Harry was born in Vienna in August 1930. He lived in an apartment in the city with his parents, Frank and Anni and was an only child. His father worked in a large department store as the manager of their men’s wear department. They lived a normal life in a lovely city of parks, trams and coffee houses like most middle-class Jewish families. They did not pay much attention to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany, believing that such an extremist could not last.
When Harry was 4 he was ill with whooping cough and after recovering, as a treat his father took him on a Danube steamer trip. They met a couple from Britain and made friends, and on their return to Britain they wrote his father a letter which would prove important later.
On the 12th March 1938 Hitler and the Nazis were welcomed into Austria. Despite this, Harry remained at his Jewish school. His father finally had to leave work but, as he had retained his Czech nationality, the family could leave Vienna and go to Czechoslovakia. They decided to try and make a new start in Brno.
Once the family were settled in Czechoslovakia, they again found themselves under Nazi occupation in 1939, but it was possible to leave the country legally with the right mass of paperwork. Harry’s father managed to get all the documents they needed except an affidavit from someone in the country to which they were going, taking full financial responsibility for them. In May 1939 however, Harry’s family arrived in Britain with 30 shillings, no knowledge of the English language and a huge debt of gratitude to the Joneses (the couple they had met on the Danube steamer) who sent the vital affidavit and shared their home with the family for the next year.
Harry’s Omama (grandma) and her daughter Elsa were deported to Terezín in August 1942. From there, Elsa was deported to Auschwitz where she was murdered in October 1944.
Harry’s father had joined the Free Czechoslovak Army in Britain and his unit followed the invasion forces into Europe and were instrumental in liberating parts of their own country. He tried to find out about family that could not leave Vienna but discovered nothing. He did manage to get to the liberated Terezín and amazingly found his mother, Harry’s Omama; she was in very poor health, aged 77 but alive. He was able to bring her back to live with family in Manchester
Harry lives in Southport with his wife Mary. Harry has three children and six grandchildren.