Robert Norton: Confirmation for his father that he was exempt from "Reichsfluchtsteuer"
Robert Norton: Hungarian Passport
Robert Norton: Red Cross Letter
Robert Norton: RN 2004
Robert Norton: Photo in the top left corner shows RN at age ca. 1-year old his mother holding him; then
Robert Norton: RN at his eldest son’s
Robert Norton: Grandfather's house in Teplitz (present day Czech Republic)
Robert Norton
Robert Norton was born Neubauer in 1932, in Teplitz-Schönau (Teplice), Czech Republic
Born: 1932
Place of Birth: Teplice
Arrived in Britain: 01/06/1939
Interview Number: 52 (N)
Experiences: Came With Parents or Close Family
Interview Summary
Robert Norton was born Neubauer in 1932, in Teplitz-Schönau (Teplice), Czech Republic. His father was affluent, owned his own knitwear factory and business, and the family was assimilated. They fled to Prague in 1938 when Sudetenland was occupied by Hitler. Then in 1939 they escaped via Hungary to Britain on a transit visa to the USA, but were allowed to stay permanently in the UK. They lived in London, then settled in Leicestershire, where father set up a small textile business. They integrated well into local society. Robert’s education was disrupted, but after marrying he made a career as an export sales manager in large textile companies. He then set up his own business.
Place of Birth
My father got an exit visa more easily because he was a neutral Hungarian. He said, ‘I want to go home, to my country’. He hadn’t lived there for thirty years but that’s what he told the Gestapo and that’s what they allowed us to do. So, we went to Hungary one day with suitcases. Got on the train in Budapest, went to Vienna with the ‘Ausweis’, the permission to cross German borders, from Vienna we went across Germany to Holland.
We moved to Prague, then still an independent protectorate on its own. Hitler promised to leave it alone if he got Sudetenland. I never went to school in Prague because, again, every school my parents took me to, each time the teacher said, ‘We are not taking German Jews in here’.
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