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Johnny Pekats, 85, an Auschwitz survivor returned for the first time in 70 years. Although he knew he would find it an upsetting experience, he wanted his son Todd to see the concentration camp, so the horror wouldn't be forgotten.

Johnny told Lesley Ashmall he would "say a little prayer" for his mum and siblings who died there:

“I left part of my life here, with my family. It’s two buildings I have really in my mind. This building. The second building, where they took away my mum and my little brother and my little sister. They gassed them there. They killed them the same day I know. Because when they separated us, she went left and I went right, because they told me to,

"I like to stay here and say Kaddish, say a prayer that I couldn’t say it before. For my mum. I want to say it at least before I die, to be at peace with myself. Because at least she deserves that much, at least a little prayer, before I go," said Johnny.

After the camp was liberated, Mr Pekats, who was born in a town called Yasina in the Carpethan mountains, in the former state of Czechoslovakia, moved to Manhattan, New York and became a successful barber.

This clip is originally from 5 live Afternoon Edition on 27 January as part of the coverage to mark 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

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