The Ticket Collector from Belarus, An evening talk by Mike Anderson at 6.30pm on Thursday 25th May 2023
The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum In The Kincaid Gallery, Winchester
The UK's only war crimes trial took place in 1999 and had it origins in the horrors of the Holocaust. The Ticket Collector from Belarus tells the remarkable story of two interwoven journeys. Ben-Zion Blustein and Andrei Sawoniuk were childhood friends in 1930 Domachevo, a holiday and health resort in what is now called Belarus. During the events that followed the Nazi invasion in 1941, they became the bitterest of enemies. After the war, Ben-Zion made his way to Israel and 'Andrusha the Bastard' to England where he found work as a British Rail ticket collector. They next confronted each other at the Old Bailey, over half a century later, where one was the prosecution witness, and the other accused of multiple murders. Could any witness statement be trusted so long after the event? Was Andrusha a brutal killer, a hapless pawn, or a scapegoat.
Mike Anderson was gripped by the story and so began his quest to find the truth about this astonishing case and the people at its heart. Mike is a senior employee of one of the worlds oldest banks. He considers himself fortunate to have stumbled across this extraordinary true story and has been relentless in his pursuit of the tale of Britain's only war crimes prosection.
"brilliantly gripping mix of true crime and narrative history" (The Week, Jan 2022)
Tickets for the talk are £20.00 each, or £17.50 for Friends of The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum. They can be purchased from the Museum's online shop via the link below or over the phone by calling the Museum on - 01962 828549 Monday -Friday between 10am and 4pm.
The talk starts at 6.30pm with doors opening at 5.45pm