Professor Subak Sharpe was born in Vienna. He came on the Kindertransport. He was originally placed as a farmer’s boy because he was regarded as not worth educating but ran away to the army. After the war he studied genetics and later switched to virology. He became director of the Institute of Virology in Glasgow… Continue Reading John Subak Sharpe
John Stewart MacKay, a Scottish soldier who married a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, had a truly remarkable life. He describes his army experiences as a commando in great detail including the attack on Tobruk. Then he explains how he and his friend escaped from an Italian prisoner of war camp and speaks of the Italian families… Continue Reading John Mackay
John was a Scottish Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery who was haunted by his experience of being part of the British Forces which entered Belsen Concentration Camp in April 1945. In his memoir he describes the horrors he saw. The situation was chaotic. Hundreds of Jewish internees were dying every day and over 10,000 bodies… Continue Reading John J Crosbie
Joe was born in France in 1937 to Polish parents. After the Nazis invaded France in 1940, his father, who was in the Polish army, managed to take his family to safety in Britain. He became an engineer and later worked as a tour manager taking groups to Communist countries. Read More
Born in Berlin, Isi describes watching the synagogue adjacent to his school burning on Kristallnacht, while a crowd of local people stood by enjoying what was happening. He reached Scotland in 1939, first living in Hardgate and then in a hostel in Skelmorlie. He explains how he became a world renowned architect and reflects on… Continue Reading Isi Metzstein
“… I will never, never forget waving goodbye to my parents when I was on the train and they were on the platform running along.” In 1939, Ingrid came to Britain on the Kindertransport from Germany. Her parents did manage to escape and the family were reunited in Scotland. She married Henry (see his testimony)… Continue Reading Ingrid Wuga
Ike, born in Hamburg, came from a very religious family. He remembered little of his journey to Britain on the Kindertransport. Once in the UK he quickly integrated. He describes his experiences in the Queen’s Scouts and in National Service. Ike became an academic specialising in bacterial and viral genetics. He fulfilled a life’s ambition… Continue Reading Ike Gibson
Henry grew up in Nuremberg and trained as a chef. He came to Scotland on the Kindertransport but due to a misunderstanding he was interned as a possible spy on the Isle of Man at age 16. He became the leading chef in the Glasgow Jewish community and received the MBE for work with disabled… Continue Reading Henry Wuga
Halina was born into a politically active family in Warsaw in 1929. Her father was a Bundist and imprisoned by the Tsar along with Trotsky’s wife. Her family escaped to Russia and ended up in Siberia in extreme conditions. After the war she came to Glasgow and trained as a science teacher but changed to… Continue Reading Halina Moss
Gretl was born in Vienna and had a happy childhood until the Nazis came. She was sponsored by the Quakers to come on the Kindertransport to England, where her sister was working as a domestic. She originally stayed in Coventry but was evacuated several times because of the Blitz. She became an entomologist and moved… Continue Reading Gretl Shapiro
