Tomi Komoly

Tomi was born into a Hungarian Jewish middle class family in Budapest, where his paternal grandfather and uncle were early Zionist leaders. He survived the Holocaust in hiding, losing his father and most members of his family. After the war he endured communist schooling, and in 1956 escaped Hungary after three attempts, eventually reaching Britain as a refugee. He went on to study engineering on a scholarship and later built a long international career with ICI, travelling to more than fifty countries. Tomi married Gill in 1966, and they have two daughters and seven grandchildren in New Jersey and Sydney. Since 2016 he has shared his Holocaust testimony through the Holocaust Educational Trust, speaking to more than 27,000 people across schools, companies, government departments, synagogues, prisons, and national events. He received the British Empire Medal in 2020 for his contribution to Holocaust education. He continues to speak for HET and the Northern Holocaust Educational Group, and takes part in annual civic commemorations. Apart from his book about his uncle Ottó he also published books about laboratory deign and Hungarian desserts.