Migration MuseumThe Cedar Boys, Waddesdon Manor, 1944

We arrived in Waddesdon on 16 March 1939. The boys were living in a Residential Home for Jewish boys in Frankfurt and attended a Jewish day school where my father, Hugo Steinhardt, taught. After Kristallnacht he was taken to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. My older sister wrote to Lord Rothschild pleading for help. This resulted in the wonderful news of our rescue and my father’s release. James de Rothschild very kindly put the house ‘The Cedars’ at our disposal and we were able to spend some happy years in Waddesdon. The boys were educated at the village school and then at Aylesbury Grammar School. The only sad event was my father’s early death as a result of his illtreatment in the camp.

From left to right, standing
Gert Hermann, changed his name to Geoffrey Hartmann, Emeritius Professor in Yale, USA
Ulrich Stobiecka, now Uri Sella, retired ambassadorial adviser in Tel Aviv, Israel
Otto Decker, retired Director of Plastic Manufacturing Puerto Rico, now lives in Florida
My mother Lilly Steinhardt, died in 1980
Rolf Decker, car mechanic, died recently
Irwin Freilich, changed his name to David Field, last heard of in the USA

Seated
Peter Gorta, last heard of in the USA
Walter Kugelmann, died last year in Chicago
Helmuth Rothschild, changed his name to Harry, settled in El Salvador, was affected by
the earthquake and died soon after
Hans Bodenheimer, emigrated to Israel with Uri Sella, now lives in Netanza
Gunther Grunbaum

100 Images of Migration gallery

The Cedar Boys, Waddesdon Manor, 1944

© Helga Brown