The boys who lived

My father, Ted Lowy, celebrated two birthdays. The first was the day he was born as an adored child of two loving parents in Poland. His second “birthday” marks the day he was liberated by the US army from Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. The date was April 11, 1945. The Holocaust had claimed nearly a third of his childhood. He re-entered the world as a 16-year-old orphan.

He shared that birthday with all the survivors of the camp, including a group of about 900 mostly orphaned youths, 65 of whom eventually found their different ways to Australia, most of them fetching up in Melbourne. They became known as the Buchenwald Boys, and for over 60 years they have celebrated their collective liberation birthday with a ball: dancing, singing Yiddish songs, and always drinking a l’chaim – to life!

From the beginning, the balls were flashy affairs, with professional entertainers and everyone dressed to the nines. An invitation from 1953 highlights a guest appearance by a star of the Folies Bergère revue (which was touring Australia at the time), and music by the Continental Orchestra with cabaret singer Ben Gurgel, who was one of the Boys. 

Now, in a belated twist, an exhibition celebrating the ball and the stories of the last of the Boys, is on show at the Buchenwald Memorial in Germany, where visitors to the site of the former camp will be able to view it over the coming year – a symbol that Jewish life has made a resurgence from under its shadow.