Biography
Herbert Goldschmidt is the son of Sally and Sophie (Salamon) Goldschmidt. He was born July 28, 1926 in Bremen. He had two sisters: Lotte and Inge. In the early 1930s his parents divorced. Herbert's father was arrested by the Gestapo in 1936, and after his release, he immigrated to South Africa with his new wife. Herbert's mother ran a Jewish luncheon club to support the family until neighbors objected that the visitors were dirtying the stairwell. Shortly after Kristallnacht, Herbert's older sister Lotte left for South Africa to join her father. At this time the Bremen Jewish community informed the family that it was possible for Herbert and Inge to join a Kindertransport to England. Sophie was reluctant but ultimately decided to let Herbert go and keep Inge with her. Herbert left for England on November 30, 1938. A few months later Herbert received a cable from his father offering him passage to South Africa. Herbert left England for Johannesburg on February 2, 1939. Herbert's mother and sister were later deported to Minsk, where they perished. After the war Herbert met Ursel Glasfeld, who had also escaped Germany on a Kindertransport. They were married in 1951.
Ursel Glasfeld is the daughter of Erich and Gertrud Glasfeld. She was born August 27, 1924 in Berlin. Ursel left for England on one of the last Kindertransports on August 22, 1939. Her parents were subsequently deported to Theresienstadt, where her father died. Her mother perished in Auschwitz. In England Ursel trained as a childcare worker before going on to nursing school. After the war, she went to stay with an aunt in South Africa and there met Herbert Goldschmidt.
