From Berlin To England And Back: Experience Of A Jewish Berliner (Library Of Holocaust Testimonies)

“”This autobiography tells the story of upheaval and war in Europe, beginning with the First World War, as experienced and seen through the eyes of one individual.”” “”The Prager family connection to Berlin had its roots in the early nineteenth century when the Prussian Edict of 1812 gave Jews equal rights; encouraged by this, the authors great-grandfather moved to Berlin in 1821 and founded a suitcase factory. A great success, this factory was to become accredited to the King of Prussia and, later, the Kaiser.”” Political tolerance proved fragile under the strain of war and economic instability. Within weeks of the marriage of the authors parents in 1920 the Kapp Putsch occurred, and Germany was in the grip of economic and political downturn. At the age of ten, Peter was to witness the advent of Hitler, the rise of the Nazi party, and the growth of open anti-Semitism. At the Grunewald Gymnasium, where he was a pupil, the biology teacher insisted that the young Prager have his head measured in front of the class to prove that Jews were inferior. The survival of Peter and his mother during the Third Reich was only due to his mothers third marriage to Onkel Franz, a gentile; and Peter was sent to England in a kindertransport.