A woman who survived the horrors of Westerbrok and Belsen told her story to hundreds of schoolchildren at an event to mark National Holocaust Memorial Day.

Children from schools across Redbridge gathered at King Solomon High School in Barkingside to hear 77-year-old Zahava Kohn’s story last week.

She was deported from Amsterdam by the Nazis as a young girl but, remarkably, she, her parents and her younger brother survived the war.

Mrs Kohn’s talk was complemented by an incredible archive of documents, letters and photographs which her mother managed to smuggle out of the camps.

The archive only surfaced after Mrs Kohn’s mother’s death in 2001 and it inspired her to write a book about her experiences and begin visiting schools.

After the talk students wrote down a thought, feeling, idea or hope for the future on a piece of paper which will be displayed in a collaborative art piece at King Solomon.

Accompanied by her daughter Hephzibah Rudofsky, 49, Mrs Kohn gives presentations at schools across the country. This was her second visit to King Solomon.

After her visit she said: “I very much enjoyed coming back to the school and meeting such a wonderful group of teachers and students from all different backgrounds.

“It's always rewarding to conduct these sessions, but particularly so when the questions are so searching and intelligent.

“I only hope that we are making some small strides towards preventing such atrocities from happening again through the education of the younger generation.”