Dr Kurt Simon

Interview Summary

Kurt was born in Eisenstadt, Austria in 1933. After being forced to leave, his family moved to Vienna where Kurt witnessed the burning of Torah Scrolls from his apartment window on Kristallnacht. Three months after his older brother was sent to England on the Kindertransport, Kurt and his parents were able to join him on a work permit. Kurt’s qualified as a GP and then went on to specialise as an anaesthetist. When he moved with his wife and children to Israel, he served as medic in the Beirut and Lebanon wars. Kurt was appointed head of department in an Israeli hospital and later elected President of the Israeli Society of Anaesthesia. (Foster Family, B’nai B’rith, Cowper Street School – Leeds, City of Leeds High School, Roundhay High School, Leeds School of Medicine, VE Celebrations, Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Synagogue – Leeds, St James’s Hospital – Leeds, Preston Royal Infirmary, Rambam Hospital Haifa, Western Galilee Medical Centre)