Hans Steiner: paediatrician who escaped the Holocaust

bmj;382/aug16_10/p1889/FAF1faHans Steiner was born in Vienna to a well established Jewish family. His life and that of his parents were turned upside down with the annexation of Austria by Hitler’s Germany and the introduction of antisemitic laws. The family fled to Belgium, where Hans and his brother were given Christian names and hidden in a Roman Catholic convent. His father and mother died in Auschwitz. After the war ended the two brothers were sent to England to stay with their mother’s sister, who had escaped Vienna before the war. Hans arrived speaking German and French but no English and was admitted to Hendon County Grammar School, where he thrived educationally. A testimonial from his headmaster read: “His good work in science will enable him to become that most valuable type of man who sees the sciences against a background of the humanities.” He received a place to study medicine in…
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