Welcome to the Leo Baeck Institute London’s research page. We have a long history of supporting academic research, including PhD projects, postdoctoral fellowships, and research fellowships. Our research also includes web-based projects, such as our Snapshots series. This page provides information on our current and past research activities.
This archive preserves the oral history of a life entirely shaped by the shifting borders of 20th-century Europe. Born to a family caught directly in the crosshairs of geopolitical upheaval, this is the account of a young boy who was forced to flee his home in the Sudetenland, arriving in the United Kingdom with no English, no money, and a passport stamped with Nazi insignia. Through these selected excerpts, we trace the journey of a child navigating displacement, wartime Britain, and the complex architecture of survival, language, and memory. His reflections offer a profound window into what it means to be uprooted by history – and the enduring temperament required to look toward the next horizon.
1. The Escape via Train
Reflecting on his father’s harrowing rail journey out of Germany, and the razor-thin margin of safety at the border checkpoint.
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