A boy from Vienna

The following is a synopsis of Walter Buchwalter’s book which recounts his life before, during and after the Holocaust.

Walter was born in Vienna on 12 September 1924. He lived there with his parents and younger sister Rochella.

He came to England on the Kindertransport in December 1938 when he was 14. His sister was just six years old at the time. His mother thought it was too much responsibility to send her to England with Walter, so Rochella stayed in Vienna.

Walter lived in a hostel for refugees in Salford for four years, until he was 18. He began his working career cutting costumes, eventually becoming a ladies’ handbags manufacturer.

He met his wife Barbara at a Chanukah party. Barbara was a fellow refugee – from Frankfurt in Germany. They married in Leicester Road Shul, in Manchester in 1950, when Walter was 26. He and Barbara worked together, taking their handbags to markets all over Yorkshire.

Walter used to volunteer for The Fed, the Nicky Alliance Day Centre, and other Jewish organisations.

Walter passed away in 2020.

“My parents didn’t speak German; they could speak Polish and Yiddish. They spoke to me in Yiddish as a kid, and I answered them in German. I went to a German Jewish school in the morning and cheder in the afternoon. If they wanted to speak to each other without me knowing what they were saying, they spoke in Polish.”

Walter Buchwalter

“At first it was like a bit of an adventure, to come here. When I got older, I felt completely different about it.”

Walter Buchwalter

“I would say to future generations of young Jewish people; you don’t know how nice a life you have got here.”

Walter Buchwalter

A boy from Vienna

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