Woman, 80, who lost almost entire family in Holocaust emotional as baby shoes given new life on The Repair Shop

A woman who lost almost her entire family in the Holocaust was almost reduced to tears as the only item she has to remember her parents was given new life.

Wednesday’s episode of The Repair Shop proved emotional for Naama, 80, who came to the team for help restoring a special pair of baby shoes she had as a little girl.

Her parents, originally from Poland, both moved to Palestine – now Tel Aviv – before World War II.

There they met, fell in love and welcomed their daughter together.

Naama told the team how they suffered through difficult times as she was growing up, without much money to their name, and her parents cut holes in her baby shoes for her toes to poke through so that they would last longer.

The family were all alone in the world, she revealed, as their extended family – ‘not only grandparents, but aunts and uncles’ – were all horrifically murdered in the Holocaust.

She and her parents remained safe as their extended family were murdered in the Holocaust (Picture: BBC)

Naama had come to The Repair Shop team for help restoring a very special item (Picture: BBC/ The Repair Shop)

The shoes were carefully restored by the show’s cobbler Dean (Picture: BBC)

After her own parents died, the old and battered pair of shoes became the ‘only tangible object I have of my parents,’ and she wished to hand the priceless item down to her own children and grandchildren.

While she hoped to have the tiny pair of shoes in ‘better condition,’ she was adamant she wanted to keep the cut in the toes, in remembrance of her parents, the times they lived through, and so it would continue to ‘look like the last day she wore them.’

Naama was visibly emotional to see the restored shoes (Picture: BBC/ The Repair Shop)

Viewers were almost as touched as Naama herself, with several declaring they were reduced to tears from the moment they heard the story – never mind the big reveal.

‘OK, so I already know the woman with these shoes and the fix is gonna have me in bits inside 20 minutes,’ one fan wrote.

And, well, they were right.

Naama herself was visibly awed as the restored shoes – retaining the toe cuts – were revealed, admitting: ‘I thought I wouldn’t cry but I’m going to cry.’

The 80-year-old clutched the shoes close to her and admitted she wished her parents were around to see them (Picture: BBC/ The Repair Shop)

‘It fills my heart with happiness,’ she said as she inspected the sentimental item, adding she wished ‘my parents could see them.’

Naama explained her mother came from a ‘tiny village’ in Poland and her family was so impoverished they could not afford shoes, recalling a photograph of her mother as a young girl at school, barefoot while her classmates wore shoes.

‘She was so happy when she could afford to give me my first shoes when I was one year old,’ she said.