24 Facts About Denis Avey

Denis Avey was a British veteran of the Second World War who was held as a prisoner of war at E715, a subcamp of Auschwitz.

Denis Avey joined the army in 1939 at the age of 20, and fought in the desert campaigns of North Africa in the 7th Armoured Division,.

Denis Avey was captured by the Germans while attacking Erwin Rommel's forces near Tobruk, Libya, and saw his best friend killed next to him.

Denis Avey obtained cigarettes from Ernst's sister, who had escaped from Germany to Britain on a Kindertransport before the war.

Denis Avey secretly passed the cigarettes to Ernst who used them as currency to help him survive.

Denis Avey said that he twice exchanged uniforms with a Jewish inmate to smuggle himself into the inmate's camp in order to witness for himself the treatment of Jews, which he could see was completely different from the treatment of British POWs.

Denis Avey explained to The Daily Telegraph that he was the type that needed to see things for himself:.

Denis Avey escaped during the "death marches" in April 1945 which followed the Nazis' evacuation of Auschwitz.

The cause of the beating, Denis Avey said, came when he cursed an SS officer who was beating a Jew in the camp.

Denis Avey kept the traumatic events about his wartime past a complete secret from everyone, including his first and second wives, along with his daughter.

Denis Avey first began disclosing these events when invited to appear on the BBC to talk about war pensions.

Denis Avey's memories began tumbling out, shocking the television hosts who were unable to believe what they were hearing.

Denis Avey had escaped to England before war broke out in 1939.

Years later, Susanne learned that her brother had survived, in part thanks to Denis Avey, and had lived in America with his new family until his death.

Denis Avey married twice and pursued a career in engineering, which culminated in him building a factory near Newcastle.

Denis Avey stated that he had exchanged uniforms with a bunkmate of Ernst and entered Birkenau in the company of Ernst.

Denis Avey got details about events inside Birkenau which he sent home to his mother and sister in code.

Denis Avey's mother sent two letters regarding this to the War Office but never received a reply.

Denis Avey was interviewed on BBC Radio Derby in 2003.

In 2005 the Daily Mirror reported that Denis Avey claimed to have swapped uniforms with Ernst and entered Birkenau where he witnessed prisoners being sent to the gas chambers.

Denis Avey was then received by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and in 2010 he was named a British Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government for having saved Ernst's life.

Denis Avey's publisher accepted that in his interview with Smith, Denis Avey's recollections could be confused, but this was understandable given the stress suffered and that he was only then beginning to unburden himself after so many decades of silence.

In November 2014 Denis Avey was reported as too ill to respond to further enquiries.

Denis Avey died on 16 July 2015 at Newholme Hospital in Bakewell, Derbyshire.