A CONCENTRATION camp survivor has spoken out about his incredible story ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day.

Sam Gontarz, originally from Lodz in Poland, survived five Nazi camps during the Second World War before heading to Manchester in July 1947.

Mr Gontarz, aged 86, also lost his entire family in the genocide, where six million Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime.

He was just nine years old when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939 and recalls the day the bombs started to drop and was sent home from school, ending his education.

The grandfather-of-four, who lives in Whitefield, said: "After a couple of weeks the Gestapo ordered everyone to line up in the yard of their block. Around a dozen people were picked out - young and old - and shot dead. Everybody started screaming but there was nowhere to run."

Mr Gontarz was subjected to five different camps, including Auschwitz, Melk and Mathausen, and was one of only 270 people out of thousands to survive the Death March.

He said: "Conditions at Mathausen were worse than ever. The camp had no sleeping facilities, no sanitation. I remember just hunger, terror, harassment and the smell of death but felt I had to survive to tell the world what had happened."

Mr Gontarz moved to Manchester where he worked in a bakery before working in his own handbag industry, and in 1958 he married wife Sheila and had two sons.

He spoke about his experiences as part of a project being run by The Fed in Prestwich, jointly with the Association of Jewish Refugees.

The "My Voice" project picks up the stories of survivors after the Holocaust and records how they went on, from nothing, to build marry, have families and build successful lives.

Mr Gontarz added: "We don't know how long we have — weeks, months or years and there's got to be someone to take over the job of telling our stories."

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on Wednesday.