and believe in the whole myth, then you also has to believe that the holocaust was in his plan, along with every other bad thing here on earth, like children dying of cancer, ebola or other horrible deceases. Is that a god worthy of worship? No, if there's such a thing as a god, he's either a sadist and narcissist, not omnipotent and omniscient or he just doesn't care.

[@imaginative6315]

WAAAAAAAH!!!

[@irriterendenavn]

somebodys easy to tears

[@soeffingwhat]

What I wonder is what happened to Pavel. Is there any chance he survived?