The Holocaust Educational Trust is saddened to hear of the passing of our dear friend, Holocaust survivor Freddy Berdach BEM.
Freddy was born in Vienna and witnessed the Anschluss of Austria in 1938. He recalled that soon after the Anschluss, antisemitism escalated, and Jewish shops and businesses were attacked. He faced threats and was made to leave school because he was Jewish. Freddy’s family’s flat was confiscated, and they were made to sign over all their possessions and had to declare that they had left Austria of their own free will. In December 1938 they arrived in Britain via Zurich. Freddy later served in the RAF during the Korean War. He married in 1965 and he and his wife Vanda had 3 daughters. May his memory be a blessing.
Freddy Berdach BEM 1930 – 2025
Freddy Berdach BEM was born in Vienna in 1930 to parents Walter and Ella. Freddy’s sister Renee died at the age of six. His family were not religious, and he was not raised in an observant home.
Following the Anschluss in March 1938, Freddy remembers that things changed overnight. He was thrown out of school for being Jewish and the Jewish community began to live in fear. Freddy remembers the shouting of ‘death to the Jews’ in the streets and the influx of soldiers in brown shirts. Freddy also remembers the looting of Jewish shops and the mistreatment of some members of the Jewish community. People also helped themselves to Jewish property and goods. After a few days, Jewish men and women were ordered to scrub the streets of Vienna on their hands and knees, in front of their new occupiers. As the days went on, Freddy remembers that Jewish shops were daubed with white paint and people were vehemently discouraged from shopping in them. Jews were forbidden to hold property, to hold certain professions, to visit restaurants and other places and were not allowed to own radios or typewriters. Jews were also routinely beaten up and mistreated. Jews and political opponents were arrested.
In April 1938, the family were ordered to leave their flat and had to go and live with Freddy’s grandparents, Richard and Elisabeth. Freddy’s father Walter tried to obtain some visas for his family in Switzerland and he managed to reach Zurich where he had to register as a refugee. He was granted the visas, but the family had to declare that they had left Austria ‘of their own free will.’ Freddy and his mother left the country in September 1938.
After briefly living with his father and mother in Zurich, Freddy left for England in December 1938. Freddy and his mother lived first in a boarding house in Hampstead but when his mother had to work as a domestic helper, Freddy was sent to live with a foster family in Kent which returned him as ‘unsuitable.’ After this, Freddy lived with eight different families in two years. He kept in touch with his mother but was only able to see her once, at Christmas. He was not able to go to school.
Freddy’s father Walter arrived in Britain in August 1939 and joined the British Army. He was injured and then honourably discharged in 1942. The family lived in Taunton, Somerset where Freddy went to a convent school. Here he was bullied for being Jewish. The family moved to London where Freddy attended a grammar school. After this, he applied to do an engineering course at Kings College London, however, as National Service was compulsory, Freddy was enlisted in the RAF during the Korean War and he did not get to attend university.
At Kingsbury Synagogue youth club Freddy met his future wife Vanda and they married in 1955. The couple were very involved in charitable causes and went on to have 3 daughters, 6 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.