Evelyn was born in Leipzig in 1933. Evelyn and her mother were deported to Poland in 1938 but managed to escape to Britain as her father had set up a factory. Her Polish grandparents did not survive. The other grandparents lived in Berlin throughout the war. Her father set up a furrier’s business in Glasgow.… Continue Reading Evelyn Strang
Eva was an apprentice photographer in Budapest but could not be fully trained because she was Jewish. She lived in constant danger of deportation under the Nazis and her mother barely escaped. Eventually they lived in the ghetto, which by chance saved their lives. She then lived in Communist Hungary until her husband, who was… Continue Reading Eva Szirmai
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Esperance describes life there and the challenge being Jewish brought to her family especially after the rise of Hitler. She speaks about the Farhad, the pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad in 1941. She explains what happened to her Iraqi family in 1948 and thereafter, and her later experiences in Britain.
Erna Grace (Rabner) was born in Dortmund, Germany in 1930. Erna came on the Kindertransport when she was only eight years old. She had diphtheria while living in the reception camp in Harwich. She was taken in by Nurse Livingstone and her family In Glasgow with whom she lived with till she married. Sadly, she… Continue Reading Erna Grace
Edith was born in Nordhausen, Germany. She describes what happened when the Gestapo arrived at her home and arrested her father. She speaks of her departure from her family when she joined the Kindertransport and her mother’s failure to escape. She emphasises her love of Britain, her pride in being Jewish and her Christian faith.
Dorrith was born in Kassel, Germany. She witnessed Kristallnacht, when her own home was vandalised, so her parents decided she should go to Britain on the Kindertransport. She describes how she taught herself English by saying everything was “in my pocket” and wrote a children’s book with that name on the experience of being a… Continue Reading Dorrith M. Sim
Dorothea was born in Berlin. Her father was a chemist and was sent to work in Istanbul to escape from Germany. She describes her life in Turkey. Her brother organised support for non-Nazi Germans who were interned during the war in villages by the Turks. Dorothea married on V.E. Day and came to Glasgow, which… Continue Reading Dorothea Brander
Dany Metzstein (Danielle Kahn) was born in Montpellier, France in 1942. Her parents were in hiding and her father was involved with the Maquis. They survived the war in France, but after her father died, Dany had to stay in an orphanage and then a boarding school. She came to live in Motherwell, Scotland with… Continue Reading Dany Metzstein
Bob was born in Chemnitz, Germany, of a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother. He was not brought up Jewish. After his father was sent briefly to a concentration camp, he was sent on the Kindertransport to Scotland. He was brought up by a Scottish family and changed his name to theirs in gratitude. His parents… Continue Reading Bob Mackenzie
Bob was born in Germany into a Polish Jewish family. They moved to France and then Italy after Hitler came to power in 1933. There, Bob helped his brother spy for France. His brother was caught but not Bob. He escaped as a tourist to England where he joined the army and became an interrogator… Continue Reading Bob Kutner