The Holocaust Educational Trust is deeply saddened to learn of the loss of our dear friend Marc Schatzberger BEM.
Karen Pollock CBE, Chief Executive, Holocaust Educational Trust said:
“Marc came to the UK on the Kindertransport as a young boy. Although he built a happy life in the UK, he later learned that his immediate family were murdered in the Holocaust. In addition to forging a successful career, Marc felt it was important to share his testimony with students, so that the next generation could learn from the past. Through the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Outreach Programme, he spoke in many schools across the north east of England. Marc was a kind and thoughtful man and was adored by the students he met.
He was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education and awareness in 2020.
We will greatly miss Marc and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Marc Schatzberger was born to Jewish parents in Vienna in 1926. In 1938 the Nazi party, marched into Austria. Almost immediately the vicious racism directed against Jews made it increasingly difficult for Jewish families to lead civilised lives. After the riots which became known as Kristallnacht in 1938, Marc’s parents took the heartbreaking decision to send their only child, aged 12½, away to Britain, on a Kindertransport.
In England, Marc was first cared for in a Jewish children’s hostel. Afterwards, he was looked after by an uncle and aunt who had been able to gain entry to Britain as domestic servants. With their aid, and in the company of two cousins, who became surrogate brother and sister to him, he entered the British education system. Tragically, whilst in England Marc received news that his parents and other members of his family had perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
From an early age Marc was keen to become an engineer. In 1947 he gained an Honours Degree in Electrical Engineering at what is now known as the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He married a Viennese Jewish girl, Rosl, with a background similar to his own, and began working as a designer of high tension switchgear. He then joined a large company manufacturing building materials as Assistant Chief Engineer, later becoming Group Chief Engineer and Divisional Technical Director. In retirement he learnt to make violins, and some of the instruments he made are in frequent use by serious musicians.