QE boys and staff heard the first-hand account of a Jewish boy who escaped Nazi Germany, never to see his parents again.
Hermann Hirschberger, who was born in Germany, spoke movingly of the discrimination and bullying he suffered as a Jew in the Third Reich. He told the story of his leaving his parents to come to Britain: they were taken to Auschwitz shortly afterwards, where they both died.
“Mr Hirschberger explained the life he had to lead under Nazi rule in Germany in fascinating detail and he gave the boys a real idea of what it was to grow up under such a dictatorship,” said History teacher Helen MacGregor, who organised the visit with the Holocaust Educational Trust.
Born in 1927, he described in detail the effect of the introduction of the anti-semitic Nuremberg laws. He was regularly beaten by his classmates at primary school; when he and the only other Jewish boy in the school went to the Headmaster to complain about their treatment, they were told it was what they deserved as they were Jewish. He was later forced to leave and had to go to a special Jewish school.
“He saw at first hand the events of Kristallnacht (the night of broken glass), a pogrom led by SA stormtroopers, during which many synagogues and Jewish business were attacked,” said Miss MacGregor.
He also described how he and his brother were held against a wall with revolvers to their heads by two SA officers who had come to the family flat to look for his father.
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It was after that traumatic event that his parents decided to send their children away through the Kindertransport rescue scheme, which brought 10,000 children to the UK. Mr Hirschberger praised the British Government and spoke with great warmth of the people who were responsible for the scheme, under which families and institutions in Britain paid £50 – a substantial sum at that time – in order for a child to be taken out of Nazi-occupied Europe and sent to stay with them in Britain.
When it was time to go, he had to say goodbye to his mother at the train station; the last time he saw her. His father journeyed with the two boys to Hamburg and Mr Hirschberger remembers the last journey with his father in minute detail. He travelled to Britain by boat with his brother and was sent to Margate. His parents were sent to Auschwitz soon after.
“The boys were very appreciative that Mr Hirschberger was willing to recount such harrowing events so vividly. Talks such as this very much bring history to life and help the boys to have a greater understanding that topics they study involved individual people,” concluded Miss MacGregor.