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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
Alice Malcolm was born in Vienna. She witnessed the rise of the Nazis in Austria as early as 1936, when her mother left her to go to England. She escaped to England and served as a kitchen maid and general help in a grand country house. She ended up in Scotland and became a nurse. … Read more
Translation from Germany to English below: A Child from Berlin Flies to New York Yesterday morning at 11.50, the American plane “Flagship Amsterdam” took off from Tempelhof on its first flight back to New York. Among the passengers was the well-known American journalist Louis P Lochner. This time he is bringing not only the most … Read more
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. … Read more
INT: We usually finish by asking what you would say were the high points and the low points in your life. Would you like to finish off by telling us that? JM: The high points of my life…. I got the MBE, which is something. INT: For your war work? JM: Not for my war … Read more
INT: We usually finish by asking what you would say were the high points and the low points in your life. Would you like to finish off by telling us that? JM: The high points of my life…. I got the MBE, which is something. INT: For your war work? JM: Not for my war … Read more