Sadly, in a
years time, the business failed and the family moved to Paris where they
found they were little better off than in Germany and once again Bob ceased
attendance at school. A charitable organisation took Bob to Switzerland for a
break that extended to six months before returning him to Paris.
The family next moved to Milan and
things took a turn for the better. The school was very good, the people were
good they did not recognise that “Jews were different”. Sadly Bob was just
mastering his third language when father died and his mother was left to bring
up the family on her own. Mussolini now started persecuting the Jews as he
grew ever closer to Hitler and Bob’s brother started up gathering intelligence
on Mussolini’s air strength which brought him to the attention of the
authorities.
Travel restrictions and passport controls meant that Milan became a prison until Bob got a Polish passport and set out to travel north. In Milan he had met up with an Englishman who offered employment to those who could travel and Bob found out he could not go through France but the Germans welcomed him since his passport was not franked with “J”. Thus, money less, he traveled all the way to Holland where he boarded the ferry and eventually arrived at Liverpool St. Fifteen years old and frightened, speaking no English, he contacted his benefactor who sent his car and chaffeur to pick him up and take him to Hampstead Heath until he got a job on a chicken farm.
Then came the Army who sent him as a
foreign national to the Pioneer Corps where he became a drill Sergeant. As
Europe was invaded so the need for interpretators became urgent and Bob
was sent to the Intelligence Corps interrogating prisoners in the “London Cage”.
Then in was on to Germany where he was involved in interrogating the ranking
prisoners who had run Buchenwald and other concentration camps.
He returned to this country did not
like London and eventually moved to Scotland where, as he said “I met a young
girl and found the love of my life and here I am !”
Bob Kustner
Our guest speaker for September is of
average appearance and you would not sense the story that lies behind his
appearance today.
Born into a German / Jewish his early
years were modestly comfortable and he went to school as a child where he
received nothing but encouragement and enjoyed his early years. Times
changed when Hitler came to power, the teachers changed and eventually Jewish
children were taken out of school where they were not wanted.
With the continuing repression on
Jewish businesses Bob’s father moved the family to France to a village close to
Strasbourg where he started up in business and Bob joined the local school
learning to speak French.
