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Address by Israeli President Shimon Peres to the British Parliament; Shimon Peres address to Parliament SOT - He was saved at the last moment by an Australian chaplain who jumped in between the German firing squad and my father, warning them not to shoot due to the absence of trial. Thankfully, he escaped again. This time with a most unusual partner, Charles Coward – a brave British soldier, nicknamed "The Count of Auschwitz". We later learned from a bestselling book that he and my father found a way to save Jewish victims from the Auschwitz gas chambers. My father and Charlie escaped together and hid in a German farm. Towards the end of the war, my father took a German carriage harnessed to two horses and headed towards the advancing allied forces. He was arrested by American troops. It took a while for his identity to be established. For five years we did not hear from him. When he returned, our family gained a father with a new experience. Later on, "The Count of Auschwitz" visited Israel. It was a moving day for many Israelis but even more so for my family. For us, he was not only the savior of many Jews but also our father's brother-in-arms. My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, My family arrived in Israel when it was still under British mandate. In our pockets were British Palestinian passports. In our hearts the Balfour declaration. The State of Israel began to take shape as Great Britain, under the leadership of Winston Churchill, saved the world from the Nazi threat. It was a time when many countries closed their gates to Holocaust survivors. The nascent Jewish state was alarmed. The urgency of building a Jewish state with open gates to absorb the displaced was crucial. Under the leadership of David Ben Gurion, it became our top priority. An entire nation’s calling.