THE remarkable story of a boy who escaped from a Nazi-German ghetto and became a fugitive, making his way across wartorn Europe, is told in a new book by his son.

Henry Carr was born in Poland in 1926 and was originally called Chaim Hershman. In 1940 he and his brothers were forced to live in the cramped Lodz Ghetto in German-occupied Poland, with the shadow of being deported to concentration camps hanging over them.

At the age of 13 Henry went out with his 11-year-old brother to steal food for their family. His brother got caught on the barbed wire surrounding the ghetto and when a guard tried to shoot him, Henry killed the guard.

From then on he became a fugitive, fleeing across Europe, first to the Russian border and then hidden in a German troop train to Berlin.

He crossed the border into Vichy, France, concealed in a German jeep, and travelled over the Pyrenees - only to be arrested by Spanish police.

It was there that Henry was saved by a British diplomat and he later found his way to Gibraltar, where he changed his name to Henry Karbowski.

He eventually came to the UK at the age of 17 and became Henry Carr - and then he returned to Germany to fight in the war as a British soldier.

Now Henry's story is told by his eldest son, John Carr, who says he and his four brothers grew up thinking their father was Catholic. It was only as his parents were heading for a divorce that he discovered Henry was in fact Jewish.

Henry married Angela Cassidy in Leeds in 1949 and lived in Headingley until 1964. The family later settled in Holmfirth.

If it hadn't been for his daring escape, and his survival as a fugitive, Henry would have met the terrible fate of thousands of Jewish people living in the Lodz Ghetto, which held Polish Jews and Roma following the German invasion of Poland.

The second-largest ghetto in German-occupied Europe, it became a major industrial centre, manufacturing war supplies for Nazi Germany.

The ghetto was severely cramped; thousands of people were forced into small, disease-ridden living spaces, with very little food, and forced into hard labour. Many of the men, women and children who had been rounded up and sent there were eventually transported to death camps, including Auschwitz.

John's book, called Escape from the Ghetto, is about his father’s incredible story and his survival, against the odds.

“I was determined to record my father’s story,” said John. “He went through so much during the Second World War and none of us had any idea.”

Escape from the Ghetto will be the subject of an online fundraising talk - on Thursday, December 3 at 7.30pm - in aid of Holmfirth Arts Festival.

“It has been a long time coming, but I hope that I’ve done my father’s story justice,” said John, who is married to Baroness Glenys Thornton of Manningham, Bradford-born Labour and Co-operative member of the House of Lords and previously Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health.

The fundraising talk will include a Q&A session with John about his book.

* Tickets cost £5 and all proceeds will go to Holmfirth Arts Festival.

* To book a ticket go to holmfirthartsfestival.co.uk

* Escape from the Ghetto’ is available on Amazon, from Waterstones, via the publisher Golden Hare and at Read Bookshop in Holmfirth.