Peter Beschorner Rubinstein held the Association of Jewish Refugees and other synagogue members captive with his profound and moving presentation on the history of his family, in particular his father Hans. Hans was a young Jewish teacher whose school was torched and completely destroyed by the Nazis on Kristallnaght in 1938. Following this he was held in Dachau concentration camp for three months. He was the beneficiary of a large inheritance from his mother who was a member of the Rubenstein family. The Nazis were keen to get their hands on this and through his adoptive German family, traded his life and safe passage to England for this large inheritance, which today would have been worth around £27m.
In England Hans met and got married and Peter was born in 1941. As a young boy he witnessed his father’s life unravelling due to what would today be called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which affected the whole family in a number of different ways.
Peter lives and works in Norwich as a music therapist and ended his poignant story with a rendition of two songs, one of which was at the famous Brahms lullaby which his father used to sing him in German. (see above with photograph of his father in the background).
A book detailing the family history is in preparation. We were delighted to welcome Peter and his wife Sue as well as his daughter Antonella and grandson Cai . Thanks are due to Anthony and Jill Brahams for introducing us to Peter, to Fay and Poppy for a delicious lunch and to the AJR for facilitating the meeting.
Peter with AJR regular Joe Sterling
