Robert Rinder declares his upcoming documentary Me, My Family and the Holocaust ‘the most profound moment of his life’ during the heartbreaking recount of his family being murdered at the hands of Nazi Germany.
The TV judge retraces his ancestors’ footsteps in the new two-part series, where he’s joined by his mother Angela as they learn about the horrors of what his family went through.
It’s clearly an emotional project for the star, and in a preview clip he’s seen breaking down as he visits a mass grave in Voranava, Belarus.
They also discover other members of his family were murdered within an hour of arriving at a concentration camp.
Speaking to The Mirror, Angela recounts the moment she realises the horror her family endured, and said: ‘Nothing prepared me for what I witnessed and saw there.
‘What would have happened to my family, my grandparents – this is where they got off the train and within 35 minutes they’d have been murdered.
‘I thought the backs of my legs were going to give way.’
Robert also remembered a moment with a 97-year-old who witnessed the killing, and added: ‘What she said landed with infinitely more power if you understood it in the Russian – “mound was moving for several days”.
‘It was without question the most profound moment of my life and I’m certain it always will be.’
The harrowing two-part special also sees Emmerdale star Louisa Clein and her sister Natalie take part in following their family history, with their grandmother becoming part of the Resistances in Amsterdam.
‘There’s a lot that my sister and I discovered that didn’t actually make it into the final edit,’ Louisa said.
‘It was just the most extraordinary gift to be able to meet these people who knew our mother, and knew my grandparents.’
Robert Rinder: My Family, The Holocaust, and Me airs Monday at 9pm on BBC Two.
