And last week, schoolchildren from all over Bury heard how it was done.

They linked up at the Longfield Suite, Prestwich, for a ceremony to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

Boys from Manchester Mesivta told an audience of several hundred how the yeshiva rescued more than 20 youngsters on the eve of war

Pupil Sruli Portnoy said that the-then yeshiva president Saul Rosenberg was determined to save as many as possible right until the last moment.

In 1938, Manchester Yeshiva, having already taken in more than 40 refugees and facing financial ruin, heard cries of desperation from Czechoslovakia.

Czechs were guaranteed free movement to the UK to take up academic places under a treaty signed by both countries.

But by March the Nazis had marched into the country and soon the window to survival would slam shut.

On March 12, the head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Segal, received 20 letters from Jewish students in Czech town of Bratislava begging for places at the college.

Mesivta pupil Nechemiya Fagleman told the audience about the resolve shown by the headteacher.

He said: "Rabbi Segal, in his historic words, insisted that he and his colleagues would eat bread and salt in order to save the boys' lives."

However, the Bratislava students faced a race against time.

As the German tanks rolled across the country, the British government realised they would only be able to keep their treaty obligations until April.

The yeshiva sent letters accepting the youngsters immediately, reaching them by March 19.

All the boys used the letters to escape to Manchester by the end of the month - days before the new Nazi puppet government of the Slovak Republic renounced the treaty.

Mesivta boys Bobby Lieberman and Harrison Kaufman also took part in retelling the story.

Presentations were given by St Gabriel's Roman Catholic High School and Prestwich Arts College.

Speeches were also made by Bolton's bishop David Gillet and Muslim representative Mirza Hamie.

Mayor Steven Threadgold earlier opened the event by saying that the world would be for ever scarred by the Holocaust.

He added: "The need to educate about the dangers of antisemitism, racism and exploitation is clear."