„Sans Papiers“

This is a Family Chronicle, reflecting the German Jewish experience of the 20th century. Walter Rothschild was born 1890 into an established and prosperous family in Hannover – his father Julius had worked his way up from Dorfjudentum to become a government adviser. Walter studied at German universities, fought for the Kaiser and became a judge – until the world changed again in 1933. Following ‘internal exile’ and maltreatment in Dachau he was able to flee, stateless and increasingly paraplegic, to Switzerland. His son Edgar had been sent abroad for his own safety and arrived in England just before War broke out. Walter's main desire was to stay in contact with his son, whose own adolescent and youthful ambitions were also affected by the conflict and the post-war situation. Discovery of several caches of documents has enabled us to trace a lot of the story – though gaps remain – of our family from Germany to Switzerland and England.