Kathy and her granny were allowed to leave Hungary and decided to emigrate to Israel. Kathy wanted to remain in Hungary to finish her education but that was not possible. In the beginning, aged 16 she worked in a factory, which she hated. She moved to live on a Kibbutz, which she loved from the … Read more
KH: I grew up in Budapest with my granny and my aunt. At the age of sixteen my granny, my aunt and I were allowed to leave the country and go to Israel where I lived until I came to Scotland when I was…I think thirty-five when I arrived in Scotland. INT: So tell me a … Read more
Kathy was one of the very few to have survived the Munkacs Ghetto as tragically, all the inhabitants, including her mother and baby sister were sent to Auschwitz. She talks more about her mother in the section under Reflection. KH: I was born towards the end of 1942 in what turned out to be several countries. … Read more
Kathy was born in 1942, her father was taken away by the Nazis when she was just one year old. Initially, she was sent to the Munkacs Ghetto with her mother and baby sister. Kathy explains that even as a child she knew it was not a good idea to let people know she was … Read more
INT: Can I ask you when you came here, did people know about your background? Did they know about your German background and your Jewish background and what brought you to Britain in the first place? KR: Which people? INT: The people you met here in Dundee, the local people who became your friends and … Read more
INT: And then after the war, what happened after the war? Did you go on to university, did you get a job? PR: You had to do war work during the war. KR: Yes, I did some war work, now what was it, yes, because of my ability to speak German, the Ministry of Economic … Read more
INT: So when you were evacuated, did you all stay in a big school together or did you stay with people? KR: No, we were, my whole class were loaded into a lorry and … PR: You went by train and then lorry. KR: Pardon? PR: You went by train and then from the station, … Read more
INT: Tell us about coming to Britain then, how did you feel about your arrival in a strange country, did you have any English or did your sister speak any English? KR: I knew porridge and good morning and thank you and one or two other little expressions, but the point was that we, it … Read more
INT: After that did your parents decide that they had to leave or you had to leave, what happened then KR: Well, they didn’t, yes they decided then, that my uncle in America who had been pleading for them to come and send us, [they] decided that we had to go, my sister and I. … Read more
INT: Today is the 26 February 2015 and I’m here to interview Karola Regent, good afternoon Karola. Could I begin by asking you when you born and where were you born? KR: I was born in Düsseldorf on the 5 December 1925. INT: And what was your name at birth? KR: Well, my surname was … Read more