Ofner family papers

Peter Ofner was born in 1923 in Berlin, Germany, to Curt (Kurt) and Betzi (nee Leon) Ofner. Curt was a veteran of the German Army in World War and worked as a high school teacher at one of Berlin's oldest municipal schools. In 1935, he was forced to resign and took a position of Holdheim high school, established for Jewish students. On Kristallnacht, Curt was arrested and spent a month in Sachsenhausen. Upon his release, he was motivated to escape to safety. Curt was able to secure passage for Peter, an only child, on a Kindertransport to Sweden, where he was cared for by members of the Jewish community of Stockholm (Mosaiska Foersamlingen). Peter remained in Sweden until 1940, when he reunited with his parents, who had managed to emigrate to Great Britain. Curt became a teacher at St. Bees secondary school, where Peter enrolled as a student. After his graduation, Peter attended the University of London, eventually earning a PhD in organic chemistry in 1950. He became a biomedical research scientist and associate professor of pharmacology and of urology at Tufts University School of medicine and the long-time director of the Steroid Biochemistry Laboratory at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Boston. He passed away on May 24, 2013.