Our late father, Harry Weil, owed his life to Clare Hollingworth (Obituary, 11 January), who was in charge of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia. In 1939, having already escaped from the Nazis, he made his way to Katowice. Our father wrote: “One afternoon I was arrested and locked up with about 100 others in a school building. I knew what was waiting for me. I scribbled a note on a piece of paper, addressed it to Clare Hollingworth at the local consulate and asked to be allowed to go to the toilet. As there was only one ‘gendarme’ in charge of the school room he called the school caretaker to escort me. I managed to give him my note, pointed to the address and ‘swallowed hard’. It worked thanks to this good man! After the longest 45 minutes I have ever lived through two names were called and told they were free to leave. One was mine.”
He eventually arrived at Tilbury, via Gdynia and Gothenburg, with two pence in his pocket, all that was left of the 10 shillings given to him by Clare Hollingworth, and just enough to make his first phone call.
Monica Dobson and Joanna Coates
London
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
