The Academy players were introduced to Marcel by David Kaye, a member of the Chelsea Jewish Supporters’ Group, who explained the importance of young people learning about the Holocaust.

‘By teaching what happened through Holocaust Memorial Day, it’s saying to people that when you see prejudice towards people who are minorities, don’t stand by, don’t say nothing, because if you don’t say something, the consequences can lead to what happened between 1939 and 1945,’ he said.

Our young players then heard Marcel’s powerful story of how he was one of few lucky children to escape from the persecution by the Nazis.

Marcel, who is 85 years old, is a Holocaust survivor born in Paris to Austrian parents in 1939. His parents fled to Paris in 1938 after the Anschluss, Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria.

His father was arrested in 1941 by the French Police and taken to Auschwitz from where he sadly never returned. Shortly after, Marcel, his brother and mother went into hiding but his mother fell ill and he and his brother were split up and hidden by different families. Marcel was taken in by sisters Olga and Esther Masoli. He spoke fondly of them, remarking that he ‘would not be here now without their bravery’.

Marcel and his brother were reunited with their mother shortly after the end of the war. Unfortunately, she became unable to look after them and they were sent to Manchester where they lived with their aunt.

Speaking after the talk, David Kaye said, ‘It was a pleasure speaking to such an interested and courteous class of young people and to speculate that these potential future stars, who may perhaps become role models to my grandchildren’s children, will take with them the words they heard today.’

In partnership with Jewish News, former Chelsea Women’s captain Katie Chapman sat down with Janine Webber, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor, to hear about her experiences in Nazi-occupied Poland and her compelling anti-discrimination message.

Talking about her childhood, Janine said: ‘I was born in Eastern Poland in Lwow (now Lviv, Ukraine). My first experience of meeting the German Police was when they decided to take Jewish men, supposedly to take them to a camp. They knocked at our door and my father jumped from a second-floor balcony to the first floor. The Gestapo came in but they didn’t find my father and they left. That was my first experience of the Nazis. I couldn’t understand why they wanted to come and take away my father. My mother said it was because we are Jewish.’

As the war continued, Jewish families across occupied territories lived in constant fear of the Nazis. Telling the tragic story of what happened to her family Janine explained: ‘My parents dug a hole under the wardrobe and when we heard the Gestapo coming, my mother, brother and I hid in that hole. But it was too small for my father and my grandmother, so they hid in the loft but they found them.

‘When we came out I wanted to know what happened and my mother said that they were shot. With my brother, unfortunately a Polish family betrayed us, they called in the Gestapo and they killed him. I remember seeing their boots, the shiny black boots. For many years I had a nightmare of the boots, coming to get me.’

Janine survived the war by hiding in the countryside and then in an underground bunker in Lwow, before ultimately taking on a false identity as a Polish orphan. Her mother sadly died of typhoid during the war and after its conclusion she moved to Paris with her aunt. In 1956 she came to England, where she met her husband and has lived in London ever since.

Outlining why her story is so important, Janine said: ‘I speak so that people know what happened, a lot of people have no idea what happened, and to remember my family. Also, in the hope that it never happens again. I have children and grandchildren, I want them to live freely, I don’t want them to be persecuted, that for me is what never again means.

‘I want people to stand up to hate. Not to allow prejudice, I feel it is very important to respect minorities and to help people if need be. Especially, to feel that we are all human beings, we are not different, we all have the same brain and blood, it is very important to be tolerant and not to hate people because they have a different religion or colour of their skin.’

After listening to Janine’s moving story, Katie said: ‘It's a really powerful message to send out to young people. I am a mother and it is so important for young people to hear these stories and learn. We all have a heart and we all can be kind. You have experienced it personally, which is more powerful than anything, so what you are doing is a great thing.’

At our core, Chelsea FC and Chelsea Foundation support inclusion for all. We openly welcome those from all faiths and backgrounds to our club and we take great pride in serving our diverse and vibrant community.

Aligned with this, a remarkable rescue event and the telling of its story was another centrepiece of the club’s commemoration on Holocaust Memorial Day.

Again in partnership with our Jewish Supporters’ Group, today’s exhibition, detailing the extraordinary Kitchener Camp rescue of 1939, was held in the Tea Bar at Stamford Bridge and was provided by The Wiener Holocaust Library.

During November 1938, up to 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and placed in concentration camps across Germany, where they faced starvation and torture in inhumane conditions. After several months, these men were released on the condition they left Germany immediately, however, there was one issue: no country was willing to provide them refuge. That is, until Jewish aid groups convinced the British government to provide them refuge in a disused World War I base on the coast of Kent.

The Kitchener Camp exhibition documented the rescue of these men with their stories told through original documents and archives. Members of both the Chelsea Jewish Supporters’ Group and the Holocaust Educational Trust were in attendance to discuss the exhibition with visitors.

‘Today was a moving and informative day for Chelsea fans, whilst also providing a great example of the club’s No To Hate campaign, as we look to progress with this important work in the future,’ said Chelsea FC director Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE.

Stephen Nelken, chair of the Jewish Supporters’ Group, added: ‘We are very thankful to Chelsea FC for hosting our Holocaust Memorial Day event Leave to Land: The Kitchener Camp Rescue, provided by the Wiener Library.

‘We are delighted with the turnout from both CFC staff and fans alike, and look forward to building on the great relationship we have fostered into the future.’