Longfordians remember 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation

Little was known of prisoner 151418. Prisoner 151418 was 17 years of age when Poland was occupied. Just because he had over the allotted amount of margarine in his possession when searched he was sent to prison.

Prisoner 151418, half Polish, half German, was sentenced to six-months and then a further 18 months for lying in court by saying he could not speak German.

After serving his two years he was “set free” only to be transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. When the Russians closed in prisoner 151418 along with the other prisoners were moved in the infamous cattle trains to a new prison Bergen Belsen.

During April 1945 and after a time in Bergen Belsen food was so scarce that prisoner 151418 and his friends decided to raid the kitchen. They were caught, and he was shot by an SS man.

Following the single shot, he dropped to the floor and the SS man believed the prisoner was dead, but he was wrong. After regaining consciousness, he heard commotion and singing outside and learned that he and his fellow prisoners were all liberated.

Prisoner 151418 was sent for rehabilitation in Sweden where he met his future wife. They headed off for Canada but ended up in Ireland where they stayed. Prisoner 151418 and his wife had four daughters and one son.

This man, prisoner 151418, showed tremendous courage and strength of mind to survive such a horrendous time in the life of his and his fellow prisoners.

In the words of Leondros Philiotis, grandson of prisoner 151418 and the writer of a much lengthier piece from which my synopsis is taken. This man was prisoner 151418.

This man is a symbol of hope
This man is a symbol of the human spirit
This man is the symbol of the suffering endured by so many
This man is Marian Hoedt.
This man is my grandfather

You may ask why I am writing this and its significance.

In the above piece, I mentioned that Marian Hoedt had four daughters and one son and one of his daughters is Caroline McEvoy that reared her family, Simon, Sharon, Stephanie and Mary on the Green. Marian passed away in 2003.

I would like to thank Caroline for granting me permission to write this piece on her father.