Eva Clarke, who was born in a concentration camp, was guest speaker at an open meeting at Royal Wootton Bassett Academy last Wednesday.

She talked of her mother’s experiences of the Holocaust, in which many members of her family were murdered.

Eva was born in a cart after her mother, weighing only five stone, arrived at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria after a three-week rail journey with no food.

The kindness of a farmer who offered some milk to her probably saved her life and that of Eva.

Within days, American Forces liberated Eva, who weighed three pounds at birth, with her mother and other surviving captives. They returned to Prague, found an aunt still alive, and stayed for three days, getting rid of lice and scabies. Eva’s mother, whose husband was killed by the Nazis, found refuge in Britain and built a new life in Cardiff. She married a Jewish man who had served in the RAF and became a good step-father to Eva.

Eva’s father-in-law, Kenneth Clarke, was a wartime navigator in Bomber Command. A final photo showed Eva with her family, including two sons and three grandchildren.

The evening ended with the presentation of a letter and photos from the academy.