Holocaust Memorial Day: ‘They told me of Auschwitz, it was beyond human description’ Oskar Findling
Oskar Findling, 89, of, Golders Green Road, Golders Green, lost 70 members of his family after escaping Germany.
“The two years before I left Germany were miserable.
“I tried to persuade my family to leave but my father didn’t push hard enough. He said that in Germany at least he had an income and that if he went abroad he would be a refugee – that is why he didn’t push to leave.
“But I left Germany on the Kindertransport when I was 16, in 1939.
“We were taken to London and separated into three groups. The children under 10 were sent to live with families, those between 10 and 15 were put in hostels.
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“At first they didn’t know what to do with me, but then I got in touch with a Rabbi who found me a hostel in Manchester.
“I worked for a couple of years and joined the army in 1944, eventually working as an interpreter in Hamburg
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“In Hamburg there was a Jewish community and club. Most of the people who came to the club were people who had been in the camps.
“They told me of Auschwitz and the burnings there. It was beyond human description.
“None of my family survived – I lost 70 members of my family. They all perished.”
